Upcoming events in the British Columbia Estonian community (3)
Archived Articles | 16 Jun 2008  | Eva VabasaluEWR
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June 21, 2008 - 1:00 p.m. Jaanipäev/Võidupuha - St. John's Day/Victory Day celebration at Mäeotsa - 32113 Olson Ave. in Mission, B.C. Please follow Lougheed Hwy. to Wren Ave. then northward to Olson Ave. and turn right at Olson Ave. to the end through the gate. The link for the map does not show that Olson Ave. continues eastward off Clay Street where Mäeotsa is located.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl...

June 22, 2008 - 6:00 p.m. Surnuaiapüha jumalateenistus. Kell 6 õhtul - Cemetery Service

July 4, 2008 - 7:00 p.m. Estonian Society Friday night Concert at Meie Kodu by the Kiili Early Music Ensemble from Estonia. With soprano Eve Kopli. - Konsert Kiili vanamuusika ansambel koos sopran Eve Kopliga. $15.00 per person.

July 11, 2008 - 7:30 p.m. The Ellerhein Girls Choir from Estonia in concert./Kontsert: Tütarlastekoor "Ellerhein"

August 9, 2008 - Talgud VES - work day

August 16, 2008 - Suvepidu - summer picnic and family day at Mäeotsa

August 28, 2008 - Deadline for submission of material for the next "Postipoiss"/Postipoisi sügis numbri kaastöö tähtpäev

September 26, 2008 - 7:00 p.m. Sing-along evening/VES Lauluõhtu

October 12, 2008 - Orthodox Church Service

October 18, 2008 - Work Party/Talgud

*August 26-30, 2009: West Coast Estonian Days, hosted by the University of Washington in Seattle.

MEIE KODU

For many bypassers this may be just another landmark at 49th and Oak but to the Estonian Community it is the pulse of communal gatherings.

Leafing through a 30th anniversary album of the EELK which covers a period beginning September 24, 1950 when J. Sikkal was the esimees and Laine Viitre was abiesimees, it travels in time to circa 1980 where at the back of the booklet it depicts photographs of its congregational members, exhibiting pages of familiar faces in their younger years still with us and those who have moved away or passed on.

Looking at the above photograph it makes me wonder how many thousands of Estonians holding hands with their children or elderly parents have climbed up and down the steps to attend weddings, confirmations, church services, funerals, annual general meetings, Estonian Independence Days, and other such events, most of which would have been followed by open-faced sandwiches and coffee in the downstairs hall.

Meie Kodu is and has been our community hub and we are drawn here week after week, year after year, decades upon decades like moths to light. As a people forced to abandon our homeland it’s important to have such permanence and continuity. One of Meie Kodu’s best features is its safe central location; for folk-dancers the upper hall’s wooden floor has the right amount of spring in it to protect ankle and knee joints; the Estonian Society library is the cosiest of little rooms; and the small church chapel has an unequalled sense of beauty and intimacy.

Having spent ten years in community activities under this roof, I certainly want to see it kept in tact as long as possible. There are many more memories to create. We need to do everything possible to maintain and hang on to the Estonian Church Foundation as it is the essential glue and the core of our community spirit. Mäeotsa is a luxury to have but Meie Kodu is just what the words convey, Our Home.

©Eva Vabasalu

Popular English first names by rank: http://www.birthdayalarm.com/S...

Meie Kodu Estonian Community Ctr. 6520 Oak St. Vancouver, BC V6P 3Z2 Tel. 604-263-4783

Eesti Kultuuri Ühing Kanadas - EKÜK, Society for the Advancement of Estonian Studies - SAESC, Juta Kitching, Chair Telephone 604-874-1696

Webpage link: EKÜK

Eesti Selts

Estonian Society, Thomas Pajur, Chair

Liikmemaksud/Membership dues:

Family/Perekond $30.00 Single/Üksik $20.00 Pensioner/Pensionär $15.00

Tel. 604-542-0223

VES Library
Visit: http://www.estonianevents.com/...

 
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Viimased kommentaarid

Kommentaarid on kirjutatud EWR lugejate poolt. Nende sisu ei pruugi ühtida EWR toimetuse seisukohtadega.
anonymous04 Jul 2008 19:03
yes, you are right there perhaps re: anger & resentment.
Anonymous29 Jun 2008 20:51
Hiding behind a pretense of saying you don't want ‘anger or resentment' yet making criticisms yourself amounts to your wanting to have it both ways.

The comments posted at http://www.eesti.ca/index.php?... are 99% accurate and drawn from St. Peter's Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Vancouver's congregational council minutes and AGM minutes. Some boards are not democratically run; nevertheless, democracy messy as it is, is worth struggling for, and so is making the truth known.
anonymous27 Jun 2008 14:30
Reading this article reminds me of the very strenuous and difficult times that many of the members and elders of the congregation of St. Peter's Lutheran Church, which is one of 2 congregations belonging to the Estonian Church Foundation, had endured just over a year and a half ago.

In fact, there are false and misleading statements made through “anonymous” comments posted on a previous Eesti Elu article, against the very Home which is so highly spoken of in this article.

I would hope that future memories are of good ones and not ones created by anger or resentment.

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