Saturday's event will mark the 20th time the Night of Ancient Bonfires takes place in Estonia.

In an appearance on Raadio 2's "R2 Päev" on Tuesday, Martin Andreller, a historian and board member of the Estonian Institute of Historical Memory (EMI), said that people along the Estonian coast have been lighting fires on the seashore for centuries, if not even longer.

"In the distant past, bonfires were lit on the shore in the evening so that those still at sea – fishers and sailors – could see which way to navigate back to their home port," he explained.

Sometimes, however, these signal fires would also be lit to lure a foreign merchant ship to run aground, as locals would then have the right to take the ship's cargo for themselves.

"So there have been various reasons [for these fires]," he acknowledged.

According to the historian, the Night of Ancient Bonfires is a time for people to come together and reflect on significant moments in their lives.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Great Flight of 1944, when tens of thousands of people attempted to escape occupied Estonia, many in boats.

"An unknown number of boats from Estonia's northern and western coasts and the islands began moving westward," Andreller said. "A large number of people headed for Sweden, some ended up on the shores of Finland due to storms. All of them set out for the free world."

In Estonia's major ports, evacuations were carried out using large ships arranged under German orders.

Meanwhile, Andreller has read the account of one man who built a small raft out of wood found near the shore, which he topped with a sail made from a bedsheet.

"We don't know whether he ever actually made it, but I think that with a solution like that, he couldn't have possibly made it that far," he said. "But people did reach the Swedish coast in four- to five-meter rowboats." This gives some indication of how tragic and desperate times were, he added.

"We know what boats reached Sweden," the EMI board member said. "They were even appraised later, because the Soviet Union demanded them back. But [the refugees] escaped using old fishing boats that had been along the coast, which Swedish fishers later commented they wouldn't have dared use to go out on the water even right there in the same bay. But boats were specially built for escaping too."

Tradition spreads across Baltic Sea

On the Night of Ancient Bonfires, fires will be lit not only in Estonia, but in other countries bordering the Baltic Sea as well, including Finland, Sweden, Latvia and Lithuania. On the last Saturday of August, bonfires are lit at sunset according to local time.

The tradition dates back to 1992, when bonfires were lit along the Finnish and Estonian coasts. Over time, other countries located along the Baltic Sea joined in as well.

This Saturday, on the same evening as the Night of Ancient Bonfires, St. Paul's Church in Tartu will also host a performance of Raimo Kangro's "Mass for Innocently Killed Estonians" (1989, op. 40) in memory of the victims of the Great Flight.

Another performance will follow at St. Charles' Church in Tallinn on September 21.

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