For a slice of Estonia’s living past, try paddling a hollowed-out, sideways-stretched aspen log. We found the haabjas surprisingly light and agile in the water for a dugout, though a bit tippy with three of us aboard.
At a reed and spruce-fringed lake in the south, we relived a boating tradition that goes back thousands of years, and treasured today. Estonia gained a listing with UNESCO for Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding in 2021 for the “building and use of expanded dugout boats in the Soomaa region”.
An intriguing theory held by Andres Pääbo concerns the boating origins of the Uralic peoples who include Estonians, Finns, northern Skandinavian Sami, Hungarians, and a dozen peoples spread through Russia. In “The ancient world of boat peoples” (2016), the engineer and artist argues that today’s Uralic language speakers are isolated relicts of “boat-oriented, hunter-fisher peoples” who were much more widespread across Eurasia several millennia ago.
In this view, the Picts of ancient Scotland could have been of Uralic origin. Unfortunately for this idea, what record remains of the Pictish language suggests a close relationship to Celtic languages, and, therefore, an Indo-European origin. Still, it’s fun to speculate.
Vene is an old Estonian term for a small boat, and survives today as the Estonian word for Russia, Venemaa or boat land. Vene is still the word used in island dialects, on Hiiumaa and Saaremaa. It appears as vääri, vuei’vv, and fatnasa in different Sami languages, in Lappland. Where else might one find the term?
We had coffee with friends in Haapsalu, a one-time seaside resort town in western Estonia, and still today. I asked about the indigeneity of Estonians. The word vene survives in the Italian coastal city of Venezia or Venice. The people who built the city escaped Lombard invasions during early Mediaeval times, and found sanctuary on the low-lying islets and marshlands fringing the Adriatic sea. Perhaps, this area was then inhabited by Uralic-speaking, boat-oriented people.
Wikipedia has a different, conventional explanation. The name derives from the Veneti, a people of Indo-European origin living in the Veneto for more than 1000 years before the Romans conquered the region. The evidence is around 300 short inscriptions written 1500-2000 years ago in the Venetic language, and a quick look online suggests a strong resemblance to Latin. The meaning of “vene”, according to Wikipedia, has to do with striving, love, passion.
Back in Estonia where there is still a passion for boating. Aivar Ruukel runs workshops on how to build a haabjas at Saarisoo farm in Soomaa, Estonia’s bogland. A future project, perhaps. During our cycling trip we stayed one night in a forest north of Soomaa with our friends, and saw many “boat trees” as we called them, tall, broad aspens or trembling poplars within spruce stands. The trick is to fell a tree before it gets too old, before the stem hollows out to rot.
The haabjas we rowed in Karula National Park was well made, the sides of the boat timber, only 20 millimetres wide, an elegant craft. A heritage worth preserving.
Comments