Kihnu - the Island of Women
Women. Empowerment. Tradition. For much of the year, with their men out at sea, the women had this Estonian Baltic Sea island to themselves. The result has been described as Europe’s last matriarchy.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 Even wearing skirts on this island, the women are the ones who wear the pants.
00:14 On Estonia's Kihnu Island, women's empowerment is no media catchphrase, but an everyday reality
00:20 and a long tradition.
00:24 But how did that come to be?
00:27 Kihnu is an island where people lived generation to generation in the same place.
00:31 We are well known because our women are very powerful, very hardworking, very influential.
00:39 The unusual gender roles go beyond fixing motorcycles and chopping wood.
00:44 Their roots lie in the exceptional position the island's women occupy.
00:51 The barely 700 inhabitants of Kihnu have been called Europe's last matriarchy, for a good
00:56 reason.
00:57 But Marja Mettus wouldn't go quite that far.
01:03 She functions as the voice of the island and keeper of its traditions.
01:07 She says, above all, Kihnu stands for equal rights for men and women.
01:12 And this is rooted in the traditional way of life.
01:15 The islanders live in harmony with animals and nature.
01:19 Men are connected with the sea and they have spent long periods at the sea, always in the
01:23 history.
01:24 That's why the navigation period starts here usually in April and ends in October.
01:29 Half a year they were almost at home.
01:31 So women take care of everything and are responsible for everything that happens on the land.
01:39 The traditional colourful patent head scarves, blouses and woolen skirts are just as commonplace
01:45 on the island now as a century ago.
01:49 Motorcycles are part of life here too.
01:51 The iron ponies are the fastest way to get from one end of the island to the other, to
01:56 visit a mother-in-law for instance.
01:58 The women of Kihnu have no problem with weaving, sewing and knitting.
02:03 They keep not only their own families supplied with handmade clothes, but friends and relatives
02:08 as well, in stark contrast to their country women on the mainland.
02:16 It's a collectivistic society.
02:18 Estonian people are pretty much individualistic and usually the superpower for Estonian people
02:22 who live in the central part of Estonia, the south part of Estonia, is always the forest.
02:28 They are forest people.
02:29 Comparing with our village society where we all live together like one huge family here
02:35 on the island, we know everybody very well, we know everybody's character very well, we
02:39 know everybody's behaviour very well.
02:44 Traditionally the women celebrate together as well.
02:47 Even with no men allowed.
02:49 Their skirts' red colour stands for happiness.
02:52 The more red, the more beauty in their lives.
02:58 But life in the Baltic Republic hasn't always been as beautiful, say the islanders.
03:03 For over 50 years, until 1991, Estonia was part of the Soviet Union.
03:09 The scars left by socialism can still be felt, for example in the status of religion, which
03:14 during the Soviet era was largely repressed.
03:17 In the mainland, of course, a lot of church communities disappeared during Soviet time,
03:23 but here, thanks to women, it continues.
03:30 Women are local church leaders.
03:32 It's a very high position in our society.
03:36 On the island of Kihnu, Estonian Orthodox Christianity survived in an old conservative
03:42 form.
03:43 The little village church is put to good use, especially for weddings like this one.
03:55 Almost the entire population of the island has gathered for crystal and mickle jas nuptials.
04:04 The priest is a man, but otherwise the ceremony is conducted by women.
04:10 Mare Mettas is proud of this tradition too.
04:15 The main thing which is basic of our culture, most important, is our wedding tradition.
04:21 And our wedding songs are more than 2,000 years old.
04:25 Our wedding tradition is pre-Christian, pagan tradition, which is still alive, which includes
04:30 all the new elements from the modern world, modern societies.
04:37 The ride across the island on a vintage motorcycle and sidecar numbers among the modern elements.
04:46 The union of man and woman, says Mare Mettas, is the zenith of life on Kihnu, no matter
04:52 how much the women remain among themselves.
04:55 So a wedding here can last for quite a while.
04:58 For up to three days, the just 16-square-kilometer island turns into one big party, with hours
05:04 of singing and countless toasts to everyone and everything.
05:09 It's a nice place to live and the best place in the world.
05:14 It's like a paradise.
05:17 Kihnu, an island where women's empowerment is a timeless tradition.
05:23 (seagulls squawking)
05:26 (seagulls squawking)