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00:00Precious clues from the past.
00:02She's full of sensuous promise.
00:05With unmissable experiences.
00:09We're free! Why your door's open so much and they're playing with us.
00:13Hidden sites in unexpected destinations.
00:17No way. I've never seen anything like that before.
00:22Amazing!
00:24I'm on a global voyage of discovery to explore our shared heritage
00:30and how our past shapes all of our lives.
00:34This time I'm uncovering the hidden treasures of Estonia.
00:38A place where forests hold timeless secrets, ancient sacred rites live on
00:45and the waters hide clues to a forgotten world.
00:49I'll be immersing myself in centuries-old rituals.
00:54I'm drinking Viper gin.
00:56Discovering unexpected delights.
00:59A lovely penis!
01:00And using cutting-edge science to decode the past.
01:03This was chewed by a teenage girl ten and a half thousand years ago.
01:11Welcome to the magical treasures of Estonia.
01:19Estonia feels like a mystical place.
01:35A cherished land full of intriguing wonders.
01:40Facing the Baltic Sea, it boasts over 2,000 islands.
01:47Half the country is covered in forest.
01:53Beneath the surface of these stunning Nordic landscapes are fascinating secret histories.
02:03And new science is uncovering untold stories.
02:14I'm heading to this research lab, which is revealing really incredible secrets.
02:20Both about Estonia's past, but also about the secret histories that we all carry in our DNA.
02:28My first treasure is in the city of Tartu in South Estonia, where researchers are combining archaeology
02:38and cutting-edge science to reveal stories from thousands of years ago.
02:43Historic finds from all over Estonia are brought to Tartu University for a new kind of analysis
02:50that's rewriting our understanding of the past.
02:54Inside this building, there is some astonishing science and discoveries.
03:03I'm getting an inside peek at treasures unearthed across the country that combine two spiritual worlds.
03:16Heike, hello.
03:17Hello.
03:18Hi again.
03:19Lovely to see you.
03:20How are you?
03:21Nice to see you.
03:22So lovely to see you.
03:23And this wealth of exquisite material that you have here, how old are these?
03:29They are about 800 years or maybe a little more.
03:32So would they have been Christian or pagan, do you think?
03:37Probably people believed in Christ already, although there was no church as official organisation here.
03:45Christianity came very late to Estonia. Some finds here have a pagan vibe.
03:51This little cross, what's that about?
03:54This cross is just a quite, quite strange thing. So you see it has a pendant here.
04:02Mm-hmm.
04:03But what is behind the pendant? If we raise it up, you see it is a raised penis.
04:11It is a raised penis with what looks like a vulva-shaped sort of knocker.
04:17And if we put it back, when you wear it, it makes brilliant noise.
04:25A brilliant and beautiful noise, that.
04:28But so what Christian is wearing that cross with a lovely penis and a sort of vulva knocker?
04:34Somebody with a sense of humour?
04:35I think they were very practical men, because God has created all good things for people.
04:42Yes.
04:43And if people mix them together, it's not a sin, to my mind.
04:46To my mind as well. Quite right. We like whoever that, we like him.
04:51He was open-minded, that guy. And you see, it's the beautiful thing about archaeology,
04:56because you find these really intimate details of people's lives and their mindsets as well.
05:03Thank you for curating it, for being the guardian of all of this treasure.
05:09Among the finds are artefacts uncovered from a 12th-century burial ground in the village of Kukruza.
05:20The excavation, led by Mari Terev, has opened up a treasure trove of data,
05:27including a mysterious skeleton dubbed the Kukruza Lady.
05:32In her 50s, she was buried with fine bronze and silver jewellery, food to eat in the afterlife, a scythe and daggers.
05:43Combining cutting-edge chemistry and archaeology,
05:47Associate Professor Esther Oras is unlocking centuries-old secrets about the Kukruza Lady's life.
05:55Hi!
05:56Hey, hey, Brittany. Good to see you.
05:58Lovely to see you. Sorry to disturb you. You're obviously right in the middle of working here.
06:03But so exciting to see this happening.
06:06Yes. Yes. And what's this here? What's in there?
06:08Well, that's a very special thing. This is eggshell.
06:12Eggshell?
06:13Indeed.
06:14That was buried with this lady?
06:16Yes. At her foot.
06:18And, you know, it gets even better because we know that it was a fertilised egg.
06:22So it actually had a chick in the egg whilst it was buried and kind of someone decided that, you know,
06:29this particular lady should have this fertilised egg as a grave good to be buried with her,
06:35or with something to do with maybe some kind of Christian symbolism and fertilisation.
06:39I mean, this is fascinating. So this is all...
06:42You can tell this because you're combining archaeology and chemistry here.
06:45Exactly. Exactly.
06:47To get these really minute details of people's lives.
06:50Yeah. Yeah.
06:51So we've got a picture of her, mid-50s, so she's probably post-menopause.
06:54Yeah. She's probably not fertile.
06:55Yeah.
06:56But they're burying her with a fertilised egg.
06:58We know more about her than we might know about neighbours who are still alive today.
07:03Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes.
07:06Researchers in the Institute of Genomics are pioneering another method to unpack even deeper layers of history.
07:16DNA samples are subjected to a new kind of analysis.
07:23I've been given access to a mind-blowing find.
07:27There's something totally incredible here that I just have got to show you.
07:36So, when you burn or heat silver birch bark, you get something called birch tar, which is still used today.
07:45But this that I'm just about to show you, this is birch tar from a site from the time of hunter-gatherers, so around 10,500 years old.
07:58And I've just got to be incredibly careful with this.
08:01Hang on a sec.
08:04Okay.
08:05It tells us all kinds of extraordinary things.
08:09So, I don't know if you can see here, but it's actually got teeth marks in it, and that's because one of the ways to prepare it is to chew the birch tar.
08:20And the extraordinary discoveries don't stop there.
08:24Because there are teeth marks here, there are also traces of saliva, and the research team here have managed to analyse that and extract the DNA.
08:36So, we know that almost certainly this was bitten by a teenage girl, and they worked out that she probably had brown eyes and brown hair.
08:49So, what you're looking at here is basically the chewing gum of a teenager from 10,500 years ago.
09:00I've got to put it back.
09:01The Institute also holds DNA samples from 20% of Estonia's population, providing scientists with a modern genetic comparison to better interpret ancient DNA.
09:18The hidden stories in our genes and under the earth are a treasure, allowing the past to speak and revealing secrets about our ancestors.
09:29For centuries, people have travelled these old forest roads by horse.
09:53It's still a traditional form of transport at this time of year, Christmas.
10:03My next treasure is the Setemar culture from south-east Estonia, first settled 8,000 years ago.
10:12This unique, Orthodox Christian community has declared itself a kingdom, and proudly maintains its own distinct language.
10:24Beautiful journey, Isa, thank you. Thank you.
10:28They describe themselves as living on the edge of the world, because their culture is so distinct, and their home so deep in nature.
10:42Because it's Christmas Eve, all over the region, people are preparing, and I've been invited to stay in one of these farmhouses.
10:50Helen, Angelica and Kydy take great pride in their Setemar heritage.
11:06Sorry, you're clearly right in the middle of something. Ladies, can I just say, you look, oh my goodness, you look incredible.
11:16Thank you, thank you. You look so beautiful, all of you.
11:20Beautiful women are getting even more beautiful.
11:22Even more beautiful.
11:24Even more beautiful.
11:25Yes.
11:26Sorry to go straight into this, but I've read about these brooches, and I imagined, like, when you say a brooch, I imagine, like, a little thing here.
11:33These are incredible. They're like breast plates.
11:37Well, it's a symbol of, like, a married woman.
11:40Yeah.
11:41A fertile age.
11:42But it's also, like, yeah, it protects us from an evil eye.
11:45But why so much silver? Where does all this silver come from?
11:49Basically still some of them from grandmother, grand-grandmother, and our mums.
11:54Yeah.
11:55Well, it was the only place to show off.
11:57These are actual coins, Coppaic.
11:5915 Coppaics, 20 Coppaics.
12:01Yes.
12:0220, this is 20.
12:03Yeah.
12:04From 1912, for example, but also from the end of the 19th century.
12:10Of course, before that, when there were no Coppaics, then they would wear something like this, more like a leaf-shaped things.
12:18You are walking banks.
12:20I feel so underdressed.
12:22So, is there anything particularly special that you do on Christmas Eve to prepare for tomorrow?
12:27Yeah.
12:28We take a silver necklace here, and then we put it in a bowl of water for the whole night, and then in the morning when we get up, we will wash the eyes with this water, and it's just very holy.
12:41These are identical to the silver treasures from those medieval burials I saw in Tartu.
12:48I love it as well, because you find this jewellery buried in the grounds from the medieval times.
12:55The fact that you've got these eight-pointed stars, I see that on the jewellery that goddesses were given 5,000, 4,000 years ago.
13:04So, it's just like, you know, it's the past alive now.
13:08And when we dress up, actually, we feel like goddesses.
13:11The people of Setemar, the Setos, love singing.
13:26The Seto Christian community fervently believes in the spirit of nature, holding on to ancient pre-Christian pagan traditions, along with their Orthodox faith.
13:54At the heart of Seto belief is Peko, their so-called god-king, who protects nature and speaks to them through dreams.
14:05Angelica is taking me to see Peko's shrine.
14:09So, what's special about this place?
14:13For me, always, when I feel a little bit, I don't know, like I miss my grandparents or my grand-grandmother or my grandmother, I always love to come here.
14:30I'd like to feel close with my spirits.
14:33Hi.
14:34Hi.
14:35Hi.
14:36Hi.
14:37Oh.
14:38Did they...
14:39Did they sweet you?
14:40Your ancestors, yeah.
14:41Yeah, definitely.
14:42I feel them.
14:43Especially right now, it's so peaceful and quiet to hear on the wind.
14:54Oh, so that's good they've come on Christmas Eve, these little offerings.
14:55Oh, exactly.
14:56Yeah.
14:57And remind her that we're so, you know, that thing that we're not part of nature, we are nature as well, and we need to respect that here.
15:11Each year, a chief herald, an earthly assistant to King Peko, is elected, as Angelica has been, their role to safeguard the community's culture from the threats of modern life.
15:40Estonia was once part of the Soviet Union.
15:45In 1991, it gained independence, and Setemar land was divided into two.
15:53Today, around 13,000 Estonian speak Seto, and 3,000 live in this area.
16:00But two-thirds of original Setemar territory is in Russia, where only 300 Seto people are left.
16:08Border crossing is complicated, requiring visas and separating many Seto families.
16:16You actually have to go into Russia for a little bit to get to some of the Seto's particular sanctuaries and monuments.
16:23So this is the Russian border with Russia.
16:26So these are all cars that belong to people who've travelled back into Russia, and they've just left the cars because they can't drive them there.
16:33So these guys with their suitcases, they'd be going across, would they?
16:36Yep.
16:37So this is some kind.
16:38So this is very interesting.
16:39So this is where the Naziyongong.
16:40The Soviet Union used to make the Chinese Gambon better, if it were the trois are still trying to survive.
16:42It's quite simple.
16:43The Soviets tried to stamp out Seto culture, but now it's flourishing ever more vigorously.
16:44celebrated in January, not December, because they follow the Orthodox Julian
16:48calendar. Families across the region are busy at home, preparing in many different
16:58ways for the festivities ahead, including singing.
17:02Lalo is a unique form of polyphonic song, recognised by UNESCO. Silversmith Eva Ritsa still crafts
17:21the symbolic silver the Seto women wear. They believe that silver protects their souls.
17:32As night falls, something special catches my eye.
17:42So this is the, um, one of the graveyards of the biggest church here. And all these candles
17:50are being put here because it's Christmas Eve, and people are commemorating their ancestors
17:56and their loved ones. Ah, this is very magical being here. It just sort of feels like all
18:04ages are present here in all times.
18:07The women's breastplates are even hung on the graves.
18:18What keeps the past alive is a powerful connection between the living and their ancestors.
18:29Hey. Oh, thank you so much. I'll let you do it. I'll trust you with that. That is so toasty,
18:38warm and delicious. Thank you. So this is your family, but which, is this one your grandmother?
18:43Yes. That's my grandmother. She must have been very proud of her life here and her lifestyle.
18:48When she got sick, unfortunately, I was 20 years old at that time, she asked me to her
18:54bedside and she said to me that, Kaidi, I think I will lose this battle. I will not come out
19:02of it alive. So she said that, um, I have one now. I always start crying when I tell the story.
19:10And, um, um, um, she said that, can you promise me that, um, you will find a way to keep the songs
19:19alive, to keep the traditions alive, to, to talk about our family, about the silverware, the clothes,
19:25traditions. Can you do that for me? Um, I said, I try. And she said, you can't, you cannot tell me try.
19:33You just have to promise. Yes. And I promised. And that's what you're doing now. Yeah.
19:38Why do you think you've devoted your life to this? Because I feel that, um, it was planted
19:44in me, the love towards the Seto traditions, towards, uh, my grandmother. Thank you for
19:52letting me even see this photo of her. It's an incredible thing. It is.
19:56It's January the 7th, orthodox Christmas morning.
20:08Oh, that's certainly refreshing. Just like the Seto's, I'm washing my face with silver water.
20:16Okay. Ready for the future. Hi. Nice to see you. Happy Christmas.
20:28Great. Amazing. Off to church. Christmas morning.
20:35While Seto culture dates back 8,000 years, their conversion to Christianity only started in the 11th century.
20:51The church accepted their ancient, nature-centered beliefs, allowing them to maintain old traditions within their new faith.
21:06I'm privileged to experience another special ritual, celebrating a relative who recently passed.
21:30So, uh, is it your father?
21:34Their father is buried there. So, it's 40 days.
21:38My daughter-in-law and the son, two sons.
21:40Two sons. Oh, I'm sorry for your loss.
21:43So, this is your father?
21:45Yeah.
21:45Yeah.
21:45So, he was such a great singer. He got given a medal.
21:52This is the medal for singing?
21:53Sorry, no, no, no.
21:55Okay.
22:17So, we're all eating this to remember, I can't pronounce his name properly.
22:22Vassil. Vassil. Vassil. Soft, soft, soft S.
22:27It's 40 days after he died, so today's the day that his soul leaves his body,
22:32so we're eating to remember him, to remember your father.
22:36I'm very honoured to be here. Thank you.
22:40And it's... And this is...
22:41That's why you have the benches in all of the graves,
22:43so that people just come back and sit and eat
22:46and share a meal with their ancestors,
22:48because here you think your ancestors are asleep,
22:53Yes, exactly. Yeah.
22:55We've all been given a drink in honour of your father.
22:59To your father? Yes.
23:02And happy Christmas.
23:17Feasting, sitting with the dead, offering libations,
23:21goes right back to pre-history.
23:25You read about it in the great classical epics,
23:28like Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.
23:30The Seto's are a treasure,
23:38as they embody something that came long before artificial intelligence,
23:43ancestral intelligence,
23:45a deep connection to the cycle of life, nature,
23:49and the warmth of welcoming strangers.
23:52It's a place that feels as though you can live in two times at once.
23:58I'm just outside the capital city of Tallinn,
24:12on the trail of my next treasure,
24:15the hidden underwater world of Estonia's Baltic coast.
24:19I've heard there's a team that are working on the underwater archaeology here,
24:27and Estonia's famous for that,
24:29so I've asked to join them.
24:32It's not warm.
24:33It's not warm today,
24:34so it's going to be quite interesting out there in the middle of the sea.
24:38Hey, guys.
24:41Hi.
24:41Nice to see you.
24:51For thousands of years,
24:53the Baltic Sea has been a vital channel of commerce, communication, and conflict.
24:59Many of its secrets remain trapped beneath the waves.
25:04There are up to 10,000 shipwrecks here from this hub of maritime activity,
25:11spanning the 8th to the 21st centuries,
25:14many with their cargo still intact, waiting to be explored.
25:20Look, one of the main wreck sites is just over there.
25:22Maritime archaeology researchers Ivar Trefner and Preet Letty
25:30from the Estonian Maritime Museum
25:32are responsible for the nation's underwater heritage.
25:40This involves mapping, surveying, and studying each ship they find.
25:47So far, 700 are being monitored in the depths.
25:52Ivar Trefner and Preet Letty
25:55You're okay?
25:55Yeah!
25:56Yeah!
25:58You're total heroes.
26:01Archaeology heroes!
26:05The unique conditions of the Baltic Sea,
26:08low salinity, cold and dark,
26:11are an ideal environment for preserving sunken ships.
26:16This is a fluid,
26:17a popular merchant vessel from the 17th century.
26:22It's astonishing the level of preservation of the wood here.
26:29So on some of those fluids,
26:31like there,
26:32you can see an incredible level of carving and detail.
26:35Why are the captains bothering to do that with their boats?
26:38Well, one reason was probably that it's kind of like the boat was kind of like a calling card
26:45just to show off that,
26:46look, I know business.
26:47Yes.
26:48So I can afford having a fancy boat with a lot of decorations and stuff.
26:52Yeah, and you've just got to imagine these waters being crisscrossed by merchants,
26:59because was it the Dutch who called it the mother of trade?
27:02Yes, it was the Dutch, yes.
27:03Yeah.
27:03Well, like the raw material trade that they were,
27:06which basically like a source of their wealth was that,
27:12and that's why they called it the mother of trade.
27:14Yeah, so you've got, from Estonia itself,
27:16you've probably got those kind of beautiful natural things,
27:18so kind of hemp and tar and salt going in one direction.
27:22It's green, mostly.
27:23Gray, yeah.
27:24So it's sort of, you know, again, we must remember that,
27:27that it's a sea that's bringing all these materials
27:29that are ending up right across Europe.
27:32So it's kind of nourishing culture, what's happening here.
27:35Exactly.
27:39When a medieval ship sank in a storm in the 16th century
27:42near the island of Nysar,
27:44it took with it something a bit special.
27:47Researcher Erky Russo has the often tricky job
27:51of identifying the finds, some of which are pretty unusual.
27:57So tell me what we've got here.
28:00It's really exciting.
28:02These funny things were found, these ointment jars,
28:06like this one or these ones,
28:09and also a syringe came from this box as well,
28:14some domestic stuff as well.
28:17So based on this, I'd say that at least
28:21this box belonged to some kind of pharmacist
28:24or person dealing with medicine.
28:27I've never seen anything like that syringe before.
28:29I'm now allowed to pick it up as well, because I've got my gloves on.
28:33Is that okay, Erky?
28:34Yeah, of course.
28:35Oy, oy, oy, oy, look at that.
28:36Mm-hmm.
28:37Look at...
28:38I mean, that's actually...
28:39It's...
28:40Well, it's not gruesome, because it's probably life-saving,
28:43but that's a hardcore bit of medical equipment.
28:46So what sort of thing would this have been used for, obviously, to inject?
28:50Inject some kind of potion for different parts of the body.
28:55So am I...
28:57Because that's not going under your skin.
28:59So is this kind of like an anal syringe?
29:01Highly likely.
29:02Very charming.
29:03And as you can see, there is not a very sharp point,
29:06so it means that it's...
29:08Okay.
29:10And you're what?
29:11Sorry to now get into this detail,
29:13but you're what?
29:13You'd be injecting...
29:14Now, what would you be doing?
29:15Like, painkillers, or what would you be using it for?
29:19For example, had difficulties with digestion and something like that.
29:25Right, okay.
29:26Well, I hope it brought a lot of relief to somebody
29:28in the, you know, 16th, 16th century.
29:32But, I mean, this is...
29:33It's astonishing, this Erky to find Schleichschlein,
29:36so, yeah, give it back to you.
29:38It's awesome, even if the syringe is petrifying.
29:41Yeah.
29:44And the discoveries keep on coming.
29:47At the Maritime Museum,
29:49Ivar wants to share another sunken wreck.
29:53In December 1918,
29:56a British Royal Navy ship, HMS Cassandra,
29:59went down while supporting the newly formed Estonia
30:02against Russian attacks.
30:06Now, it might be a danger
30:08to the delicate Baltic Sea ecosystem.
30:13I just, like, magnetically can't stop watching it.
30:16It's true, though.
30:17It's just so, so fascinating.
30:19The Cassandras on the seabed, she sunk.
30:23So, what happened?
30:24The thing is that during the First World War,
30:26a lot of mines were laid out in the sea.
30:29And the mines were still there,
30:31because the First World War had just ended,
30:34and it exploded.
30:35So, and that just, that was it.
30:37And that's, so if it was that quick,
30:39presumably there were casualties on this boat?
30:41There were 11 casualties.
30:44But is there anything particular with this wreck
30:46that you're trying to discover?
30:48It's very important to understand the condition,
30:50because HMS Cassandra is a potentially polluting wreck.
30:54So, she was using oil as a fuel.
30:57Okay.
30:58Cassandra had about 950, let's say,
31:02approximately tons of heavy fuel oil on board.
31:05Okay.
31:06So, of course, during the mine explosion
31:08and probably during the sinking,
31:10some of the oil was released,
31:11but most of it is still there.
31:13Really?
31:14I mean, it's incredible to see this,
31:16because it's, you know,
31:18we think of the underwater archaeology and wrecks
31:22as historical treasures that tell us about the past.
31:25But this is, you know,
31:26you're using all your skills and science now
31:29to also to protect the Baltic Sea for the future.
31:35Ivar and his team are constantly monitoring the HMS Cassandra.
31:40If there's a leak, they'll need to siphon out the oil.
31:44An expensive and dangerous operation.
31:58The underwater discoveries here in Estonia
32:02are just remarkable,
32:04because they tap into this nation's deep connection
32:08to the world of the sea.
32:11And they also reveal incredible things about our past.
32:15And if you think about it,
32:1670% of the world is covered with water,
32:20so that's where you find extraordinary treasures.
32:24As Estonia's winter snows melt,
32:42the green wonderland below slowly comes back to life.
32:46I'm in the forests of southern Estonia
32:55to try to discover some of their secrets.
33:03Home to bears, elk, lynx, springs and swamps,
33:09my final treasure is the hidden and ancient lore
33:13of forest culture in Estonia.
33:23There's someone here who uses all the gifts of the forest
33:28in a very historic way.
33:31Ada.
33:32Ada.
33:32Hello.
33:32Hi.
33:33Hi.
33:33Hi.
33:34Oh.
33:35Straight away a hug.
33:37That's lovely.
33:38I'm better than you.
33:38Nice to meet you.
33:39I'm better than you.
33:39Lovely to see you face to face.
33:42I'm sauna mother.
33:43You, well, I'm glad to hear you're a sauna mother.
33:46Sounds great.
33:48I've never met a sauna mother before.
33:49Yes, I would like you introduced to the saunas,
33:53because saunas are family members.
33:55Are they?
33:56So, yeah.
33:57Okay.
33:57So, let's go and say hello.
34:01I've never in my life said hello to a sauna before.
34:05Already.
34:06You have to.
34:06Do you have to?
34:07And we do it with a chant.
34:08Let's go.
34:10Dere, dere, sanakana.
34:12Dere, dere, sanakana.
34:14Good.
34:16The sauna tradition is ingrained in Estonian society,
34:21a place to come together with family and friends
34:24and to connect to the spiritual world.
34:28Dere, dere, sanakana.
34:30Dere, dere, sanakana.
34:32Mm-hmm.
34:34Dere, sanalunakana.
34:36So, now we have to ask permission to heat the sauna today.
34:41Lovely.
34:42I love it.
34:43Asking permission to take the sauna's heat.
34:45Perfect.
34:46So, I go and ask permission.
34:49Can I heat sauna for you today?
34:52Hmm.
34:53Edda isn't speaking Estonian.
35:03She's using an ancient tribal language.
35:06Yes.
35:07Yes.
35:08Would you drink the firewood?
35:10Firewood, sure thing.
35:11Yeah.
35:12Good.
35:14Has the sauna ever said no to anybody?
35:16Sometimes.
35:17Yeah.
35:17Yes.
35:21Beautiful.
35:21Oh, you can smell the elders.
35:24So beautiful.
35:29There are charms for me to put in the fire,
35:33part of a series of preparatory rituals.
35:36So, this is lindenwood?
35:38Yes.
35:38OK, so I put this in the fire,
35:40and then this should summon three generations of my ancestors
35:43into the sauna as well.
35:45It's a kind of trade.
35:46You give it to the fire,
35:48and fire gives you back what you wanted,
35:50what we told about.
35:52OK, OK, I'm going to...
35:53OK, so fire...
35:53Yeah, and no, please, trade.
35:55Don't say please.
35:56OK, I'm going to be firm with the fire.
35:58Yeah, OK.
35:59You are sure, you'll get it.
36:00OK, OK, I've got it.
36:02So, fire, I'm giving you this.
36:03Please give me love, passion...
36:06Oh, no, I said please.
36:08Oh, you're right.
36:11I'm so sorry.
36:12Once more.
36:13I'm sorry, fire, I'm English.
36:15OK, I'm going to be more Estonian.
36:17There's a bit of a culture clash here.
36:19Right, fire.
36:22Give me love, creativity, passion and ideas.
36:32Estonian smoke saunas,
36:34following an ancient singular design,
36:37have no chimney for a reason.
36:41You are under the smoke, under the protection.
36:46Yeah.
36:46We exhale and we let all the artificial thoughts
36:52float out of our head.
36:55So I'm just clearing my mind and asking you...
36:56Yeah.
36:57...the saunas that when I'm in here
36:58to help me know what I need to know today.
37:02Yes.
37:03Deloital.
37:03What my soul gives me to know today.
37:07Ah.
37:10Oh, it's so calming.
37:14OK, I think my mind's clear.
37:17So it's so...
37:19Do we leave the sauna to do its own preparation now?
37:25While the sauna heats up for six hours,
37:28we head to a holy spring to fetch water to feed it.
37:34There's written evidence of smoke saunas
37:36from the 13th century.
37:37But the word for sauna dates back at least 4,000 years.
37:44Eda's community live in harmony with the forest,
37:53deeply connected to its life cycle.
38:10This is very idyllic.
38:13This is your friend?
38:14This is my friend Ruth, yes.
38:17She's picking mushrooms for dinner today after the sauna.
38:21Oh, hello, Ruth.
38:22How lovely to see you.
38:24Oh, I'm not going to tread on these.
38:26Yeah.
38:26Yes, look.
38:27So many.
38:28How long have you seen you?
38:29I'm Bettany.
38:30Lovely to see you.
38:30Nice to meet you.
38:31Me?
38:32Mm-hmm.
38:32Yeah.
38:34Santrellas?
38:35Yeah, I'll take it to see you.
38:36Beautiful.
38:37Santrellas are the first.
38:39Yes.
38:39I mean, these are, like, all the best restaurants in the world want these.
38:45Don't they?
38:46And they're beautiful.
38:47So those are good to eat.
38:48Hey, this really is foraging.
38:49Yeah, you can cook what you're going to eat here.
38:50Mm-hmm.
38:51Get some on pick.
38:54Mm-hmm.
38:54Oh, that's so lovely.
38:56And those ones are my husband's favourites.
38:59I'm just going to say...
39:00No, but they're great.
39:03They're your husband's.
39:03These are now my favourites because it's like butter.
39:05It's like peppery butter, isn't it?
39:07It's got a bit of a kind of pepper taste to it.
39:22Edda's sauna sisters join us.
39:30First, a communal, naked swim to refresh the skin and the mind.
39:38I'm clean from swamp and spring water.
40:01Now we're going in.
40:02My understanding is that you come here on really important occasions.
40:12So people have wedding nights here and women give birth here.
40:16And it's like it's kind of part of the cycle of life.
40:20Cycle of life, cycle of nature, cycle of being human.
40:26Whenever you lose the connection with yourself or with your destiny,
40:30you can come back to the sauna and restore this connection.
40:35It's like it's a threshold.
40:37You know, for me, this is like all the ancient rituals that I read about
40:40that happened like 3,000 years ago, that you're crossing a gateway.
40:44So you're almost entering another world by coming here.
40:47Yeah.
40:48Oh, what's that?
40:50Beautiful.
40:51Is it mint?
40:52Different plants, yes.
40:54Oh, lovely.
40:58Edda's asked me to lie on the bench for a healing treatment.
41:15A whisk with these forest branches and herbs generates additional heat.
41:24Over the next few hours, we oscillate between the icy chill of cold water plunges
41:35and the intense heat of the sauna,
41:39rubbing ourselves with salt, ash and honey,
41:44caressed by steam from the sacred spring water.
41:48Let the water take away all the opinions about you.
42:07Slander, all that horrible slander, I will.
42:09What better end to the day than savouring the wild mushrooms we picked earlier?
42:36And before we start to eat, we have to have one sip.
42:53Sip of?
42:55Of local drink, what brings you into your body again,
43:04after this big flying in the sauna?
43:07So this is alcohol?
43:09Yeah, just a little bit.
43:10Okay.
43:11It's medicine.
43:13Medicine!
43:14The strongest medicine we have in our farm.
43:17Is it?
43:18I definitely need a bit of that medicine.
43:20Yeah, I'll hold it for you.
43:22What's it got in it?
43:23A wiper.
43:24No way.
43:25Yeah, the way.
43:27The best way.
43:28Oh, my goodness.
43:31I didn't think the surprises were going to finish those.
43:36Okay, there's a viper.
43:38There's a viper in my soup.
43:40There's a viper in my gin.
43:43Do I just drink it from here?
43:44Yeah.
43:45Oh, no.
43:46Yes.
43:47A little bit.
43:48Just do it.
43:49I'm going to do it.
43:50And let it go into the roots.
43:52Don't drink it.
43:53Give it to the ancestors.
43:55Don't drink it?
43:56Yeah.
43:56Do drink it.
43:57Yeah, it's through your body.
43:58It goes to the ancestors.
44:00Okay.
44:00Okay, I'm going in.
44:02I'm going in.
44:03I'm drinking viper gin.
44:12Speechless.
44:13I'm speechless.
44:15For your health.
44:17This is the most extraordinary place to end up.
44:21I'm in this incredible oasis in a forest.
44:24And I've done a lot of things today that I've never done in my life.
44:29But the incredible thing is this is what's been happening here for hundreds of years,
44:33probably for thousands of years.
44:36So it's new to me, but it's very old to this land.
44:40So thank you for showing me what your ancestors would have done on this earth way back in Estonia's history.
44:52It's really special.
44:53So thank you.
44:54I am full of gratitude for being here.
44:56Thank you so much.
44:58Thank you for coming.
45:00Tenna vaika.
45:01And I hope I survive the viper gin.
45:14This amazing journey has immersed me in a world of medieval shipwrecks,
45:20DNA from our ancestors and age-old rituals.
45:27Beneath the surface, Estonia is brimming with magical surprises.
45:33The human stories in this land of forests and sea and steam and ice are incredibly rich.
45:48And they connect us back to ancient cultures that still live today,
45:53as well as to the secret histories that live within our bodies.
45:57So the hidden treasures here tell us not just about this country,
46:03but about us as a species.
46:27Let's see.
46:43Let's see.
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