“SUBBOTNIK” – SATURDAY JOINT WORK ON THE ONION ROUTE

INTRODUCTION

The guest house is located on the Onion Route, a destination on the shores of Lake Peipsi, the largest lake in Estonia and a trans-border lake of the Europe-an Union. It is about 45 km from Tartu. The area by Lake Peipsi is well known for growing the Peipsi Onion. This area has been populated for 350 years by Rus-sian Old Believers – orthodox Christians who fled from Russia due to persecution. Guests can experience a family stay in a tra-ditional Old Believer house which is quite authentic from the fur-nishings up to spoons and forks. The hostess, Herling Mesi, mo-ved from Estonia’s capital Tallinn to this remote area of Lake Peipsi shore. She got fascinated by the local lifestyle, learned a lot about Russian Old Believers everyday life and now shares it enthusias-tically with her guests.

”Sibulatee Subbotnik” is a mix of Estonian and Russian cultures, meaning joint work done on Saturdays. It is a long-standing custom in the community that families or friends come together to cope with some seasonal work such as harvesting. Guests will get a real experience of joining in seasonal joint work the way it is done in the Onion Route area. After a bit of work there is time to enjoy the local lifestyle – learn about samovars and tea drinking culture in the Russian Old Believ-ers community, take a sauna and have a relaxing evening.