Juniper

It is a well-known fact that Saaremaa is the land of the junipers. But it has not always been so. Hundreds of years ago the junipers grew only in mainland. As the people there considered junipers to be quite pointless – nobody could figure out were they bushes or trees – they were uprooted and deported to Saaremaa. The kind islanders took the strange plant in and domesticated it. Now this tree has become an inseparable part of the islanders’ identity and life without this strange tree is unimaginable to anyone. In Saaremaa, there is nothing that cannot be made from juniper. Houses, cars, bread, beer, poems, pants and as of last year even apps (only for Android phones) have been made from juniper. Hence, no wonder that all the locals are still discussing the dreadful year of 1965, when Biting Frost took almost two thirds of the juniper plants. Only diplomacy saved the people from starvation and freezing to death. After long negotiations the Biting Frost gave back about 20% of the taken junipers. Almost all visitors purchase a small juniper as a souvenir, but one needs to be careful to buy an authentic thing, not a cheap forgery. For example, all the junipers in mainland Estonia shores are clearly illegal pirate copies. The easiest way to determine the authenticity of the juniper is to set it on fire. The fake ones usually don’t burn, but the original lights easily.