Kihnu is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

in the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...

. With an area of it is the largest island in the

Gulf of Riga The Gulf of Riga, Bay of Riga, or Gulf of Livonia ( lv, Rīgas līcis, et, Liivi laht) is a bay of the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Estonia. The island of Saaremaa (Estonia) partially separates it from the rest of the Baltic Sea. The main c ...

and the seventh largest island of

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. The length of the island is and width , the highest point is at above sea level. The island belongs to the Pärnu County of

. Together with neighbouring islands it forms Kihnu Parish, one of the smallest

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

of the country with an area of . 604 people live on Kihnu , 69 of whom are primary school pupils. There are four villages: Lemsi, Linaküla, Rootsiküla and Sääre. One can reach Kihnu by a 15-minute plane trip from

Pärnu Pärnu () is the fourth largest city in Estonia. Situated in southwest Estonia, Pärnu is located south of the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and west of Estonia's second largest city, Tartu. The city sits off the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet ...

or by ferry, with trips taking 3 hours from Pärnu and 1 hour from Manilaid. When the sea is frozen in winter, it is possible to drive to the island over the ice. The nearby isle of Manilaid (or Manija, ''Manõja'' in the Kihnu dialect) was inhabited by people from Kihnu since 1933 and thus shares its culture.

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

proclaimed Kihnu's cultural space and traditions as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity on November 7, 2003. Kihnu is also called ''Kihnumua'' (e.g. "Kihnuland") in the

local dialect Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administra ...

. Names in other languages include ''Ķīļu'' in Latvian, ''Kynö'' in Standard Swedish, ''Kin'' in Estonian Swedish, and historically ''Kühnö'' in German. In Estonian Sign Language, the island is signed by imitating the vertical stripes of a Kihnu skirt. There are various theories on the etymology of the name Kihnu, with no consensus. The earliest recorded version of the island's name is ''Kyne'', from

1386 Year 1386 ( MCCCLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events January–December * February 24 – Elizabeth of Bosnia, the mother of the overthrown Queen Mary ...

Culture

As the men of Kihnu have been frequently away to sea, women have run everyday life on the island and became the guardians of the island's cultural heritage, which includes handicrafts, dances, games and music. Music is an especially important part of the island's traditions, and accompanies handicrafts, religious feasts and other celebrations. Ancient runo-styled songs are also important, as is traditional clothing adorned with decorations and bright colours. There are elaborate wedding traditions, which are considered the "most complex and bright expression" of Kihnu culture. Kihnu is famous for its

handicrafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

and distinctive traditional clothing, which is still commonly worn today. It includes striped skirts (''kört''), and patterned

knit Knitting is a method by which yarn is manipulated to create a textile, or fabric. It is used to create many types of garments. Knitting may be done by hand or by machine. Knitting creates stitches: loops of yarn in a row, either flat or i ...

men's sweaters (''troi''), and knit mittens. Young women have traditionally organised evening get-togethers (''ülalistmine'', i.e. "sitting (staying) up (late)") to do handicrafts. Traditional cuisine includes

rye bread Rye bread is a type of bread made with various proportions of flour from rye grain. It can be light or dark in color, depending on the type of flour used and the addition of coloring agents, and is typically denser than bread made from whea ...

with potatoes,

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...

fat or

Baltic herring Atlantic herring (''Clupea harengus'') is a herring in the family Clupeidae. It is one of the most abundant fish species in the world. Atlantic herrings can be found on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, congregating in large schools. They can ...

added to the dough;

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

soup, prepared by fishermen; and sweet milk soup, an important dish in weddings. Seal hunting is practiced in Kihnu, and their meat is considered a delicacy. Another distinctive delicacy is the eggs of semi-domesticated mergansers (waterbirds), also used for baking cakes. In the 19th and early 20th century, numerous men from Kihnu became sailors. The most famous of them was the largely self-taught captain Enn Uuetoa, also known as ''Kihnu Jõnn'' (1848 – 1913; ''Jõnn'' is the local pronunciation of the name Enn).

Language

The Kihnu dialect is considered to belong to the insular dialect group of

North Estonian Estonian ( ) is a Finnic language, written in the Latin script. It is the official language of Estonia and one of the official languages of the European Union, spoken natively by about 1.1 million people; 922,000 people in Estonia and 160, ...

, along with the dialects of

Saaremaa Saaremaa is the largest island in Estonia, measuring . The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island and west of Muhu island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago. The capital of the isla ...

Muhu Muhu (also called Muhumaa in Estonian), is an island in the West Estonian archipelago of the Baltic Sea. With an area of it is the third largest island belonging to Estonia, after Saaremaa and Hiiumaa. Together with neighbouring smaller is ...

and

Hiiumaa Hiiumaa (, ) is the second largest island in Estonia and is part of the West Estonian archipelago, in the Baltic Sea. It has an area of 989 km2 and is 22 km from the Estonian mainland. Its largest town is Kärdla. It is located within ...

. It is unusual among North Estonian dialects in preserving

vowel harmony In phonology, vowel harmony is an assimilatory process in which the vowels of a given domain – typically a phonological word – have to be members of the same natural class (thus "in harmony"). Vowel harmony is typically long distance, mea ...

, like most other

Finnic languages The Finnic (''Fennic'') or more precisely Balto-Finnic (Balto-Fennic, Baltic Finnic, Baltic Fennic) languages constitute a branch of the Uralic language family spoken around the Baltic Sea by the Baltic Finnic peoples. There are around 7 mi ...

. The dialect includes

triphthong In phonetics, a triphthong (, ) (from Greek τρίφθογγος, "triphthongos", literally "with three sounds," or "with three tones") is a monosyllabic vowel combination involving a quick but smooth movement of the articulator from one vowel q ...

s. There are

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

influences in vocabulary and intonation.

Geography and climate

The island has a sandy interior and a

rocky coast A cliffed coast, also called an abrasion coast, is a form of coast where the action of marine waves has formed steep cliffs that may or may not be precipitous. It contrasts with a flat or alluvial coast. Formation In coastal areas in whic ...

made up of more than fifty islets which make up an important nesting ground for birds. Along the dunes, beach ridges and sands of the eastern part the island reaches its maximum height of 29.6 m above sea level.

Images of Kihnu

Kihnu lighthouse2.jpg, Kihnu church.JPG, File:Kihnu-KYL%C3%84KAUPPA.jpg, File:Seashore of Kihnu.jpg, File:Kihnu muuseum.jpg, Villageroad.JPG, Garden in Kihnu.JPG, Kihnu rannik 1.JPG, Kihnu girls.JPG, Kihnu männik.JPG, Kihnu kalmistu4.jpg, Hallhüljes Kihnu hoiualal.JPG,

References

External links

Kihnu cultural space360-Degree Aerial Panorama of Kihnu
{{Authority control Kihnu Parish Estonian islands in the Baltic Landforms of Pärnu County Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity