President Karis said: "Mother Tongue Day is a celebration of our language and culture, and the Year of the Book gives it even more special significance," while opening the fourth consecutive year of Estonian-language readings on the steps of Kadriorg.

The head of state emphasized the historical and cultural weight of literature, stating: "Books and literature have been the bearers of our identity for centuries, preserving our thoughts, dreams, and history.

"This reading initiative is a symbolic way to give our language a voice and to remind us how important it is to keep the Estonian language alive and to develop our literature. Let this day be proof of how rich our language is and how many different voices it can hold," the president continued.

The event started literally at sunrise, at 6:41 a.m., and ended at sunset, just under 12 hours later, with nearly 70 participants reading Estonian-language texts during that time, giving an average reading time of around 10 minutes per person.

ERR live-broadcast the entire event.

In addition to Presidents Karis and Niinistö, Prime Minister Kristen Michal took part.

A broad sweep of Estonian society did so too, including writers, actors, musicians, artists, filmmakers, scientists, and athletes.

Among the 70 could be spotted Chief of Police Egert Belitšev, Auditor General Janar Holm, former Liverpool FC defender Ragnar Klavan, singer Liisi Koikson, former Prime Minister Mart Laar, long-serving national opera member Arne Mikk, and actor Mirtel Pohla.

Estonian and Finnish share many commonalities in morphology and syntax, and to a large extent lexicon too, though the amount of false cognates has long been a source of amusement on both sides of the Gulf of Finland. The Liivi, Seto, Võro, and Sami languages belong to the same group.

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