Seto people's museum-estate in the village of Sigovo

About museum

The Seto people live in the Pechorsky District of the Pskov Region and on the southeastern outskirts of Estonia. Tatyana Nikolaevna Ogareva organized the Seto people's museum-estate in the village of Sigovo, which is the only one in Russia. In 1815 the German traveler Christian Nest Schlegel was the first to notice the Seto people. F. R. Kreutzwald urged the study of their chants and tales, and J. Hurt published three volumes of 'Songs of the Seto'. The Pskovo-Pechersky Monastery holds a special place in Seto history, where they adopted Orthodoxy. The Seto are an agricultural people with a patriarchal way of life. They grew cereal crops and flax, raised livestock, and engaged in spinning and weaving. In their culture Christian elements are closely interwoven with pagan ones. To this day the Seto have preserved some traditions, for example celebrations on the day of St. Onuphrius and the kirmash (fair).