New Year customs in Tooma farm of Pahavalla village

Farm owner Feodor Rüütel Pöide,
his wife Juulia Rüütel Pöide,
their daughter Leida Rüütel Pöide,
the bear tamer Aleksei Room Valjala,
Oskar Koel (concertina) Pöide (1961)

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The movie introduces some New Year customs recorded on the Tooma farm of Pahavalla village (Laimjala municipality). The New Year lads and the New Year buck were initially welcomed as creatures that brought good harvest and luck, the taming of the bear became a tradition on a later date. Men engaged in games of strength and sleight, while guests were offered nuts and homemade beer. All this must have once carried the meaning of fecundity magic; later on only the entertaining function remained.

The evening, however, was taken up by the filming of the New-Year Billy Goat on my father-in-law's farm. Due to the beer offered by the family, singing and good spirits lasted through the night. Mulgu Seiu (Aleksei Room), the bear tamer of our New-Year Billy Goat movie, a strong and sturdy man ("A hundred and twenty-one kilos, boots included!") with a good singing voice and even better storytelling talent, he generously shared his repertoire of songs and stories way into the night. We were lucky to record some songs, although his stories were also worth it; he was a real artist of storytelling.
Thus our expedition ended in a rather curious way: we recorded newer folk songs until half past two in the morning in the most natural environment and which were performed in the most authentic manner. (From I. Rüütel's field work diary, June 11, 1961; Rüütel 2015: 180)

Video ERA, DV 110. Audio RKM, Mgn II 460 i, b.