Traditions dyed at Estonian Song and Dance Celebration

The joint procession and song celebration Sunday ended the third day of the 12th Estonian Youth Song and Dance Celebration under the theme of "Here I'll Stay".

About 40,000 people in national clothing attended the 5-km-long procession journey starting from the city center to the Song Festival Grounds in the east.

On Sunday afternoon, Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid delivered a speech at the Song celebration, which was participated by more than 30,000 singers and a mass of audience.

Choral singing and folk dances have helped and supported Estonians both home and abroad, according to Kaljulaid, who maintained that the event helps Estonians to cherish the national traditions.

About 8,000 performers attended the dance celebration on June 30 and July 1 held at Kalev stadium in Tallinn, said the organizer.

The theme of the 2017 celebration focuses on the connection between the younger generation and its land, culture and the older generations, meaning a turn to "our roots".

Baltic song and dance celebrations in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania was inscribed in 2008 on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)'s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, originally proclaimed in 2003.