Estonia's Seto people bolster their centuries-old culture and language with a kingdom for a day

MIKITAMÄE, Estonia (AP) — As an accordion plays, 80-year-old Maime Kapten spins across the grass field, her embroidered skirt swirling and silver chains and coins around her neck jangling.

Kapten is a member of the Seto ethnic community, which once a year turns a village in southeastern Estonia into a symbolic kingdom for a day — complete with entry visas instead of tickets, made-up currency and even a mock military parade. She's one of only a few thousand fluent speakers of Seto, which is closely related to the Estonian language.

The idea was born in 1994 as the Setos, whose homeland was divided by the Estonian-Russian border after the collapse of the Soviet Union, created a special event to highlight their unique culture and preserve their language, and bring the community together.

“This is an important cultural day for us,” Kapten said. “We get to meet people we know, we get to talk, exchange a few words, give each other a hug.”

The Seto people have lived for centuries in the border region and never had a real kingdom. After the Soviet Union's collapse, many on the Russian side of the border eventually abandoned or sold their houses and moved to Estonia. Fewer than 200 stayed behind.

Those who remained on the different sides of the border couldn’t see each other as easily as before and needed visas to visit family graves and relatives.

According to Estonia's 2021 census, about 25,000 people reported being able to speak Seto, but linguists estimate only a few thousand use it in everyday life. Seto speakers are spread across Estonia, and the Setomaa parish in their traditional home region is home to fewer than 3,000 people.

The parish includes the usually quiet village of Mikitamäe, host to this year's kingdom day, whose streets were bursting on Saturday with men and women in colorful folk costumes.

A local saying goes that you hear a Seto woman before you see her because of the noise her silver chains and dangling coins make. Those traditional dresses, worn every day a century ago, now are only worn for special occasions.

“Seto clothes say a lot about the person who wears them," said cultural activist Piret Torm-Kriis, 62. “If you look at a Seto woman, you can understand whether she is married or single, whether she is going to the church or to the market, to a party or to work.”

For centuries, Seto culture has combined Eastern Orthodox traditions and pre-Christian mythology.

Setos attended church services but also sought help from Peko, the god of fertility and king of the Setos in local folklore. The tradition lives on with the annual election of a new Ülemsootska, the representative of the community, who speaks on Peko’s behalf and serves as his messenger.

Each year, a man and a woman declare their program while standing on tree stumps to the Seto people, who quickly form lines in front of their favored candidate, holding onto threads stretching hundreds of meters (yards).

On Saturday, the longest line formed in front of folk costume maker Ingrit Kala, who was declared the Ülemsootska.

Topping Kala's agenda: promoting the Seto culture and preserving the Seto language. The language is officially viewed as a dialect of Estonian but considered a separate language by the Seto themselves, with its distinct pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary.

“We have so many different things, so many skilled craftspeople, to show what a rich culture we have and to really introduce it,” Kala said.

Saturday's events prominently featured the traditional Seto way of singing, known as leelo, believed to be over 1,000 years old and recognized on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage.

It features a woman singing the first verse line, with a choir joining in for the final syllables before the singing blends together. Its lyrics and themes are often mythological and have been passed down orally from one generation to another.

Singing traditionally accompanied all daily activities, with songs for everything, including work, rituals and celebrations.

Leelo singing contains a lot of information about the world and people at the time of its origins, "how were they thinking, what was important, what did they believe in,” leelo singing researcher and teacher Mari Palolill said after singing with her choir.

Seto traditions have survived largely by being passed on by word of mouth, and the annual kingdom day is one of the most important events for preserving the Seto language.

In Setomaa, there is a Seto-speaking kindergarten group and a newspaper in Seto. Some books, including Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's “The Little Prince,” have been translated into Seto.

Still, it remains a language largely learned in the family.

“If Seto isn’t spoken at home, then what children learn at school doesn’t help much,” Kala said

Maria Grünberg, 23, learned Seto by listening to leelo songs as a child and trying to sing along. Now she’s leading the youth leelo choir and her dream is to help every generation embrace Seto.

“We all together try to preserve the songs, the language, and show also other young people that Seto songs and Seto language is not only for old people," said Grünberg, who sang wearing a traditional Seto dress she customized herself and her grandparents' jewelry. “We want to show that this is for everyone.”

Estonia Seto Kingdom Day People attend mock military parade during the annual Seto Kingdom Day in Mikitamäe, south Estonia, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Estonia Seto Kingdom Day Men wearing traditional Seto costumes dance during the annual Seto Kingdom Day in Mikitamäe, south Estonia, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Estonia Seto Kingdom Day Men wearing traditional Seto costumes dance during the annual Seto Kingdom Day in Mikitamäe, south Estonia, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Estonia Seto Kingdom Day A woman wearing traditional Seto costumes dances during the annual Seto Kingdom Day in Mikitamäe, south Estonia, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Estonia Seto Kingdom Day Women wearing traditional Seto costumes dance during the annual Seto Kingdom Day in Mikitamäe, south Estonia, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

BUNIA, Congo (AP) — Esther Lutula stopped going for prenatal checkups shortly after the current Ebola outbreak was declared in eastern Congo. Midway into her pregnancy, the 26-year-old feared being put into isolation simply for having a fever, a common misconception.

“That’s why I’m waiting until the disease is no longer widespread,” she told The Associated Press from her home in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province and epicenter of the outbreak declared on May 15.

But that could be a deadly mistake.

Maternal mortality across Ituri soon doubled as news of the outbreak spread, with an average of about six women dying per week due to childbirth complication, according to Noemi Dalmonte, deputy country representative of the United Nations Population Fund in Congo.

While there was an average of 3.1 maternal deaths weekly this year before the outbreak, that jumped to 5.8 deaths from May 25 to July 19. Among those, the deaths outside health centers have also jumped from 9.1% to 17.4% within the same period, UNFPA data shows.

This is part of a series on maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa, which has the world’s fastest-growing population and accounts for 70% of global maternal deaths. Around 180,000 pregnancy deaths are recorded every year across the continent.

As Congo battles the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record, with more than 1,600 confirmed deaths, health and aid workers are warning of a shadow crisis as pregnant women avoid hospitals and the country's already high maternal mortality rate climbs even more.

While it’s common for Africans to avoid health centers during public health emergencies because of safety concerns, “with Ebola, it is stronger because Ebola has a lot of rumors," Dalmonte said in an interview.

With some wary residents questioning whether Ebola even exists, and health workers in one of Congo’s most remote and volatile regions struggling to respond to the outbreak with few supplies, pregnant women have less care than ever.

Congo's has among the world's highest rates of both childbirths per woman and deaths around childbirth.

Women in the vast central African nation have almost six children on average. At least 19,000 women died from pregnancy complications in Congo in 2023, according to the latest U.N. data, tied with India and second only to Nigeria globally.

Now health workers in Ituri say they are seeing a decline in hospital visits as people worry about the risk of infection. This type of Ebola has no approved treatment or vaccine.

Women in need of care also fear being caught up in violence. Ebola treatment centers have been attacked by residents fueled by misinformation or anger over strict outbreak measures.

At the Bénédicte Clinic in Bunia, the number of women registered for prenatal care has dropped from 60 each month to around 10, said Dr. Sonny Mwembo, the medical director.

Even now, weeks into efforts to battle misinformation, some residents hold mistaken views of the outbreak.

“Right now, if you feel sick and go to the hospital, they say it’s Ebola and they put you in quarantine right away. That’s what scares people,” said Elodie Yabiri, a Bunia resident who is heavily pregnant.

Yabiri said she’s avoiding hospitals as much as she can.

As long as she still feels her unborn child moving, she believes everything is still okay.

The outbreak has strained Congo’s already overstretched healthcare system, complicating access for the pregnant women who still come for prenatal care or birth.

Health facilities in the five affected provinces are redirecting staff and supplies to the response, reducing access to essential maternal care services, according to aid groups.

At least 44 health infected workers have died. Many other health workers have walked off their jobs, protesting the lack of payment. At least 12 attacks have been recorded against health facilities and teams since the outbreak was declared in mid-May.

“We are doing everything we can to make the public understand how dangerous this disease is. We are working day and night without being paid,” said Dr. Ghislain Maneba, an epidemiologist and community investigator in Ituri's Rwampara health zone.

Ebola is rare but highly contagious and severe, often fatal. It spreads in the human population through contact with bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen, and with contaminated surfaces and materials such as bedding and clothing.

Women are usually the primary caregivers when a loved one becomes ill. Many are among frontline health workers in this outbreak as well.

Associated Press journalists covering the outbreak have seen pregnant health workers among the responders.

“It is very important that they know how to protect themselves, that they have the right information,” Dalmonte said.

Pregnant women with Ebola are at an increased risk of problems including miscarriage, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said in its clinical guidance.

Meanwhile, pregnant women who delay care and avoid health facilities “could die not from Ebola itself but because the care that would have saved them was no longer accessible, trusted or safe,” Dalmonte said.

Asadu reported from Abuja, Nigeria.

For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Esther Lutula, a 26 year-old woman who is four months pregnant and a mother of four, who stopped going for prenatal checkups shortly after the current Ebola outbreak, stands outside her house in Bunia, northeastern, Congo, Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Esther Lutula, a 26 year-old woman who is four months pregnant and a mother of four, who stopped going for prenatal checkups shortly after the current Ebola outbreak, caresses her child outside her house in Bunia, northeastern, Congo, Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Esther Lutula, a 26 year-old woman who is four months pregnant and a mother of four, who stopped going for prenatal checkups shortly after the current Ebola outbreak, stands outside her house in Bunia, northeastern, Congo, Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Esther Lutula, a 26 year-old woman who is four months pregnant and a mother of four, sits outside her house in Bunia, northeastern, Congo, Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Esther Lutula, a 26 year-old woman who is four months pregnant and a mother of four who stopped going for prenatal checkups shortly after the current Ebola outbreak, does the laundry outside her house in Bunia, northeastern, Congo, Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)