After 1991 however, this territory was divided between the newly independent Estonia (Põlva and Võro counties) and the north-western sections of the Russian Federation (Pechorsky District of Pskov Oblast).

Over the next two hundred years, the Setos were converted to Orthodox Christianity due to the influence from the neighboring Slavic states, but incorporated elements of their earlier pre-Christian religion.

An early prevailing belief of the origin of the Seto community was that they were ethnic Estonians who had migrated east and adopted Orthodox Christianity under the influence of the Novgorod Republic.

In Russia, due to the influence of Estonian language schools, high rates of inter-community marriages, and emigration to Estonia, the number of self-identifying Setos decreased as well.

[3] In 1920, with the peace treaty of Tartu, the area Setomaa (Setoland) was ceded to the newly created Republic of Estonia and it was included into Petseri County.

In 2009, the Setos' polyphonic style of folk singing, called leelo, was added to the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage.

[5] During the Seto Kingdom Day celebration, the winning lead singer of a leelo group is awarded the title Mother of Song.

Following the occupation by the German and Soviet forces from 1940-1991, the restoration of Estonian independence led the border to be moved, dividing the ancestral Seto lands and placing the monastery on side of the Russian Federation.

Since 2007, Jumalamägi, God's Hill, an ancient sacred grove that was dedicated to the God-King Peko, who would carry spirits to the afterlife in his horse wagon, has again become a center of communal activity.