The symbol of the Finno-Ugric Capitals of Culture movement is ‘Tsirk’, which means ‘bird’ in the Seto language. It represents the World-Bird, a common archetype in many Finno-Ugric, and in particular Baltic-Finnic mythologies.
According to creation stories of many Baltic-Finnic peoples, the world was created from a bird’s egg. Estonian, Ingrian and Karelian runic "Creation Songs" probably share a common mythological foundation. Estonian folklorists Matti Kuusi and Ingrid Rüütel have presented a possible origin myth of the songs. According to it, initially there was only sky and an endless primeval ocean, above which the World-Bird (usually a duck) sought a nesting place for itself. After finding a lone turf, it laid three eggs on it. Wind rolled the eggs into the sea, and they turned into sky, earth, Sun, moon and stars.
Two physical versions of the Tsirk – symbol of the Finno-Ugric Capitals of Culture – exist. Both have been created by Pavel Varunin, a master craftsman from the Lake Peipsi region. Wings of both Tsirks have 26 feathers, each representing one Finno-Ugric people. The two Tsirks differ in the orientation of their wings – the first Tsirk keeps its wings downward while the second is extending them upward, as if readying for the next flight.
The first Tsirk was completed in 2013 and it travelled through six Finno-Ugric Capitals of Culture: Bygy, Obnitsa, Iszkaszentgyörgy, Veszprem, Vuokkiniemi on Shorunzha. Therefter it was handed back to Bygy, the first Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture, which is its permanent home now.
The first Tsirk – bird during Easter time in Iskaszengyörgy, Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture 2016
The second Tsirk represents the takeoff of the programme of Finno-Ugric Capitals of Culture and Tsirk’s optimism about the future of Finno-Ugric cooperation. It is the task of the organizers and participants of the Finno-Ugric Capitals of Culture programme to turn this into reality.
The second Tsirk-bird in Mulgimaa (Estonia) with Ave Grenberg, project manager of Abja-Paluoja – Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture 2021
