Let's celebrate the Yakut New Year! Culture of the Yakut people: the national holiday Ysyakh will be held in Kolomenskoye The Yakut holiday Ysyakh is the name of family competitions

The first thought was that it is impossible in principle to compare tourist Yakutia and Italy. It is impossible to compare the impressions of a beach holiday in a five-star hotel in the Seychelles and climbing Everest in cats with living in climbing tents in conditions of insufficient oxygen. At the second stage, my inquisitive mind came to the conclusion that, after all, comparison is possible if some criteria are found. Well, for example, the development of tourism infrastructure. But in this case, Italy puts Yakutia on the shoulder blades from the very first blow in the first second of the half: in Italy, the world tourist center, everything lives and breathes tourism, in some unknown way, the Italians know how to turn every meter of their land into a tourist chicken that lays golden eggs. In Yakutia, everything is different. For example, local travel agencies on their websites use the following wording: “When traveling to sightseeing N, be prepared for some domestic inconvenience, because, unfortunately, the tourist infrastructure of Yakutia is not yet fully developed.” Under the phrase “not fully developed”, I would write openly and directly: it is not here in principle. And those rudimentary tourist services that have begun to appear cost such enormous money that you, of course, after some thought, will go to Italy.

And yet, in the case of tourist Yakutia, we are dealing with a miracle. Firstly, despite all this, contrary to all the laws of physics and economics, there are tourists here, and they are ready to pay, and very big money. Secondly, I personally am drawn to Yakutia, and I certainly intend to return there. I think that's why.

Ysyakh

Ysyakh has changed a lot since the early 1990s. Instead of a small-town holiday, it has become a colossal event of international level in its scope and scale. Ysyakh is celebrated for two days in the vicinity of Yakutsk, and the main part falls on the time of dawn, when thousands of participants in the holiday stand in a single round dance osuokhai and pray to the sun. Ysyakh is visited by official delegations from the center and other countries, it gathers more than a hundred thousand people. Yakuts and northern peoples come to Ysyakh from all over the region, from all over Russia and from all other countries of the world. Here you can see national dances, listen to songs, dance round dances, learn how to play the khomus, take part in competitions in national sports (you have no chance against professional athletes), try on historical costumes, go through rituals, talk with shamans, meet the most influential people of Yakutia in an informal setting and try national dishes.

It so happened that I got to Ysyakh on the ninth month of my round-the-world trip and saw here what I had seen only once on the border of Mexico and Guatemala, in the community of Mayan Indians in the village of Chamula. And this is what it is: people who gathered for a major event did not do it for the sake of tourists and, therefore, not for the sake of money - they did it all for themselves, for real. On Ysyakh, I saw not a festival, but a grandiose religious ceremony, around me more than a hundred thousand people sincerely prayed to fire, smoke and the sun and conjured natural forces for a successful next year. The whole of Yakutsk gathered here in national Yakut costumes. Another, parallel world of the northern peoples of Russia gathered here and showed all the beauty of their culture.

However, all this is very difficult to convey, and it is much better to see with your own eyes. Therefore, here are some tips for planning a trip to Ysyakh.

Nature

If you fly a lot, then confirm my observation: most of our planet from the window window began to present a rather boring sight: even squares of fields and straight lines of city streets. If not for the clouds, mountains and rugged lines of sea coasts ...

In the Far East in general and in Yakutia in particular, everything is different. Not yet. Yakutia occupies one of the first places in the world among the regions with the lowest population density: in 2018 this figure was 0.3 people per square kilometer. For example: in Moscow this figure is 4,883.43. All this is already visible from the porthole window: you fly for several hours over the taiga, mountains and rivers and do not see a single settlement. Untouched nature as mammoths saw it. An introvert's paradise where you want to stay forever. Here on the banks of this river. On the slope of this snowy peak.

When planning a trip to Yakutia, I strongly recommend that you leave as little time as possible for your stay in the cities. There is absolutely nothing to see in Yakutsk, in my opinion. In addition, contrary to many myths about the cleanliness of Far Eastern cities, the air here is quite heavy - the city drives old foreign cars from China, Japan and Korea, which are heavily smoked and smoked. The tourist value of Yakutsk is close to zero, especially if you are an experienced traveler. What can not be said about nature, which begins right behind Yakutsk and then stretches for thousands of kilometers. Incredible natural wonders are scattered in this endless taiga.

Lena Pillars

This is a visiting card of tourist Yakutia and a huge nature reserve upstream of the Lena. Huge sharp rocks rising hundreds of meters above the Lena are a bewitching sight. There are three ways to get to the Lena Pillars. The most boring and expensive - by helicopter. The most comfortable one is on a river cruise liner, which takes two to three days to the pillars, the cost is 7–15 thousand rubles per person, depending on the cabin class. On a cruise ship, you can go on deck, throw on a blanket and watch the giant pillars with a glass of wine. However, if you are not lucky, all this will be to the music of Grigory Leps or Sofia Rotaru.

The most interesting way, in my opinion, is by boat, which can be ordered from local peasants. With a boat you can get to the Lena Pillars in one day, and most importantly, stop anywhere on the way, wherever you wish. This method is not recommended for people with an undeveloped vestibular apparatus and those who are afraid of being pumped from head to toe with icy water somewhere in the middle of the Lena in the taiga. Cost - from 15 thousand rubles per day.

By agreement with the administration of the reserve, you can camp here for a couple of days in a specially designated place. All food must be taken with you.

Non-melting lake Buluus

You are driving a hundred kilometers through the taiga through the sharply continental Yakut heat at 30 degrees (believe me, in the summer it fries worse than in Sochi) and suddenly you meet a huge glacier in one of the hollows. Natural year-round skating rink. It is very difficult to believe in it in those very 30 degrees, but it is true. Near Buluus there is a picnic area where you can spend a few hours and have a picnic. Hot meals are not provided, so it is better to bring all the food with you.

Tukulans

On the banks of the Lena, in the middle of the taiga, a huge sand dune rises, very reminiscent of the dunes of the Curonian Spit. How she ended up here and why there is only one - no one can answer this question until now. However, it is not necessary to ask questions of the universe. In August, when the Lena warms up enough (up to 18-20 degrees), Yakutsk comes here to swim in the Lena.

Lena

The Lena at the latitude of Yakutsk is comparable in scope to the Volga. Great great river. There are rare villages along the Lena coast, next to which there are recreation centers. You will not find service in them, but you will find accommodation for the night, meditative silence and those same 0.3 people per square kilometer. You will also find taiga mosquitoes there, from which the Yakuts themselves have come up with only one way of protection since ancient times - to burn horse manure in a nearby bucket and fan themselves with a horse's tail. Repellents are unlikely to help you, but still take a couple of dozen with you.

Permafrost

Most of Russia is on permafrost, but few people know what it is. A visit to Yakutia is a great opportunity to improve your knowledge. Two mines have been cut in Yakutsk, one of which belongs to the Institute of Permafrost Science of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the second to the Museum of Permafrost Science. At the entrance to the museum, you will be offered to put on a warm sheepskin coat, a hat and felt boots and go to the kingdom of permafrost.

Food

Yakut cuisine is very exotic. In Yakutia, you should definitely try venison (I recommend the Makhtal restaurant in the historic district of the city), foal, stroganina and koumiss. The only thing is, if you are trying this type of meat for the first time, start with small portions, as your stomach may not accept something new and unknown. In addition, due to the proximity to Lena, there is a huge selection of fish. The main Yakut fish specialty is the Yakut chir, which, in my opinion, is much superior in taste to the Baikal omul (which, however, is now banned anyway).

What is the price? Due to the flight and the cost of excursion services, resting here is expensive. About 200 thousand rubles for 10-14 days for two.

When to go? In the middle of June with the aim of getting to Ysyakh.

How to plan a vacation? During the trip, try to spend as little time in the city as possible and in nature as much as possible.

What is? Stroganin, venison, foal, koumiss, Yakut chir.

What to bring home as a keepsake? Yakut chir.

Despite the fact that even the most negligent citizens of our country have already taken the New Year tree out of the balcony, some still continue to celebrate the New Year! The Yakut Ysyakh is associated with the cult of the solar deity, with the cult of fertility.

It has been customary for the Sakha people (Yakuts) to celebrate the New Year in June for many centuries. This holiday is called Ysyakh, which means "abundance". In fact, the Yakuts celebrate the New Year twice: together with all Russians - in winter and, according to ancient custom, in summer. Such an unusual tradition is easily explained.

At the end of May, in the village of Golovino near Moscow, it was possible not only to play snowballs, but also to go skiing on real snow. And this is at an air temperature of about 25 degrees above zero! A unique opportunity for those who miss winter appeared due to the fact that the famous Russian biathlete Sergei Rozhkov, leaving big-time sports, arranged a holiday for all lovers of biathlon and skiing.

In winter, the temperature in these parts can drop below minus 60 degrees, so you won’t have much fun. But to celebrate the arrival of the New Year with the onset of summer, so short and desirable, is a completely different matter. The Yakuts, who have always been a pastoral people, usually divide the year into two halves, and Ysyakh itself has become a kind of border between the old and the new, the past and the future. In addition, due to the very long winter, Ysyakh is the only opportunity for the Yakuts to get together and have a folk festival.

Ysyakh is dedicated to the pagan Yakut deities aiyy and the revival of nature. According to the mythology of the Yakuts, the aiyy gods are the progenitors of the people, and now they inhabit the Upper World. Aiyy do not accept blood sacrifices, and therefore they are presented with sacrifices of plant origin and dairy products, mainly koumiss (a very tasty and healthy sour-milk drink based on fermented mare's milk). The Ysyakh holiday is accompanied by a ritual of prayers, plentiful refreshments and drinking of koumiss, dances, folk games and horse races.

The Yakut New Year in the old days was celebrated on June 22 - the day of the summer solstice. However, due to the fact that in 1941 Ysyakh day coincided with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, it began to be held between June 10 and 25, depending on the area, weekend schedule, local preferences and other factors.

Today, the Yakut diasporas in many cities of Russia continue to celebrate their holiday and introduce local residents to it. The Yakuts of St. Petersburg and Moscow have been organizing Ysyakh for 16 years already, gathering 1000-1500 people for a noisy holiday. So this year, Ysyakh was celebrated in Moscow on June 12 (on the territory of the State Art Historical, Architectural and Natural Landscape Museum-Reserve "Kolomenskoye" - you can read more about this on the official website of the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) under the President of the Russian Federation, which is the initiator of holding festive events in honor of Ysyakh in the Russian Federation).

The co-organizers of the holiday were the Government of Moscow, the Moscow House of Nationalities and the administration of the Kolomenskoye Museum-Reserve. This year, Ysyakh was dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the Great Victory and the 110th anniversary of the birth of the folk singer S.A. Zverev-Kyyl Wola.

In St. Petersburg, Ysyakh, as in previous years, was celebrated in Olgino, this time on June 13th. Here, the Sakha St. Petersburg Cultural Society, as well as the Saydyy Youth Association, had a hand in the celebration.

Members of the Government of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), representatives of the administration of St. Petersburg became the guests of honor of the annual holiday.

Just like in Yakutia, Moscow and St. Petersburg Ysyakh passes by all the rules.

Imagine how you would organize a holiday if it was only once a year? This is how Ysyakh happens. It has everything you can imagine: competitions for the most beautiful girl's braid, for the best national costume, the best national dish and tyusylga (serving a festive table, or rather, a festive carpet), a display of collections by Yakut fashion designers, a competition for young people who sang the osuohaya round dance, feeding fire, refreshments, rivers of koumiss, a festive concert and much more.

The central symbol of the New Year in Ecuador is “año biejo” (Spanish año viejo - “old year”), a human-sized figurine stuffed with any well-burning materials - newspapers, straw, paper. The “Años bejos” are dressed in shabby clothes, and instead of faces they have papier-mâché masks.

Pass during the celebration of Ysyakh and the national Yakut competition "Games of Tygyn".

One of the stages of the competition is pulling a stick only 50 cm long. Moreover, they pull it not by the ends, but across, grabbing the middle with their hands. This is how it happens: two people sit on the ground, resting their feet on a special plank between them, take a stick from both sides and pull - each on themselves. Whoever can get a stick or pull an opponent to their own half becomes the winner. Even Russian championships are held in stick pulling, and the game itself is registered in Rossport as a national sport.

Another action that Ysyakh participants like so much is the “Running for a Girl” contest. Yes, yes, nothing human is alien to the Yakuts, but, instead of long courtship and persuasion, they catch up with the girl they like. But the young ladies in the northern regions are not born with a bast. They run so that only sparks fly from under their heels.

Usually one girl and several daredevils who want to run after her participate in the competition. But the task is not as easy as it might seem at first glance. Often a girl leaves far behind all the boys trying to catch up with her...

If the girl did not work out, but you still want to demonstrate your courage, you can take part in the competition for dragging a 100-kilogram stone. True, not everyone reaches the finish line, but the audience looks at each participant with respect.

The most coveted prize that is awarded on Ysyakh to those who caught up with a girl or brought a stone block to the finish line is muhee, that is, a large boiled foal bone with meat. For the Yakuts, muhee is the highest award! Sometimes in Moscow and St. Petersburg, a bone has to be replaced with a beef one - for lack of a foal.

Huge mammoths roam around the Olgino campsite. They personify the mammoth Lyuba, found in 2007 in Yamal, and the mammoth Igor, most recently discovered in Yakutia.

On Ysyakh, it is customary to dance, which is called osuokhay, all participants of the holiday gather in it. Osuohai means the circle of life and symbolizes the universal unity of people. The round dance is led in the direction of the sun, as if they make a cycle in time and space, thank the sun for the light and warmth given to people.

In the middle of the glade, a festive fire is kindled, the elder “feeds the fire”, pouring all sorts of oils into it so that it warms all the people. It is also customary to sprinkle fire, grass and trees with koumiss. The ritual symbolizes the birth of the universe and man.

The Yakuts, who have moved to other parts of Russia, are happy to invite local residents to Ysyakh, thereby wishing to share with them the joy of the onset of summer and strengthen friendship with other peoples.

Recently, more and more often they talk about the need to cancel the practice of transferring the holiday from June 22 to other days, since the day of the summer solstice is a natural, inherent in nature itself, the moment of the beginning of a new annual cycle, which has an ancient sacred meaning. But so far this remains only at the level of talk, and in different regions of Yakutia and Russia, the local government chooses a date for celebrating the new year arbitrarily.

In accordance with ancient traditions, Ysyakh is arranged inside a ritual circle of chechir (young birches). In the center of the festive circle, a hitching post-serge with arched birch decorations is installed. According to the traditional ideas of Sakha, serge is a symbol of the World Tree and the axis of the entire Universe. Installing it, the Sakhas were constructing, as it were, a model of the Universe - nine branches of the sacred tree Aar Kuduk Mae exude white grace. In our time, the symbolism of the serge has expanded and the serge personifies the friendship and unity of all peoples inhabiting our northern republic. Next to the serge, they usually arrange a circle - tyusylge, fenced with multi-colored salama from bundles of horse hair, pieces of cloth, birch bark products. In the center of the tyusylge there is an altar in the form of a miniature urasa and aar bagah with ritual utensils and dishes filled with koumiss.

Koumiss in the Sakha's view is a sacred drink and a symbol of ilge - white grace and abundance, which contains the kut-sur (soul) of all unborn people, horses and cows. It is believed that koumiss is the earthly incarnation of a heavenly milky lake, on the banks of which there is the dwelling of Yuryung Aiyy Toyon, one of the Highest Deities - patrons of the Sakha. His wife Aiyysyt washes in this lake. During Ysyakh, through drinking koumiss, people are introduced to the higher mysteries of life. Kumis is drunk from a choron, a sacred vessel. The holiday begins with an ancient ritual - sprinkling fire and earth with koumiss, blessing those present and asking the Upper Deities to send grace to everyone. All this is performed by algyschyt. Ysyakh is a family holiday. Each family carefully prepares for it in advance by sewing festive clothes, preparing national dishes, koumiss and byppah, salamat. During Ysyakh, it is obligatory to have a joint meal with all relatives and relatives, and the blessing of respected and respected family members is given to the younger generation. Then everyone takes part in the round dance osuokhay - a mass folk dance, the dance of unity of the people of the land of Olonkho. Participants of osuohai, holding hands, pass positive energy to each other and become kindred in spirit. The songs of the festive round dance glorify the power of Nature, its beauty and grandeur, as well as the onset of a fertile summer and abundance. The peak and exciting moment, the culmination of Ysyakh is the meeting of the sun. A new day is coming, and the warm rays of the sun gently, with love and tenderness embrace everyone. It seems as if the whole nature of the forest, grass, flowers - splashes its life-giving energy into the arms of the sun, simultaneously charging everyone with it. Sports competitions are extremely spectacular, in which brave people strive to show their dexterity, strength, beauty and skill - kyly (jumping on one leg), kuobah (jumping on both legs), ystanga (jumping with alternating legs), hapsagay wrestling - Yakut wrestling, where who touches the ground with even a finger loses, pulling a stick, archery. The winners are the strongest, dexterous and lucky ones, who are honored and awarded with myuse (meat sticks) and valuable gifts. The Yakuts are great fans of horse racing, without which not a single Ysyakh passes.

Serge

If for all the peoples inhabiting the Far North of Siberia, the main types of household activities, home production were the dressing of reindeer skins, the manufacture of home-made suede - rovduga, and the main form of manifestation of artistic flair and taste was the design of outer fur clothing and products from rovduga, then for the Yakuts it was equivalent the area of ​​creative activity was the artistic processing of wood. Wood and products made from it played a paramount role in the life of the Yakuts.

The decoration of the old folk Yakut dwelling was made up of wooden benches, round low tables on figured legs, boxes and stacks of various sizes were used to store all kinds of belongings. Figured serge tethering posts were hewn out of wood. Their manufacture and decoration with sculptural and ornamental details has become a kind of folk decorative art. These harnesses are very diverse. Initially, a yard hitching post, a military, sacrificial and shaman hitching post were distinguished. Later, a wedding hitching post, a koumiss hitching post appeared. Serge can still be found in many places in Yakutia.

Ysyakh is a celebration of the rebirth of life, a celebration of the meeting of spring and summer. Yakuts are people from the south. The fact is that the Yakuts are not only, and perhaps not so much reindeer herders as horse breeders. Not at the end of winter, they celebrate their indigenous, ancient holiday. as is customary among other northerners, but in June.

Expositions of the American Museum of Natural History in New York (American Museum of National History - AMNH) and M. Kyrah (USA)

In the permanent exhibition of the American Museum of Natural History, the Yakuts are represented by several stands. They are called “The Yakut, a Turkic Tribe of Siberia” and are dedicated to the life and traditions of the Sakha people at the end of the 19th century.

Let's look at them in more detail. And let's start our acquaintance with the Yakut traditional calendars, which form a vertical row in the left edge of the right stand.

These wooden calendars, similar to each other except for their round shape and constellations of holes that are incomprehensible at first glance, helped our ancestors navigate the continuous flow of time, showing days, weeks and months. They are "eternal", that is, made without reference to a particular year. So they could still be used today. By the way, why not an idea for our craftsmen? As souvenirs, such calendars could, it seems to me, be in demand.

After all, in the old days such calendars were present in almost every Yakut dwelling. They were hung on the southwestern post of the yurt. The adornments of the calendars attract attention: a two-headed eagle, crosses and angels. This, without further ado, indicates that these types of calendars were adopted by the Yakuts from Russian settlers. Yes, and the name of the calendars ( ebesuke) comes from the Russian word "saints". They were also called "Ku n a ҕ ar”

On the first, located at the top of the calendar, the top row of 12 holes, apparently, corresponds to the number of months in the year. Two holes are located here above the main row. Why? In the book "The origins of mythology and the traditional calendar of the Yakuts" A.I. Gogolev writes: “After the mass Christianization of the population of Yakutia in the first half of the 19th century, the Russian Orthodox calendar spread along with the traditional one. According to it, the year begins in autumn. On the wooden “eternal” calendar “to honor every Sunday” the first month is September. That is, if the first hole represents September, then the higher holes correspond to November (the first hard frost) and June (summer solstice). Judging by the signature on the calendar, each hole in the circle signifies a day. A series of 7 holes (7 days) are separated by transverse notches marking the week. But it is not clear why there are 35 holes, and not 31, and why there are 5 series of 7 holes (weeks), and not four.

On the second, also made of wood, week-month calendar, the inner circle represents the days of the week (7 holes = 7 days). The holes in the outer circle corresponded to the number of days in the month (31). Changes in the days of the week and dates were marked with the help of pegs, which were moved from one hole to another, adjacent. Yochelson in his notes he described a weekly-monthly circular calendar with 30 holes (days) on the rim. In the event that the month consisted of 31 days, the peg remained in the last hole for 2 days. In the case of a short month of 29 or 28 days, the peg was moved to the first hole of the next month. It is possible that the 30-hole calendar described by Yokhelson was an echo of the pre-Christian lunisolar calendar that the Yakuts adhered to. It was based on the lunar year, consisting of 12 months, but consistent with the course of the solar year. And the usual Yakut month consisted of 30 days and was divided into 3 decades - 10 days each. They corresponded to the phases of the moon - sa ҥ а й (new moon), toloru th(full moon) and erge th(old moon).

Let's go back to the stand. On the following calendar, which looks like a carved flower, each "petal" corresponds to a month (12 months). Holes on the "petal" - days in a month (from 29 to 31). On the February "petal", for example, 29 days are marked. The countdown is clockwise from top to bottom - starting from January. On the crossbar of the cross, placed in the center of the calendar, the days of the week (7 days) are marked. There are 31 holes on the inner circle. Apparently, this is the so-called "combined" calendar, on which both the weekly-monthly and annual cycles were reproduced. Judging by the explanatory English text placed on the stand, the holes on the rim indicated the days of the saints.

Interesting Facts:

1. A.I. Gogolev in the book "The origins of mythology and the traditional calendar of the Yakuts" writes:

"... In the 19th century, Orthodox calendar dates and holidays (thatҥ aralar ) were well adapted to the economic annual cycle of the traditional Yakut calendar:

Oroohooostuba - Christmas, December 25 (January 7). On this day, the floors of the yurt were covered with hay, and festive pancakes were prepared. The Christmas frosts have begun. It was noted that if it is warm on this day, the spring will be cold.

Bakhylayap taҥ arata - Vasiliev Day, January 1 (14), the official New Year. Winter is in the middle, and he, as it were, cuts it into 2 parts (“winter break”). Signs: "If soft snow falls - to the harvest of herbs."

Kirihiennie - Epiphany, January 6 (19). Icons were washed and cows, rooms and khotons were sprinkled with this water.

Maҥ naigy ohonoohoyop - First Afanasiev, January 18 (31). One of the horns of the bull-frost falls off.

Ikkis Ohonoohoyop - Second Afanasiev, January 26 (February 8). The second horn of the bull-winter fell off.

Yhuc Ohonoohoyop - Third Afanasiev, February 2 (15), Candlemas. If the day is warm, then a warm spring was expected. The season of severe frosts has come to an end.

Sylaas Өlөksөy - Teply Alexey (Onisim Zimobor), February 15 (28). On this day, according to mythological ideas, the back (torso) of the bull-frost fell off.

Was a son - Annunciation, March 25 (April 7). The snowmen are coming. "Spring overcame winter."

Kiristiep kune, from the word "to be christened". Easter is meant, but since it does not have a permanent day, the Yakuts celebrated it on April 2 (15th according to the new style).

Dёgүөreyep - Egory Veshny, St. George's Day, April 23 (May 6). Sandpipers, crows and geese arrive.

Dierameyep kune - Jeremiah Harnesser, May 1 (14). Beginning of spring field work.

Saasky Newkuolun - Day of Nicholas Veshny, herbal, May 9 (22). The summer half of the year has begun. Nikolshchina is an important agricultural date. It was considered a remarkable holiday date for the Yakut: “Live with Nikola - don’t grieve.”

Saar Kostөkүүn kүne , the day of Tsar Constantine, May 21 (June 3). Time of arrival of scoter ducks. The transition from the winter road to the summer roads was completed.

Bөtөrүөp kүne - Peter's day, June 29 (July 12), the day of Veles, the god of cattle breeding among the Slavs. The haymaking season began. Usually these days, “Peter’s” rains were expected.

Borokuopayap kune - Procopius the Harvester, July 8 (21). Birch bark removal time.

Yldyyn taҥ aratyn kune - Ilyin's Day, July 20 (August 2). Perun's day in pagan times, the middle of the mowing. Rest was supposed to be on this day. Wild ducklings begin to fly. The strawberries ripen. The nights are getting dark.

Bastaks Yspaas - First Spas, August 1 (14). Time of frequent changes in the weather. Cold mornings, and frosts at night.

Ikkis Yspaahyk - Second Spas, August 6 (19). “What a day on the second Savior, such is the Protection.” It starts to rain.

Yhүc Yspaahyk - Third Spas, August 16 (29). The height of the harvest. Cowberries ripen. The days are getting noticeably cooler. Autumn begins.

Semenep - Semyonov day, September 1 (14). Hay work is being completed. The beginning of "Semenov" rains. Moving to winter. The geese are about to fly away.

Isiyeenep - Exaltation, September 14 (27). On this day, the most belated cattle breeder completed hay work. The earth begins to freeze slightly, freezes during the day. This day was called "Sir thenҥorta ҥarat ” - “a deity that freezes the earth.”

Bokuruop kune - Pokrov, October 1 (14). First winter. Beginning of freezing. "What is the Veil - such is the winter." The beginning of the autumn lake flood.

Miiterayep - Dmitriev's Day, October 26 (November 8). Cattle were killed for meat. The storm was over.

Mekeelayep kune - Michaelmas Day, 8 (21) November. The first severe frosts. quarter of winter.

Kyhy ҥҥ y Nyukuolun - Day of St. Nicholas the Winter, 6 (19) December. The shortest days Nikolinsky frosts.

And here is what is written about the calendar representations of the Yakuts and Evens in the geographical atlas, published as a teaching aid for studying the geography of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia): Yakut calendar: The Sakha folk calendar was based on space-time representations, which, in turn, proceeded from a horizontal model of the world. At the same time, the upper world corresponded to the south, and the Lower - to the north. In the center was the Earth of people - the Middle World. The calculation of the year began with the awakening of nature - in May. The meeting of the New Year was celebrated with the Ysyakh rite, which was held for the three longest days - in June, and the three shortest days in December - were recognized as the "crown of the year". The names of the months, from March to September, reflected the alternation of economic and seasonal work, to the nodal points of which certain rituals and customs were timed

Even calendar

Even calendar: For the Evens, the new year began in June - the month of sun, water and new greenery. July - the month of grass, meant the crown of summer, August - the withering of the green cover of the earth. Since September, the calculation of the movement of the Sun through the human body began. The count of months came from the right hand, rose to the elbow, then went up to the shoulder, from it to the crown of the head, then down to the shoulder, elbow and ended with the left hand. Thus, the anthropomorphic representation of the solstice presupposes a peculiar perception of the cosmic rhythm of nature.

The review was prepared by V. Solovieva (USA).

References:

1. A.I. Gogolev. The origins of mythology and the traditional calendar of the Yakuts. - Yakutsk, 2002.

2. Waldemar Johelson. "The Yakut". Anthropological papers of the AMNH. – New York, 1933.

3. Geographic Atlas “Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)” - Moscow, 2000.

Read on the topic:

1. T. Starostina. "Dёgүөreyep - St. George's Day, or a little bit about folk calendars". - Magazine "Ilin", No. 1-2, 1999.

2. V.Ya. Butanaev. "Folk calendar of the Khakas".

The Yakut New Year dedicated to the spring goddess Aiyy

How and when did our ancestors welcome the new year?

Procopius Egorov (USA) reflects on this in his article.

Yakut traditions, beliefs, customs and other aspects of the life of the Sakha people were well studied by ethnographers in the 18th - 19th centuries. According to their records, it can be seen that the Yakut New Year is a celebration of new greenery and falls at the end of spring - the beginning of summer. I will list some arguments based on information gleaned from published records:

1. "The year begins with the Yakuts from spring" (Pekarsky E.K. "Dictionary of the Yakut language". - M., 1969, stb. 880).

2. "New Year - New Summer" (Pekarsky, Stb. 2081).

3. "... pine (bes yya), and the new year begins with it" (Maak R.K. "Vilyui district of the Yakut region". - M., 1994, 217)

4. "The koumiss holiday usually falls around Trinity Day, approximately at the end of May ..." (Maak R.K. "Vilyuysky district of the Yakutsk region". - M., 1994, 287.).

5. "The New Year begins with them from our June ..." (Maak R.K. "Vilyuisky district of the Yakutsk region". - M., 1994, 375).

6. "Bunches of horse hair are decorated ... and a huge leather bucket of koumiss on the spring holiday Ysyakh" (Seroshevsky VL "Yakuts" - M., 1993, 252).

7. "There were many Ysyakhs, .. but there were two main ones: a small one - in the spring, when the grass covered the ground ..." (Seroshevsky V.L. "Yakuts". - M., 1993, 445).

8. The time of the spring Ysyakh, held in 1737, was clearly timed by Ivan Khudyakov to coincide with the time when the larch buds began to bloom (Khudyakov I.A. "A Brief Description of the Verkhoyansk District" - L., 1969, 254-261).

9. "An old big koumiss holiday is celebrated in the spring (near Trinity Day, at the end of May) ... in honor of the deity Aiyy ..." (Pekarsky, stb. 3834).

As we can see, I.A. Khudyakov, V.L. Seroshevsky, R.K. Maack, E.K. Pekarsky unequivocally indicate that the Yakut New Year fell either at the end of May - in the spring, when larch buds are just beginning to bloom, or at the beginning of June. However, the specific date of the onset of the Yakut New Year is not named anywhere, on the contrary, the difference in days in different years is from 10 to 13 days. The fact that only approximate, not fixed dates for the New Year are mentioned in the literature means that the Yakuts, whose life was inextricably linked with natural cycles, celebrate the spring blooming of nature, the appearance of a new offspring in mares and cows, the liberation of rivers from the ice shell - ice drift , the end of spring frosts and the long-awaited arrival of a short but bright summer, in accordance with the conditions of each particular year. Below I will make an attempt, analyzing ancient sources, to determine the approximate dates for the onset of the Yakut New Year in 2005. Based on Pekarsky’s entry: “The old big koumiss holiday is celebrated in the spring (near Trinity Day, at the end of May)”, and knowing that the Trinity Day will be celebrated on May 30 this year, we can make an assumption that the dates of the Yakut New Year could correspond to dates May 27 or 28-29. These numbers are consistent with both the social and mythological thinking of the Sakha people:

1. The number 27 is in Yakut "Үс toҕ us", which means "three times nine", has a special sacred meaning. Pekarsky writes about this in particular: "Before the advent of the Russians, the Yakut people broke up into dyon-s or biis-i, and these consisted of clans (Aҕ a uuha). The spirits called by shamans during the ritual are divided into 3 biis: upper (heavenly), middle (earthly) and lower (underground). Each biis (tribe) of these spirits consists of three nine clans (uus), each clan of three nine individuals "(Pekarsky, stb. 476). Ksenofontov also noted that: "When traveling to the spirit of Mother Earth, the shaman had dancers - three times nine girls and the same number of young people "(Ksenofontov G.V. Shamanism", 1992, 203). Dancers in the amount of 27 girls and 27 boys were symbols - representatives of 27 tribes that form the Sakha people. In the national sports game of the Yakuts (jumping), the ratio "three times nine" is observed; "us thenҕ us olokhtokh kiyit" - meaning a daughter-in-law, originally from distant lands; payment for the loss of a husband-breadwinner was measured three times by nine horses. There are also other examples showing that the number 27 (three times nine) carried a special semantic load as in the daily life of the Yakuts, and in their beliefs, traditions and rituals. Thus, the Yakut people expressed their understanding of various natural phenomena, the interpretation of some aspects of their faith by the ratio "three times nine". It is known that the Moon makes a complete revolution around the earth in 27.3 days, one revolution The Sun relative to the Earth (synodic period) is 27.275 days.The white shaman offers a blessing to the White Sun.He is the mediator between the sun and the Middle World, and therefore he is accompanied by 9 dancers, which can be an analogy of 9 planets of the Solar System.At the same time, 9 dancing youths and 9 girls accompanying the shaman, according to the mythological ideas of the Yakuts, can symbolize the ambassadors of the nine-tiered (planetary) sky in the Middle World (Ortho Doidu). It is interesting to note that in Ancient Greece, the number 9 also occupied a special position: 9 Muses (musai), 9 deities and so on. In other words, we can assume that the last day of the year corresponds to May 27th, and the new year begins on May 28th.

2. Since scientists of the late 18th - early 20th centuries (Maak, Pekarsky, Seroshevsky, etc.) indicated different months of the New Year: "at the end of May" and "from our June", then by calculating the phases of the moon, we can assume that our ancestors associated the onset of the new of the year with a full moon phase, which predetermined the floating-sliding dates for the arrival of the new year, falling both at the end of May and at the beginning of June. Therefore, the second possible date for the onset of the Yakut New Year corresponds to Constantine's Day (Saar Kostokun kune). According to the old style, "Saar Kostokun kune" was celebrated on May 21. (Pekarsky, stb. 2094). Now, with the transition to a new style, this holiday is celebrated on June 3. In 2004, the nearest full moon to this day occurred on June 3, and in 2005 the full moon will be on May 23.

3. The descendants of some of the tribes of the Yakut people, in addition to cattle breeding and horse farming, also engaged in arable farming, timed the beginning of the new year to the beginning of the agricultural season. Therefore, one can try to determine the next possible date of the New Year, based on the dates of sowing bread ("Burduk kutar Taҥ ara"). In the old days, the calendar of tribes living in the Yakutsk district had the following order of months: the year began with yam yya, followed by bes yya, third month from, fourth - atyrdyakh, fifth - bala5an, sixth - Altynny, seventh - satinny, eighth - ahsyny, ninth - tohsunyu, tenth - harrier, eleventh - kulun tutar, twelfth - muus is outdated.

Judging by the records of Maak, the Yakut new year began with bes yya, that is, the fourth month coincides with bala5an yya. Lindenau wrote that the fourth month also bala5an yya. Therefore, according to their records, the order of the months in the Yakut year was as follows: 1) bass, 2) from, 3) atyrdyakh, 4) bala5an, 5) syar5a, 6) Altynny, 7) satinny, 8) ahsyny, 9) tohsunyu, 10) harrier, 11) kulun tutar, 12) muus is outdated, 13) yam yya. That is, the Yakut calendar consisted of 13 months. But one of the months common in the old days - syar5a yya, next after bala5an th now forgotten and no longer used.

It was believed that the Sakha people consisted of 27 tribes living in a variety of conditions - from the tundra to the taiga, along the banks of rivers, in alas and among the mountains. This determined various economic activities, and, as a result, other names of the months were found in different calendars: suo yya, tirge yya, Tugut yya, Burduk yya, tunakh yya and others. Since the origins of such names lie in the sphere of economic work carried out during these months, it can be assumed that the name altynn came from the word alt- double word bulk-alt(hunting season), 7th month - set ebether setii yya, 8th - ahsyn(meaning - "everyone": kүn akhsyn - every day, kiһi akhsyn - for each person, etc. In other words, from this month the number of supplies decreases, food begins to be given out in portions to each family member, taking into account age, work performed), 9th - That ҕ wooong (meaning - "infinity", "many" (Baker's column. 2703)) 10th - wal+ (u)nu (ynakh wallar keme) - the month when they stop milking cows, 11) kulun tutar, 12) muus is outdated (tunnuk flour is outdated) - remove the ice inserted in the window (as the ice begins to melt) and replace it with a frame covered with bull bladder or a piece of mica. Returning to the dates of sowing grain, and judging by the records of Maak, the inhabitants of Vilyui plowed the land on May 9 and after 5-10 days, namely on May 14-19, they sowed grain (Maak, 354). Pekarsky noted: "... the day of May 1 is a holiday from which the sowing of bread begins (burduk kutar taҥ ara)" (Pekarsky, stb. 832). This means that our ancestors again determined the time of sowing bread with the help of the Moon. In the last days of the holiday "Burdugu kutar Taҥ ara", close to the day of Constantine (according to the old style), at the beginning of the moon's growth phase, the plowing of the earth should have ended, and the sowing work should have been completed by the full moon. In 2004, the new moon closest to this date was May 19 , and in 2005 it falls on May 8, while the full moon is expected on May 23. In other words, May 23, 2005 is another possible date for the meeting of the Yakut New Year.

4. The beginning of the Yakut New Year can also be timed to coincide with the ice drift on the Lena River, which, along with the ice, carries away the last spring frosts. In his dictionary of the Yakut language, Pekarsky explains the meaning of the phrase "Ulakhan үөs": "Ulakhan үөs is the main channel, the river itself (Lena)" (Pekarsky, stb. 3155). The ancient name of the Lena River is Sakhsara (Pekarsky, stb. 2137), a great river, literally sah + saar + a(time is a "deity", an ancient toyon river, or, in another case, it may be sakha-saar(toyon) was later changed to Ebe-Khotun- as a result of the renaming of the river). Thus, the ice drift from its beginning, during and until its very end can also be considered the period of the new year. Ice drifted on the Lena near Yakutsk until May 31 in 1864, in 1871 and in 1873. In 1862, the ice drift ended on May 27 (Maak, 447).

If we compare the given dates for the possible onset of the new year according to the Yakut calendar, which were obtained as a result of the analysis of ancient sources, we can see that the time of ice drift, the phase of the full moon, the timing of the completion of sowing work, and Constantine's Day are closely spaced dates. And in 2005, the meeting of the Yakut New Year is possible from May 21 to 29.

Procopy Egorov

Application:

1. Regarding certain terms found in the literature about the Yakuts.

"Among the Lena Yakuts, sas - spring, kyus - autumn, kys - winter ..." (Maak R.K. "Vilyui district of the Yakut region" - M., 1994, 376).

"Sai - summer" (Pekarsky E.K. "Dictionary of the Yakut language". - M., 1959, stb. 2025).

"Saiyn - in summer..." (Pekarsky, stb. 2032).

Estii = butuu, rams - "exodus, end." Senie ester, akylyk ester.

2. Interesting facts related to the time of the meeting of the new year in different parts of the world:

1. "Olunju ... residents of the Zhigansky ulus, Verkhoyansk district consider the beginning of the year from this month" (E.K. Pekarsky. "Dictionary of the Yakut language", vol. 2. - M., 1969, st. 1830.

2. "The birthday of Emperor Augustus, August 23, in the eastern province was considered the beginning of a new year" ("Dictionary of Antiquity". - M., "Progress", 1989, No. 2 - p. 178).

3. "The Romans originally also calculated time in lunar years (the lunar year consisted of 355 or 377-378 days). The New Year began on March 1 ... Subsequently, the first day of the year was moved to January 1, since from 153 BC .e on this day consuls took office ... ". ("Dictionary of Antiquity", M., "Progress", 1989, No. 2, p. 178).

4. "However, the Greeks did not have a unified calendar: each region adopted its own names of the months (about 400 names are known) and its own day from which the year begins (between the end of June and the end of July)." ("Dictionary of Antiquity", M., "Progress", 1989, No. 3-4, p. 241)

5. "In Alexandria, the holiday in honor of Eon was celebrated simultaneously with the celebrations on the occasion of the new year" ("Dictionary of Antiquity", M., "Progress", 1989, No. 5, p. 658).

6. "Many Turkic, Mongolian and some other peoples have long had a time count according to a 12-year cycle. Each year is indicated by the name of a certain animal in the following order: 1) mouse, 2) cow, 3) tiger, 4) hare 5) dragon, 6 ) snake, 7) horse, 8) sheep, 9) monkey, 10) chicken, 11) dog, 12) pig "(S.A. Tokarev. "Ethnography of the peoples of the USSR". - M., Publishing House of Moscow University, 1958, No. 6, p. 163).

7. "... Among the Jews, one of the most important holidays was New Year's Day (Rosh Hashanah), which fell in the fall ..." (S.A. Tokarev. "Ethnography of the Peoples of the USSR." - M., Publishing House of Moscow University, 1958, No. 7, p. 209).

8. "The Church did not consider January 1 a holy day, there was no special service, and the church began the New Year either on March 1, or (later) on September 1" (B.A. Rybakov. "Paganism of Ancient Rus'". - M., "Science", 1987, 663).

9. "The church calendar opened the year on September 1, and in 1348, at the Orthodox Cathedral in Moscow, it was determined that both the civil and church years would begin on September 1 .... By decree of December 15, 1699, the new year began to be calculated from January 1" (And .I. Shangina "Russian traditional holidays", St. Petersburg "Art - St. Petersburg, 1997, p.15)

10. Sopdet (in Egyptian mythology, the goddess of the star Sirius - approx. Lane) was depicted in the guise of a cow or a woman with cow horns. She was also revered as the goddess of the new year, clear water and floods ... The image of the goddess was closely associated with the flood of the Nile, which began after the first morning rise of Sirius after winter. It was at this time that the Egyptians celebrated the onset of the new year. ("Mythology". Encyclopedia. - M., "OLMA-PRESS Education", 2002, 248).

11. "... som jangyrtary among the Teleuts, a rite that marks the arrival of the New Year. It was held in early June", "among the Scandinavian peoples .. the year began with the "month of the cuckoo", that is, from Julian April" (A.I. Gogolev. "Traditional calendar of the Yakuts" - Yakutsk, 1999, 37 and 42).

House ere Dam!

Ini Duon's house!

Briefly about the author : Prokopiy Egorov comes from the village of Elgyai, Suntarsky ulus. Currently lives in the USA. Works as a carpenter, interested in the history and ethnography of the Yakuts. Wife Susie Kreit, professor at George Mason University, daughter Tuyaar-Kedi goes to school.

Diogy Oreyep - St. George's Day, or a little about folk calendars

The funds of the Yakut State Museum of the History and Culture of the Peoples of the North contain ancient Yakut and Evenk calendars of the 19th-20th centuries.

Yakutsk State Museum. Eat. Yaroslavsky. Yakut annual calendar of the 19th century. Belonged to the head of the Borogonsky ulus Okhlopkov Nikolai Efimovich

Typologically, they are close to the Russian wooden calendar calendars. Yakut calendars were also made of wood. Basically, these were ordinary boards, on which information important for life was entered with the help of notches and special signs: about the beginning and progress of agricultural work, about the timing of the hunting season and fishing, about the days of church and family holidays. The organic combination of the Russian and Yakut calendar turned into a convenient system for recognizing time, and the popular consciousness endowed each saint with his duties, for the fulfillment of which the Yakuts revered them. In some cases, the Yakut calendars allowed significant deviations: sometimes the year began on September 1, and some church holidays were not designated, since they were not directly related to housekeeping. The Yakuts did not have identical calendars that coincided in all designations: in different places, based on the nature and economy, their additional signs were added to the calendars, and symbols that were not needed for these places were discarded. In addition, as a rule, the days of saints were celebrated, whose names were borne by family members (master, hostess, etc.). Even in the calendars of the same ulus, there are discrepancies in signs. These calendars are purely individual, much depended on the level of development, interests and degree of religiosity of the manufacturer, on the desire of the customer. Another feature: these calendars were not compiled specifically for one specific year, they were used in any subsequent year, month. That is why they were called "eternal calendars" (ўyetten ўyeie dieri barar halandaardar). Among these wooden calendars there are specimens of the most diverse form and quality of work: from simple smooth boards to those with an elaborate shape and decorated with fine carvings. Calendars are divided into annual, monthly and weekly. The principle of the device is the same for everyone. In annuals, the names of the months and the number of days were written. Holes were made in the monthly and weekly calendars according to the number of days of the month, week. Sticks were inserted into these holes to mark the day. Sometimes these sticks were shaped like birds.

Yakut annual calendar of the 19th century. It belonged to Pyotr Gerasimov from the Yunkur district of the Dzhebarsky nasleg of the West Kangalassky ulus. Wood, carving.

From the collection of calendars of our museum stands out the annual calendar, which belonged to the head of the Borogonsky ulus, Okhlopkov Nikolai Efimovich. The frame of the calendar is decorated with floral ornaments. The upper part, painted blue, contains the names of the months, the number of days in a month, and the words "Perpetual Calendar". In the center, there are two homemade iron hands revolving around multi-colored concentric circles on which the dates and days of the week are marked. In the lower left and right corners are the names of the months and the number of days. Another interesting exhibit was purchased by the museum in 1911 from Pyotr Gerasimov from the Yunkur Dzhebar nasleg of the West Kangalas ulus. This perpetual calendar is a rectangular wooden board. It has 12 horizontal stripes with holes, each of which corresponds to a specific month and graphic designations of church holidays. The year begins in September (this is adopted from the Russian folk calendar, since the month of May opens the year for the Yakuts).

The calendar is compiled in the old style:

September 1 - Semyonov day. The end of summer field work and the beginning of the consumption of the prepared food supply. Gradual transition from summer to winter roads.

October 1 - Pokrov day. The beginning of the real winter season, from that day the cattle are kept in the hoton, fed with hay. Fishing begins on small lakes.

October 26 - Dmitriev's day. Slaughter of cattle (idehe). The return of the hunters from the taiga. The beginning of the season of "gorodchik" bringing meat, butter, game, etc. to the city for sale.

April 23 - Dёgўєreyep (Egor's Day), St. George's Day - the patron saint of cattle.

May 9 - Nyukuolun (Nikolin Day). Transition to summer. Beginning of spring field work. Start of hiring laborers for summer field work. Beginning of ice drift and summer sailing.

June 29 - Betўrўєp (day of Peter and Paul). The beginning of haymaking and the season of summer work. This holiday has always been crowded with national dances and games.

August 1 - Bastaky Yspaahap (1st Spasov). Full ripening of bread and its mass harvesting. A floury food of a new crop appears. Collection of blueberries and black currants.

August 6 - Ortoku Yspaahap (2nd Spasov). Time to throw haystacks and stack bread...

Evenki annual calendar of the early 20th century. Received from the Bulunsky ulus. Walrus bone, carving

There is another kind of annual calendar - Easter ("sibeeske"). Usually they were made of bone or wood. The Evenki calendar in question came from the Bulunsky ulus in 1913, carved from a walrus bone. It has the shape of a 6-sided stick with a thickening in the middle. Both ends are pointed. Each face shows 2 months. Days are marked with scars on the edges, and holidays are marked with icons in the margins between the edges. One side on this calendar is read from right to left, the next - from left to right, and so on. The graphic sign for January 18 means the Sun (“Kўn takhsar yya”). After 3 months of polar night, the sun starts to come out again. On April 23, the figure of the animal means the day of St. George - the patron saint of cattle. In April, deer calving begins (“Tugut tєrўўr yya”). June 29 is marked by a pattern in the form of a plant, grass. This sign marks the beginning of haymaking. Such calendars are found not only in the North, but also in the southern regions of Yakutia.

Yakut weekly-monthly calendar of the late 19th century. Wood, carving.

Almost all monthly and weekly calendars had a round shape. Pieces of mica were inserted into some as decoration. These calendars were available in almost every Yakut family. Along with separate ones, there were also combined weekly-monthly calendars. On the outer circle there were holes denoting days, months, and on the inner circle - the number of days of the week. Thus, with the adoption of Christianity, the chronology of the Yakut folk calendar changed. Church holidays were included, but not all, but only those that were associated with the economic activities of the Yakuts. The collection of Yakut and Evenk calendars kept in our museum helps researchers to study not only ancient calendars, but also the traditional culture of the peoples of the North as a whole.

Sources

1. National archive of the Republic of Sakha. Fund 1403, op. 2, units ridge 56, l. 28.

2. I.V. Zaborovskaya. The art of artistic processing of wood among the Yakuts (based on materials from the museums of the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic). // Collection of scientific articles of the Yakut Republican Museum of Local Lore. Issue 2. - Yakutsk, 1957. - p. 157.

STAROSTINA Tatyana Gavrilievna, senior researcher at the Yakut State Museum of the History and Culture of the Peoples of the North. E. Yaroslavsky .

According to the materials of the publishing house "Ilin"

From the old chronicle

1909

On July 3, 1890, the Irkutsk Governor-General Alexander Dmitrievich Goremykin arrived in the Yakutsk region. An essay and a full description of the journey have been preserved about this event. The head of the region arrived in Yakutsk on the Sinelnikov steamer, made a stop in the village of Rassoloda (now the Megino-Kangalassky ulus).

Irkutsk Governor-General Alexander Dmitrievich Goremykin

The news of the governor's arrival quickly swept through the city. The townspeople decorated their houses with flags, many went to the pier.

Yakut Governor Vladimir Zakharyevich Kolenko

The guests were welcomed by Governor V.Z.Kolenko, Vice-Governor P.P.Ostashkin and his wife, the mayor of Astrakhan with a deputation from the city and officials of all departments. The mayor brought bread and salt, and S.M. Ostashkina brought a bouquet of flowers to the wife of the chief head of the region, Elena Dmitrievna. The honored guest thanked for the cordiality, his words caused a loud "cheers". Then, in a wheelchair, together with the local governor, he went to the city. In the city he got acquainted with the work of educational institutions, and visited the women's gymnasium. At the end of the first week of the distinguished guest's stay in Yakutsk, on July 8, a folk festival - Ysyakh - was held four versts from the city. A lot of people have gathered. A tent was set up for the guests. Its walls were decorated with greenery, and in the middle - the monograms of Alexander Dmitrievich and Elena Dmitrievna. A treat was prepared for the audience, poles with flags and trees (chechir) were placed. The weather favored the walk. The governor-general arrived at Ysyakh with his family at five o'clock in the evening. The guests drank tea, they were offered koumiss. After the treat, we visited the osuokhay, examined the horses, foals, deer with sleds. The attention of the governor and the people accompanying them was attracted by national women's costumes trimmed with expensive furs, brocade and silver jewelry made by local craftsmen. There was a local photographer on Ysyakh who captured the celebration on film. The guests walked until seven o'clock in the evening. The governor-general took advantage of the invitation of the inhabitants of the village of Markha and went there with his family and retinue. Having learned about the arrival of the guests, the villagers decorated their houses with flags, and near the village itself, on the bridge, they installed a triumphal arch, decorated with greenery, approving the monogram of the governor-general and his wife on the arch. They were greeted in March with bread and salt and vegetables. At the meeting with the residents of the village, the distinguished guest said that he especially appreciates the diligence and sobriety of the residents of Markhi, and wished prosperity to agricultural work and agriculture. Here he inspected a bread shop, arable land, working cattle and agricultural implements. The guests also paid attention to the plow and the seeder, appreciated their practicality and simplicity of design. They inspected the warehouse of agricultural tools, for the sample and use in the Irkutsk province, several copies of these tools were bought. After the inspection, the guests were invited to a tent arranged for them. A table was served here with tea, dessert, including watermelons and melons of local growth, soft drinks. At about 9 pm the guests left Marchi. Their departure was accompanied by cheers. Historical reference. Governor-General A.D. Goremykin (1832-1904) - Russian statesman, member of the State Council. Honorary citizen of the city of Irkutsk. Under him, forest supervision and other environmental acts were introduced.
Vasily ALEKSEEV

From the rich epistolary heritage of Grigory Misailovich Popov, his article "The Yakut "Yseh", originally published in 1907 in the St. Petersburg magazine "Russian Pilgrim", is submitted to the readers' judgment.

Yakut "ysekh"

The Yakut spends seven long, boring and cold months in winter in his gloomy yurt, as if in a lair, in a monotonous environment, without special activities, almost without entertainment. For seven long months he sleeps with the sleep of inactivity and melancholy... But as soon as the earth opens from under its winter cover, as soon as the fragrance of trees, herbs and flowers appears in nature and the joyful singing of birds is heard, the Yakut wakes up from a long sleep, and immediately abruptly the whole situation of his life changes. The previously gloomy yurt is now turning into a bright and clean one. Cattle are separated from the premises adjacent to the house and released into the yard, an abundance of butter, cream, milk, etc. appears in food, leather and fur clothes are replaced by blouses and cold clothes made of fine Russian fabric, etc. At this time, Yakuts also have entertainment , and the features of his spiritual life are especially clearly revealed. The most important and never experienced entertainment is "ysekh". This is a public crowded gathering with the aim of frolic among nature. A few days before the "ysekh" women and men, girls and boys begin to take care of costumes and jewelry. New brightly colored chintz and garus blouses and cold clothes, new silk or garus bright scarves, colored sashes, black sars (boots), etc. are being prepared. and sometimes up to 1,000. Entertainment organizers prepare 500-1,000 buckets of koumiss (beer from mare's milk), meat, butter, etc. at a special place. The entertainment begins with round dances and choral singing. Usually there is a singer, a man or a woman, who loudly gives the words and motive of singing on the go, the rest pick up the song. There are many round dances. In each round dance, one or more sang. In their songs, the Yakuts praise the world created by God, the beauty and delights of this world, the spring nature that comes to life, etc. Around noon, they begin to drink koumiss. Previously, everyone is seated on the green grass in separate circles without regard to age and gender, and the honored guests make up a separate circle. The organizers of entertainment bring koumiss mixed with butter to all guests, which they immediately drink; then dancing and singing begin again, but in a more lively form, with a high rise in mood. By the way, the competition of young guys in strength and dexterity joins these entertainments. All people are divided into parties (usually by nasleg) and, having chosen from among themselves each of their wrestlers, they begin the competition, and the wrestlers, for convenience and dexterity, as well as for economic precautions, take off their outer clothes. Each successful or unsuccessful movement of a wrestler of a well-known party is accompanied by approval or reprimand, loud laughter and clapping. Often, during ysekh, horses are allowed to run. At the same time, the Yakuts are also divided into parties, each of which elects its own runner. A successful or unsuccessful escape of a particular horse is also accompanied by an expression of delight or ridicule. In the old days, and in remote places and at the present time, the beginning of the yseha was accompanied by spells from the shaman. Usually in such cases, the so-called "ytyk dabatar" occurs, that is, a sacrifice to the spirits of some horse intended for this. This is done on some kind of vow in case of illness or other misfortunes in order to propitiate these spirits, which, according to the Yakuts, are the causes of all human misfortunes. The shaman then rages all night, calling the spirits to the sacrificial horse. When the shaman finally declares that the spirit has taken possession of the horse, the horse is soldered with koumiss and koumiss is sprinkled into the air as a sign of treating the spirits that have settled in the horse. After that, the horse is released into the wild, and no one else uses it for riding. During these actions of the shaman and after them, the gathered Yakuts spend their time in lively dances and singing ... Often in modern "ysekhs" (in the local area, for example), a priest is invited to serve a solemn blessing of water or a prayer to the celebrated saint. Late in the evening, when the sun is getting close to sunset, the crowd, little by little, slowly disperses to their homes.

Holy Gr. Popov.S. Sheinskoe Vilyuisk. env. Yakutsk. region

Based on materials from Ilin No. 3 2006

National holiday Ysyakh - a symbol of the Yakut culture

Theoretical studies on the festive culture of different peoples of the world show that holidays are the living mechanism for the transmission of cultural tradition from generation to generation. The national holiday Ysyakh is a unique spiritual wealth of the Yakut people. He was and still remains the dominant factor in the rallying of the Yakut ethnic group, its self-expression as a nation. Ysyakh is a symbol of the Yakut culture, a kind of miniature of the traditional picture of the world of the Sakha people. The cultural tradition of the Sakha people has never lost its national spirit, its ethnic "face". Ysyakh remained and still remains that unique cultural niche where the ethnic specificity of the people is preserved: awareness of ethnic identity, national clothes, food, festive utensils, ritual complex, musical culture, folklore, and finally, the traditional worldview.

Ysyakh is the only ethnic holiday in the exposition of Siberian holidays that has retained its original character even in Soviet times. This is the uniqueness of the calendar and holiday culture of the Sakha people, its attractive power in the life-affirming beginning: the continuation of life, the beginning of a new family, the immortality of the human race, the call for happiness and goodness. The ecological culture of the Yakuts with its ideological complex of reverence for Nature and careful attitude to all living things is clearly reflected here. The dialogue of a person with the world of Nature, with the environment created a kind of code of relationships, where a person was included in nature, correlating his economic, social, ritual and biological life with it. An analysis of the calendar of the pastoral peoples showed that in ancient times the New Year's holiday was closely connected with the time of the offspring of livestock and the abundance of meat, milk and dairy products. In this regard, the Yakut Ysyakh was a pastoral holiday, which clearly reflected the changes that took place in the economic activity of the Yakuts. Ysyakh was timed to coincide with the time when there was plenty of dairy food and meat and one could give oneself a short rest before haymaking. The Yakut New Year was interpreted as the birth of Nature and Man and meant the replenishment of life resources. The northernmost horse breeders, the Yakuts, managed to preserve their southern pastoral culture in the conditions of the circumpolar zone. The main ritual of the Yakut tradition Ysyakh should be considered as a historical and cultural value, which is an integral part of the global cultural heritage.

Ysyakh is a complex, multifunctional phenomenon, which reflected the features of the economic, cultural, social, ethnic and spiritual life of the Yakuts at different stages of their historical development (Romanova E.N. Yakut holiday Ysyakh, p.148)

Mythology and Ysyakh

If we turn to folklore sources, then the origin of the holiday is projected on the Yakut myth about Elley, a cultural hero, the main ancestor of the Sakha people. The corpus of mythological texts cited in the book by GV Ksenofontov "Elleyada" (1977) makes it possible to reconstruct the main plot of the folk holiday. "At the beginning of summer, when the goddess Ieyehsit turns again and Aiyysyt broadcasts, Elley used to arrange a holiday, gathering the old and the small, the orphans and the poor. Then he set up a sacred mast tied with horsehair, and for 10 days and nights arranged entertainment and games, saying, "May such be the lot of our children!"

"... Having torn off the birch bark, he forced his wife to sew birch bark dishes. He himself made different types of koumiss dishes from a birch trunk: from solid wood he hollowed out choroons with legs in the form of horse hooves and with convex carvings on the outside, made mataarchakhs with thick patterns, made karien with figured decorations , stretched out in a row. The wife sewed "kyllaah-yagas", patterned saar-yagas, "sabarai" and various buckets for cow's milk... Having cut young birches and larches, Elley stuck them in rows in the form of a street up to the house. Then, twisting a rope of black and white hair and decorating it with tufts of white horsehair, he pulled it over the stuck trees" [No. 44]. "... While milking the mares of his father-in-law, he accumulated a large supply of koumiss and arranged Ysyakh. He invited Omogon and his wife to his celebration and at the same time said: "The day has come to commemorate the ancestors and Yuryung Aiyy and offer them a sacrificial cup." Previously, Omogon and his people did not saw such a ceremony... Arriving at Ysyakh, Omogon saw koumiss, a drink previously unfamiliar to him, previously unseen dishes, decorated with carvings. Oil floated on top of koumiss. Elley raised the bowl with such a prayer: "Lord, Yuryung Aiyy, the day of your remembrance has come! I, the man you created, treat you through pure fire. I honor you through the fire of the sun!” Saying this, he dripped koumiss on the fire.

"... Elley arranged a feast of sprinkling koumiss," Ysyakh ". At the top there is Yuryung-Aiyy-Toyon with an eagle on his forehead. There is also the giver of horses - their ancestor Wardaah-Dzhesegey Toyon. Then there is the giver of cattle Aiyysyt-Khotun with freckled nostrils. At the festival, raising bowls of koumiss, Elley turned to these deities, with a prayer to multiply his herds. Raising the bowls, he sang... Then three white birds flew past... Since then, people, having believed in the existence of gods, began to arrange ysyakhs. So, based on the mythological texts about Ysyakh, one can come to the conclusion that the ancient rite had a religious connotation, and was a celebration of the worship of heavenly deities.

According to the ideas of the Yakuts, on the holiday of Ysyakh, the bright deities of the aiyy descended from heaven, it was on them that the further life of the human race depended. On Ysyakh, on the day of the summer solstice, the Yakuts met celestial deities and held a ceremony of worshiping the aiyy deities and the spirits of nature.

Religion and Ysyakh

The cult of the highest heavenly deity, Yuryung Aiyy Toion, apparently developed in the following way: at the beginning, the sky was deified by itself (Tanara). Over time, ideas about him as a deity expanded, became more complicated, and it began to be regarded as a special world inhabited by many deities with certain qualities and performing certain functions. Therefore, Yuryung Aiyy Toyon is an ancient deity ascending to the deity of Heaven. Apparently, it had the same meaning as the sky itself for the Turkic pastoralists (Tengrianism). In this context, the thesis of G.V. Ksenofontov that "Ysyakh is the central axis and symbol of faith of the ancient religious beliefs of the Yakuts, who inherited the latest achievement of steppe nomadism" is very productive. The Yakut Ysyakh was closely connected with that layer of religious beliefs of the Yakuts, which, undoubtedly, was formed among the ancient pastoral nomads. In the new conditions of the North, Yakut horse breeders managed to preserve a system of religious beliefs that clearly reflected their economic cycle.

An excellent connoisseur of Yakut mythology and the heroic epic, P.A. Oyunsky, defined Ysyakh as a holiday of horse breeding and abundance. The horse among the Yakuts is an animal of divine origin. The folklore tradition has preserved the Yakut myth about the horse, the progenitor of the Sakha people. It was believed that the economy of the upper world was based on breeding horses, and therefore the Yakuts dedicated horses to heavenly deities. It should be noted that in the historical and cultural terms, the peculiarities of the script practice of sacrificing horses to the light deities of the aiyy among the Yakuts can be compared with the ancient cults of a number of Turkic-speaking peoples of South Siberia and Central Asia. Ysyakh, as a rite of sprinkling Heaven, Earth and Water with koumiss, was a normative rite of maintaining a constant balance between people (culture) and Nature (spirits, deities). In the scientific literature, there are several points of view regarding the origin of Ysyakh (Romanova E.N. Yakut holiday Ysyakh, p.82). Basically, the researchers considered it as a tribal, religious holiday, during which bloodless sacrifices were made in honor of the highest deity of the Yakuts Yuryung-Aiyy - Toyon and other ayyy (V. Troshchansky, E.K. Pekarsky, N. A. Alekseev); G. V. Ksenofontov defined Ysyakh as a celebration of the solemn meeting of the sunrise of the summer sun. A.I. Gogolev, having developed the position of a scientist, considers Ysyakh as "a cult festival of fertility, celebrated at the beginning of the year, combining elements of the deification of the sun, sky and earth" (Gogolev A.I. Historical ethnography of the Yakuts, p.35.). According to other researchers (I.A. Khudyakov, S.I. Nikolaev, E.N. Romanova), Ysyakh is a New Year holiday.

The Ysyakh holiday for the Sakha people is the New Year holiday, the universal birthday of Nature and man. "During Ysyakh, with three heavens with a warm breath, like a summer wind, with three souls, stretching out his camp like a three-headed foal, Aar Toyon stood thoughtfully, he parted two white suns and created a third and hung them between heaven and earth and said: "The Yakut people, descended from three foams, be strong, be fruitful and multiply!" (Okladnikov A.P. History of Yakutia, p. 123). The basis of the ancient Ysyakh ritual is the theme of first creation, renewal, people at the holiday regained their original state, received a "new birth". Hence, the phenomenon of the holiday had a special connection with the sphere of the sacred, it combined the past, present and "ideal" future. In this regard, special attention should be paid to the folk games held on Ysyakh. The game, as a simulation of the future, on Ysyakh was realized in a universal symbolic struggle between winter and summer (old and new).Among the Yakuts in the old days in the spring, at the end of the old year and the onset of a new one, they found two young people, one of whom was dressed up in clothes made from the skin of a white foal, the other - in clothes made from the skin of a red or black foal. The first of them was called the son of aiyy and personified the spirit of the owner of the new year, and the other was called the son of abaasy and symbolized the spirit of the owner of the old year. They were forced to fight. This was called a competition for superiority or a competition for dairy food. At the same time, a treat was determined that was intended for food for the winner (koumiss with butter), which should have been the son of an aiyy.

The symbolic intensity of sports competitions on the Ysyakh holiday was of a ritual nature. There were many different competitions on Ysyakh, the purpose of which was "to win a happy share." Such games as jumping on one leg (kylyy) and jumping with both feet (kuobakhtyy) on marks, Yakut wrestling, archery were symbolically correlated with the mythology of fate (Romanova E.N. People of the sun's rays, with reins behind their backs, p.130). In general, sports games on Ysyakh can be seen as a kind of dialogue with fate. At the heart of the ritual games on Ysyakh are exchange actions, one of such symbolic exchanges is the exchange of good luck, happiness. On Ysyakh, comic competitions were held, when the winner was the one who ate more food and drank koumiss, a kind of "rite of eaters". Here, the "fate" of the participants in the game was realized through the ritual embodiment of food, i.e. the more drunk and eaten, the more happiness the winner deserved next year. The magical belief "to guess one's fate" is still preserved, all the actions that take place on the first day of the New Year served as an exemplary model that was transferred to the whole year. As for the ritual fortune-telling at the main holiday of the tradition, they were already oriented towards a positive result in advance. On Ysyakh, a unique opportunity was given to "break through" one's destiny: at the celebration of the creation of the Universe and man, as it were, "erased" his past and replayed fate anew. From this point of view, Ysyakh can be considered as a "game with fate", where the main thing at the holiday was not the heavenly deities, but the people themselves - people who not only prayed for well-being, but also "won" their happy future. The Yakut holiday Ysyakh carried an optimistic charge and modeled the symbols of a life-affirming beginning, with the help of which it was possible to establish harmony in society.

The aesthetic and cultural palette of ideas about the main holiday of the Sakha people Ysyakh is another key to understanding the harmony of man with the environment. "...beautiful places with a wide clearing and a platform for tyusylge (a wooden structure consisting of two or more pillars connected by a crossbar) were chosen for the Ysyakh device. The tops of the serge were sometimes crowned with images of a horse's head, and the sides were covered with artistic carvings. The serge were decorated with multi-colored sacrificial ribbons - salama. Green birch trees were stuck around the tyusylge. It is characteristic that one of the important elements of the holiday was festive clothes. Participants in the celebration had to come in traditional festive clothes, women wore silver jewelry. I note that the Yakut festive clothes were passed down from generation to generation. Coming to the holiday in everyday clothes was considered a violation of festive etiquette. The semantic meaning of the composition in the ornament of ancient chorons was also associated with a single complex of ritual and symbolism of the holiday. the comb motif applied near the very mouth was supposed to symbolize the wish for wealth and fertility. Ysyakh was opened by the organizer of the holiday or a respected honorary old man, familiar with the ancient rites, nine young men and eight girls helped him. Sprinkling koumiss to deities and spirits was the central moment of the holiday, and therefore Ysyakh got its name from the word ys - "sprinkle, sprinkle" (Ergis G.U. Essays on Yakut folklore, p. 102).

One of the most important features of the archaic holiday was the coincidence of the boundaries of "one's own" and "alien". In the culture of the Sakha people, as an illustration, two sacred actions in relation to the Guest at the holiday should be cited: this is drinking from one choron in a circle (cf. the pipe of peace among the northern Indians is a sign of trust and mutual understanding), after which they are already Brothers in spirit. The guest etiquette of the Sakha people obliged the host-organizer of the holiday to bring choron with koumiss to the most honored guest, who, in turn, after taking a few sips, passed it to his neighbor in a circle. The next symbolic sign is the circular dance osuokhay, a dance that symbolizes the circle of life. Participants of osuokhai, holding hands, feel each other's positive energy. The guest at the festival, as it were, "lived" the life of this team, getting used to the new cultural environment, acquiring a "foreign" spiritual experience, he won the status of "his own".

Ysyakh and family

Even P.A. Oyunsky noted that Ysyakh, as a cult of triumph and joy of life, was a family holiday. They prepared for the holiday in advance, each family tried to prepare the necessary supply of festive food and koumiss, to sew festive clothes. Family traditions of the holiday included inviting all close and distant relatives, close communication of all relatives, plans for the future, a joint meal, and, finally, a blessing by respected and respected family members of the younger generation. Here, special significance was attached to the "custom of the spoken word", the strategy of the future life was set through well-wishes.

The continuity of life is emphasized on Ysyakh by the role that the elderly and, especially, children play in it. Participation in such rituals of representatives of all generations, as well as children of all ages, symbolizes the eternal continuation of the human race. Active participation in the holiday of youth created a favorable situation for choosing a married couple.

Ysyakh and food culture

At present, when environmental disasters are occurring all over the world, traditional ways of managing are disappearing and the habitat is changing, it seems very relevant to turn to the unique experience of the traditional food system of the Sakha people. The nutrition system of the Yakuts has developed under the influence of environmental, historical and social factors. The meat and milk basis of nutrition with its rational ratio of all the elements necessary for proper metabolism in the human body is a consequence of the environmental factor. It's about a balanced diet. In this regard, Ysyakh is indicative, where the entire set of the Yakut national cuisine, based on the ancient Turkic tradition, was presented. The "Kumiss Festival" (as Ysyakh was called by foreign researchers) paid special attention to the ritual of drinking koumiss and koumiss itself - as a sacred drink of the Yakut deities.

Ysyakh and culture of health

Ysyakh can be attributed to the rituals of storing health: - the association of health with satiety, the use of healthy dairy and meat products at the holiday; – association of health with movement (various sports, national sports); - association of health with well-wishes of happiness, goodness. If we turn to the Yakut algys spells, we can identify this model of happiness: "For 9 generations of people, lasting well-being, for 8 generations, unshakable happiness, for 7 generations, create an undiminished abundance for us!" "Let the hungry be fed, the cold be warmed, let the impoverished get help from you, let the dying be saved from you, become a sick mother, become a father to the sick, give birth to children in cradles, "so that the child in the cradle, created by Aiyysyt, does not suffer from a runny nose," ten uluses multiply, let the cattle in the hedge be fruitful, live happily on each other's sunny side."

The appeal today to customs, rituals, ideas not as "remnants", but as a mechanism for the transmission of cultural tradition, as one of the cultural systems in the formation of a healthy lifestyle, can be considered the main strategy of the cultural policy of the Sakha people. In 1992, Ysyakh became a public holiday of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). It has become a unifying symbol of the revival not only of the traditional culture of the Sakha people, but also of humanistic tendencies in the national projects of the new Russia.

Ekaterina Nazarovna Romanova, Doctor of Historical Sciences.

June 22 is the longest day of the year, the solar solstice. This is especially felt in the northern latitudes, where at this time there is practically no dark time of the day. When, if not at this time, to celebrate the new year? This is what the Sakha people do in Yakutia. Ysyakh is the Yakut New Year, which is celebrated every year on different days from June 22 to July 2. Since 1991, this holiday of fertility, the holiday of the revival of nature and worship of the sun has become a state holiday, and its date is set every year by a special decree.

Ysyakh is a typical cult holiday of the ancient nomadic people. It has common features with the summer holidays of the Tuvans, Altaians, with the Bashkir-Tatar Sabantuys. The first written mention of this holiday can be found in the diaries of the Dutch traveler Johann Ples, who traveled from China to Europe through Siberia at the end of the 17th century. He noted that this is the only big holiday among the Yakuts, where they burn bonfires and drink koumiss for several days. Koumiss is a mandatory and almost the main attribute of the holiday, which is often called koumiss.

The Yakuts, like many peoples in antiquity, divided the year into two halves - winter-autumn, spring-summer. Ysyakh is like a border between half years, between the old and the new, between the past and the future, between death and life. Hopes for the future, bright and kind, marked this holiday. It contains the whole soul of the Sakha people with its age-old traditions, a symbol of the Yakut culture. The best ancient traditions of Ysyakh have found their creative continuation in modern Yakutia. The very word Ysyakh means "abundance".
The ritual of opening the holiday was performed by the White Shaman, accompanied by 8 innocent girls and 9 innocent guys. The ritual included the sprinkling of koumiss on the site where the holiday was held, prayers to the aiyy deities and the spirits of the area. The ritual was performed at sunrise.

Today, the ritual is more like a theatrical performance. But the square is necessarily sprinkled with koumiss, and it is a ritual circle bordered by young birch trees (chechir). In the center there was also an arched decoration made of birches - a hitching post (sarge). Sarge is a symbol of the World Tree and the axis of the Universe, as well as a symbol of friendship of all peoples now inhabiting the territory of the Republic of Sakha. A circle is arranged nearby - tyusylge, fenced with multi-colored bundles of horse hair, pieces of fabric, birch bark products. In the center of the tyusylge there is an altar with ritual utensils and dishes filled with koumiss.

Koumiss drinking, national games, wrestling, kindling bonfires (in the old days, the holiday sometimes lasted up to 9 days, and all this time the bonfires were maintained), horse races, the competition of olonkhosuts (narrators) - all this is still held at celebrations today. But the main element of this national holiday is the round dance osuokhay, which often lasts for hours. Moving in the direction of the sun, the dancers, as it were, symbolize the continuous movement of the luminary in the sky. The dance circle is a vicious circle of the life cycle. People in a round dance walk holding hands, exchanging living energy, merging in unity with nature and with each other.

Competition games, in which many take part with great pleasure, are called "Dygyn's Games". Dygyn is a historical character, the leader of the Sakha people, who set himself the task of uniting his people. Daredevil booturs (heroes) strive to show their strength and skill in these games - kyly (jumping on one leg), kuobah (jumping on both legs), ystanga (jumping with alternating legs), hapsagay wrestling - Yakut wrestling, where the one who touches the ground loses even with a finger, pulling a stick, archery. The names of the winners of the games are passed from mouth to mouth, and they themselves enjoy well-deserved fame, they can make up a legend about them, which will be told at the Ysyakh holiday by olonkhosuts. Olonkho is an ancient heroic epic. Like other peoples, storytellers enjoyed great honor and respect, they were always the most long-awaited guests. One of the legends of the epic is the legend of the heavenly milky lake, on the banks of which lived one of the highest deities Aiyy Toyon. It is the waters of this milky lake that personifies the national drink - koumiss. Sakha has such a thing as white grace - this is the highest gift that people can receive from the gods. Kumis is a symbol of white grace (ilge), it contains the kut-sur (soul) of all unborn people, horses and cows.

Guests of the Ysyakh national holiday will witness Yakut rituals, taste koumiss and buy mammoth tusk.

On June 17, the traditional national state holiday of the Yakut people - Ysyakh will be held on the territory of the Kolomenskoye Museum-Reserve.

The originality and spirit of the holiday will be presented by an impressive delegation from the Verkhoyansk Ulus - the world's pole of cold, the only place of permanent human habitation on the planet, where the lowest temperatures have been recorded in the history of observations. Verkhoyants will present the culture of the Yakut people with the best dance groups, masters of folklore genres, craftsmen and unique dishes of national cuisine.

For the first time Ysyakh was held in the capital ten years ago, in the year of the 375th anniversary of Yakutia joining the Russian state. Then, in honor of this date, a commemorative serge was installed in Kolomenskoye - evidence of many years of friendship and unity of the peoples of Russia and a symbol of hospitality. Today, the glade near the serge is a meeting place for Yakuts, Muscovites and guests of the capital during the celebration of Ysyakh.

This year the holiday is dedicated to the 385th anniversary of the entry of Yakutia into Russia.

The guests will witness the national ritual ceremony, which will be held by an algyschyt from Yakutia: he will kindle a fire and turn to the bright gods of Aiyy to condescend to people with mercy. This action, according to custom, is held during the hours of the highest solstice - from 11:00 to 12:00 noon.

For the first time, a festival of folklore genres will be held, which will bring together professionals and amateurs of playing the khomus, toyuk and chabyrgah performers. There will be tournaments in Yakut sports - mas-wrestling, Yakut wrestling hapsagai, Yakut jumps and a turntable.

In national costumes, guests from other republics and countries of the world will come to the holiday. A grandiose event of the holiday will be a gala concert with the participation of art masters of Yakutia and friendly republics of Russia.

The "City of Masters" will open - an exhibition and sale of handicrafts, souvenirs, jewelry and products made from natural materials - fur, horsehair, wood, mammoth tusk. Guests of the festival will participate in master classes in the manufacture of handicrafts.

National cuisine is an indispensable attribute of Ysyakh celebration. In Kolomenskoye, guests of Yakutia will be able to taste Yakut pancakes, foal, koumiss and the famous Yakut fish.

The holiday will end with a special ritual - osuokhay, in which all the guests of the holiday will stand in a huge "life circle".

“Moscow and Yakutia have a long history of relations and cooperation. Just over a month ago, we celebrated a significant event - the 95th anniversary of the formation of the autonomy of Yakutia within the RSFSR. In honor of this date, a memorial green square was laid in Moscow. And Ysyakh is always a real festival, demonstrating the richness of the culture of the Sakha people. I am sure that this time, as in all previous years, the holiday will be wonderful,” said head Vitaly Suchkov.

Entrance to the festival is free.

Schedule of Ysyakh events

Glade "Serge":

- 11:00-12:30 - opening of the holiday, Algys blessing ceremony, osuokhay festive round dance;

- 15:00 - festival of folklore genres "Sakha Sayyna". Yakut tongue twisters chabyrgakh, round dance osuokhay, playing the khomus;

- 18:00 - final osuokhay "Dance of Friendship", closing of the holiday.

Sports fields "Boturov Games":

- 12:05 - the grand opening of sports competitions;

- 12:15-17:00 - sports competitions in Yakut national sports (hapsagai, Yakut jumps, Yakut turntable);

- 12:20-17:30 - Open All-Russian Mas-Wrestling Tournament;

- 17:30 - awarding the winners.

"Concert tүhүlge":

- 13:00-15:00 - concert program "Urun tunakh yyagynan!" (“Happy holiday!”);

- 15:00-16:00 - gala concert "In a family of united peoples" with the participation of creative teams from Moscow, the Moscow region and regions of Russia;

– 16:00-18:00 – festive show-concert “Taastaah Dyaanyttan Eherde!” (“Congratulations from the rocky banks of the Yana”), the competition “Uyun suyuoh” (“Long braid”), defile in national costumes “Colors of Tuymaada”.

Glade "Sardaana":

- 13:30-17:00 - competitions, games and quizzes for children "Kustuk" ("Rainbow").

Square "City of Masters":

- 10:30-17:00 - exhibition-fair of handicrafts, souvenirs and jewelry, master classes in the manufacture of handicrafts.