The name Martin has itself been “downsized”, with its Estonian version becoming Mart and Märt centuries ago. They are not called trick-or-treaters, but mardi/sandid or Mart's beggars. They do ultimately trick or treat by visiting homes and asking to be let in by singing or chanting an archaic verse or two. Once inside, they perform for treats, but may also present riddles called mõistatused or challenge the host family to a dare or some sort of test of skill.
Mardi attire is simple, you just need to be more male looking (Mart is a man after all) and preferably as unrecognisable as possible. Pile on the clothes, the furrier and hairier the better. Then take a piece of soot or ash from the fireplace and smear it on your face or make a mask. At the Vaba/õhu/muuseum, the kids were given a piece of cardboard, into which they cut holes to see and breathe and then slits, into which they stuffed takk to make kulmud or eyebrows, a vunts or moustache and habe or beard. Takk, genitive taku = tow (rhymes with cow), are the course broken fibres resulting from dressing flax (lina) or hemp (kanep), i.e. removing the straws from the fibres.
During the period in the fall when souls are believed to move about and visit their families, the mardisandid were thought to drive away any possible evil spirits lurking about in the mix. They were thereby seen as bearers of good fortune, especially for next year's crops, and therefore were given treats. Needless to say, there are no packages of mini candy bars sold in Estonia prior to mardipäev. Be prepared to sweep your floor post-visit though, one of their jokes / harbingers of good fortune is to toss dried peas…
Kadripäev or St. Katherine's Day is your next chance to practise a similar, more down-to-earth fall ritual. This is also a trick-or-treat type evening on Nov. 25. The attire is white and the sex of the sandid or beggars makes a switch to (at least seem) female. The Estonian Open Air Museum is celebrating kadripäev more extensively this year. Go to www.evm.ee and scroll down to “24. novembril tähistame kadrilaupäeva!” The text is available in Estonian.
Riina Kindlam, Tallinn
