"All Soul's Day (Hingedepäev) is a quiet period, marked by misty and windless days, and if it is windy, people say the souls cannot rest," Hiiemäe told Vikerraadio's radio show "Huvitaja." "In nature, everything fades away and disappears, which brings us to thoughts of transience."

Hiiemäe said people are influenced by their surroundings. This leads to a sense that those who are no longer with us, but were once significant in our lives, remain with us in our thoughts.

"The Estonian people have always been closely connected to nature," she added. "This feeling of nature fading impacts us. The fields are quiet and empty, and this emptiness takes our thoughts back to distant times when our loved ones were still here."

During All Soul's Day, Hiiemäe said, the souls of the departed visit homes, and people can feel their presence. "This explains traditions where people offer the souls a chance to visit the sauna. Similar customs exist in Finland. Food is also set out for them — everyday farm foods, like barley porridge, meats, and other home-grown fare, so that the souls can be welcomed in a fitting manner."

Reflecting on the traditions of other Finno-Ugric peoples, Hiiemäe said it was customary to imagine that the departed returned home during this period. Those we think about on this day are, in a way, welcomed back into our homes.

One recorded tradition in Mulgimaa, in south Estonia, says the departed would visit as a group, with the entire family arriving together.

"They were welcomed by setting a table in the farmhouse for them, while the living family members did not sit at the table but stood by it, with the head of the family greeting them and, after the visit, bidding them farewell and thanks."

Hiiemäe said today it is not easy to imagine the departed returning directly to our homes, as people do not live in the same place for decades. "We have moved to the cities. We can still commemorate them, but how? This is why traditions change and find new meanings, and we light a candle to remember them."

Another tradition to remember relatives no longer with us, dating back centuries, involves lighting candles during Christmas and on New Year's Eve at loved ones' graves. "It is also customary to place candles in the windows at home to remember those who have been significant in our lives."

Fear of the dead, spirits, and the afterlife has deepened over time, Hiiemäe said, and many people no longer want the departed to visit them.

"It cannot be said that there is an exact and pure truth, because all science is subject to change and there is nothing strange about that. For example, the custom of firing up the sauna has disappeared, as has the custom of bringing food, but at Christmas, food is left on the table so that the souls can have something to eat. If the family tradition is not very strong, as it tends to be nowadays, even within a generation traditions can fade away. Young people no longer take their knowledge from their elders, but get it from all over the world," Hiiemäe pointed out.

"It's natural to imagine that those who once lived among us do not simply vanish without a trace. This belief in the souls of the departed is shared across many cultures, and supported by diverse customs. A quiet time is necessary in nature so that it may awaken again in spring," Hiiemäe explained, emphasizing the importance of the quiet period of All Soul's Day.

Birds are a powerful symbol of the soul in Estonian folk belief, and their departure is associated with the quiet that comes in autumn.

"Birds take something with them when they leave, which is why this season is both a painful and somber time. Let us wait for these dark times to pass and the sun to rise again, and that is the rhythm of life," Hiiemäe said.

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