A rural festival that combines community theatre with landscape art

Text Mark Taylor
Photo Andrei Chertkov

This weekend (May 31-June 2) will see the Kaera-Jaan Festival take place at the scenic Vooremäe hill in Tartumaa. The culture festival, which is based on the Estonian folk song of the same name, combines community theatre with landscape art.

The story of Kaera-Jaan is the inspiration and driving force behind the festival. As a result, wood and straw sculptures have been constructed throughout the festival grounds based on the lyrics of the popular folk song – which form a sculpture trail. Seating, café areas, and an adventure playground for kids have also been constructed from straw for the festival.

At four times throughout the festival, there will be a community theatre performance entitled “ja siis olime meie” (“and then there was us” in English). A total of 75 people will take part in the performance, which has been a whole year in the making and is a joint project between the people of Kastre municipality and the Latvian company Initium.

You can learn more about the festival, which is part of the main programme of events celebrating Tartu’s year as the European Captial of Culture in 2024, on its official website here (only in Estonian). 

To learn more about this and similar topics
European Captial of Culture in 2024 Festival Kaera-Jaan Kaera-Jaan Festival Kastre Municipality Tartu Vooremäe