NordenBladet —

The Board of the Riigikogu, the Estonian Heritage Society and the Estonian Flag Association call on celebrating the Day of Perpetual Estonian Nationhood on 30 November and to fly the national flag on the occasion.

“30 November is the equinox of the liberty of the Republic of Estonia, because on that day, the time of freedom and the time of captivity of our country achieve equal lengths,” President of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) Jüri Ratas said. “This means that the number of days as an independent country and the number of days of occupation during our 104 years of history are equal.”

“On behalf of the Board of the Riigikogu, I invite to decorate all houses with blue-black-white, because from that day onwards, our country has been independent for more days that we have lived under different occupation powers,” Ratas said. On behalf of the Board of the Riigikogu, he proposed to raise national flags on the occasion of the Day of Perpetual Estonian Nationhood at sunrise on 30 November and to lower them at sunset.

At Toompea, the day will begin with raising of the national flag at the Tall Hermann Tower at 8.49 a.m. The raising of the flag will be assisted by Archbishop of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church Urmas Viilma, representative of the August 20th Club Rein Veidemann, representative of Memento association Peep Varju, Home Daughter Marie Elisabeth Kleinot and Young Eagle Erik Tinnuri.

At 10 a.m., a virtual conference dedicated to the equinox of liberty will begin in the Conference Hall of the Riigikogu. The opening address of the conference will be delivered by President of the Riigikogu Jüri Ratas. President of the Academy of Sciences Tarmo Soomere, Head of the Tallinn City Archives, historian Küllo Arjakas, Professor Emeritus of Tallinn University Rein Veidemann and Research Editor if the Estonian Public Broadcasting Maarja Merivoo-Parro will present speeches.

The conference will be streamed online at the Riigikogu web page
Video recording of the conference can be viewed on the Riigikogu YouTube channel.

Source: Parliament of Estonia