This year the guests of the event were Muscovites and representatives of the Mordovian people from Orenburg, Penza, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, Temnikovsky, Ardatovsky, Chamzinsky districts of the Republic of Mordovia.

Ivan Petrov, Deputy Head of the Department of National Policy and Interregional Relations of the City of Moscow, greeted all those gathered from the stage. "This wonderful holiday takes place in Moscow for the 7th time and it has already become a good tradition for all Muscovites. Today everyone here has a wonderful opportunity to touch the amazing culture of the Mordovian people,” he noted. Ivan Petrov also wished the participants and guests of the holiday a great mood, bright impressions from the event and read out a greeting from Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, in which the mayor expressed confidence that the Shumbrat holiday will be held in an atmosphere of cordial warmth, will help find new friends and will become an adornment of cultural life of multinational Moscow.

Viktor Grishin, head of the Interregional public organization “Mordovian Community”, rector of the Russian Economic University named after. G.V. Plekhanov also congratulated the fellow countrymen and Muscovites gathered for the holiday, noting that this day is always filled with joyful meetings. “In fact, we get pleasure not only from meetings - wonderful artists come to us, we listen to wonderful songs here, watch wonderful dances - it is important for us that Muscovites are also present here and see the cultural and other achievements of the republic,” he noted. Viktor Grishin also expressed gratitude to the leadership of the Republic of Mordovia and the Moscow Government for their assistance in organizing the holiday.

Also with welcoming words addressed to the residents of the capital: His Eminence Zinovy, Metropolitan of Saransk and Mordovia, Deputy Minister of Culture, National Policy, Tourism and Archival Affairs of the Republic of Mordovia Chebakov Alexander Alexandrovich, Director of the Volga Center for Cultures of Finno-Ugric Peoples Akashkina Raisa Ivanovna.

The concert program of the holiday was attended by professional and amateur artists of the Republic of Mordovia and the Mordovian community of Moscow: People's Artist of the Republic of Mordovia, Honored Artist of Russia Yulia Uchvatova, Honored Artist of the Republic of Mordovia, soloist of the Moscow Operetta Theater Valery Islyaykin, Honored Artist of the Republic of Mordovia Vera Kayatskaya, group " Sadko”, Folklore groups “Azorava”, “Eh, Mordovochki”, “Boyaravanya”, “Kolopinsky Voices”, “Erzyan Weigel”. Special guests of the holiday were representatives of the Tatar cultural center- national vocal ensemble “Tatar Tunes” and folk group “Laimonya” from the Temnikovsky district of the Republic of Mordovia. The guests of the holiday were heartily entertained by the group of accordionists under the leadership of the Honored Artist of the Republic of Mordovia Batanov Pyotr Ivanovich.

The culmination of the holiday was the Flash Mob “I dance in Mordovian style.” All the guests twirled in a national dance in a single round dance.

Master classes on pottery art, beadwork, and weaving of Mordovian belts (kilksht) were also organized at loom, wood carving (Tavlinskaya school of wood carving) and much more.

In the trade fair stalls one could buy homemade baked goods, pancakes, pilaf, kebabs, and Mordovian honey. Commodity producers of Mordovia presented their products: cheeses, sausages, confectionery and other goods. Those who wished were able to purchase national souvenirs and folk arts and crafts.

The “Shumbrat” holiday provided an excellent opportunity to become better acquainted with the art and life of the Mordovian people, their customs, national cuisine, costumes, and in general - it was truly imbued with the love of people for each other.

The Mordovian people remember and maintain their national traditions during this festival in order to pass them on from generation to generation.

From the stage today there were congratulations from the top officials of the region, as well as from the chairman of the interregional public organization of the Mordovian people, Yuri Mishanin, and the chairman of the regional Mordovian national-cultural autonomy, Vladimir Sofonov. Artists in national costumes performed folk songs and dances.

Guests from eight subjects of the Volga Federal District, including from the Saratov and Samara regions, and from the Republic of Tatarstan, came to Shumbrat in Ulyanovsk.

Representatives of the national and cultural autonomies of the Ulyanovsk region came to congratulate the Mordovians on the holiday. Tatar national-cultural autonomy was represented by Ramis Safin. He congratulated everyone present on the Shumbrat holiday and noted that he attends the celebration every year. For five years in a row, he and his family come to the place where this event is celebrated and plunge into the atmosphere of friendliness and Have a good mood, which always reigns at such events.

SABANTUI

Sabantuy or the festival of the plow has ancient roots. This folk holiday the end of spring field work among the Tatars and Bashkirs. Similar celebrations take place among other nationalities - Chuvash, Mordovians, Mari, Udmurts. However, everyone has their own characteristics.

Traditional Sabantuy is closely connected with labor. After a successful sowing, the grain growers take a break, get together and celebrate the end of the spring sowing work. This holiday intertwines the joy of successful work and hope for a good harvest, communication with blossoming nature and the daring of horsemen.

The original purpose of this rite was to appease the spirits of fertility in order to favor a good harvest. Previously, Sabantuy was celebrated in honor of the beginning of spring field work (at the end of April), but now in honor of its end (in June).

Traditionally, in front of Sabantuy, gift collectors stood out and drove around houses in carts, primarily those where there were brides. From there, the collectors carried out embroidered towels, scarves, and homespun rugs. Multi-colored light gifts were tied to long poles, and large things were placed on carts, and surrounded by a noisy, cheerful crowd, the procession walked through the village.

Merry Sabantui events are still held today. Most often, a field or meadow is chosen to conduct them. The celebration lasts the whole day, but the main thing in Sabantui is the competition. Here young horsemen show their strength and agility. Each national struggle has its own characteristics. In Bashkir, for example, opponents wrap sashes around each other and, pulling the opponent towards themselves, try to throw him over their heads.

Today Sabantuy is an international national Tatar celebration; it has become a state holiday in Tatarstan, a federal holiday in Russia and an official city holiday in many cities around the world. In addition, on the initiative of local Tatar communities, sabantuis were held privately in cities such as Washington, New York, San Francisco, Berlin, Tashkent, Montreal, Toronto, Prague, Istanbul and others.

AKATUY

Akatui is one of the most important national holidays of the Chuvash people, dedicated to the end of spring field work. Just like Sabantuy, this ritual fosters love for native land and hard peasant labor. The main characters at the symbolic “wedding” are the plow and the earth, “married” during the spring harvest. Since ancient times, the Chuvash gathered on this day to congratulate each other on the arrival of summer, join a common round dance and sing their favorite songs. Men organized sports competitions: belt wrestling, running, horse racing. On the day of Akatuy, national dishes were prepared - beer, cottage cheese casserole chakat and national soup shurpe. The abundant food was supposed to contribute to the same harvest of bread.

To complete the ritual part of the holiday, each family went out into the field. They took with them a loaf of wheat bread, a circle of cheese, eggs, wheat or barley balls, and pies. A prayer was read in the field, each of those present in honor of the spirits of the earth poured a few drops of beer and scattered crumbs of bread and cheese. Everyone believed in the power of the ritual and thought that in this way they could influence the future harvest. In the evening, young people rode around the village with a long pole, to which the young women tied their best embroidered towels and woven belts. The main event of the evening was competitions - running, racing, jumping, archery. The most popular type of competition is belt wrestling, just like the Tatars.

SHUMBRAT

Shumbrat is a young holiday; it has been celebrated in Russia for about 20 years. In Mordovia this word means greeting - “hello”. A holiday, similar in etymology to the Tatar Sabantuy and the Chuvash Akatuy, is in the Mordovian calendar - this is the holiday of Baltai honey. However, now Shumbrat is celebrated everywhere.

The main idea of ​​this legalized festival is the preservation of national culture, folk traditions, development of amateur artistic creativity.

Ulyanovsk Shumbrat gathers representatives of the Mordovian people from all over the country for the third time. The idea of ​​its emergence appeared in 2012 at the “We Are All Russia” forum in Saransk as part of the celebration of the millennium of the unity of the Mordovians with the peoples of the Russian state. The holiday takes place annually in all regions of our country with a compact population of Mordovians.
The Shumbrat festival is aimed at strengthening not only cultural ties with the Republic of Mordovia, but also national traditions people living in our region.

From year to year, those who come to the holiday become guests of Mordovian farmsteads, participate in the “Play Accordion” competition and in an exhibition of products of folk craftsmen. Important components of the festival include competitions in national sports, master classes in folk crafts, and reading competitions.

Unlike the traditional Sabantuy and Akatuy, the main thing in this holiday is not sports achievements, and it is not directly related to the peasant calendar. This is an artificially created holiday that arose as a reason for the pride of the Mordovian people.

Last weekend, in the Petrovsky district of the Saratov region, a National holiday Mordovian culture “Shumbrat, yalgat!” (this phrase is translated into Russian as “Hello, friends!”). The festival took place in the village of Orkino, located 80 km from Saratov. It is worth noting that a similar event was celebrated here 15 years ago.

Unfortunately, the potholes on the road leading from the highway to the village were not repaired. Dorozhnik LLC, which won the competition to carry out the work, did not listen to the recommendations of the Road Control, which were given shortly before the festival. Then the project manager Vadim Rogozhin The contractor and I inspected the road and found new holes on the repaired road surface; they were never repaired. The same applies to the road passing through the center of the village of Ozerki; it could have been completely patched at the same time, and not just the section adjacent to the road to Orkino. There are still giant potholes on the main road to Ozerki. Ozerkovtsy, unfortunately, do not have attractions where the governor could be taken.

This year the village of Orkino turned 305 years old. Its first inhabitants were Mordovians (settlers from the Penza villages of Machim, Ishim and Sadovka) and Russians. The settlement also has two names - the Mordovian Orkino (on behalf of the first resident Orka Kostanov) and the Russian Kuchugury (sand mounds).

“If we talk about how many people are registered here, then more than 700 people are listed, and if you want to know how many actually live here today, then about 250-300 people,” local residents told the Fourth Estate correspondent.

On the square next to the Center of Mordovian National Culture, where major repairs and reconstruction will soon be completed, there are Mordovian farmsteads of the Bazarno-Karabulak, Baltaysky, Novoburassky, Sovetsky, Tatishchevsky, Khvalynsky and Engelssky districts. There, masters of decorative and applied arts demonstrated their art to the guests of the holiday - they embroidered pictures with beads, wove patterns and twisted handkerchiefs into crafts resembling dolls. The works of potters, wood carving, knitting, embroidery, and wool products were also presented here. Visitors were told how Mordovian weddings were played. Everyone was offered a taste of national cuisine - millet porridge, honey, meat dishes, pies, and drinking kvass and spring water from local sources.

A large one was broken nearby playground, where young people measured their strength in national wrestling, ball throwing, tug of war and other skills. They were all met by the game manager - Tyushtya - who told the children the rules of the competition.

The holiday was attended by the governor of the Saratov region Valery Radaev, senator Sergey Arenin(Mordvin by nationality), members of the government, deputies of the regional Duma from the Petrovsky district with the chairman Ivan Kuzmin, heads of districts, representatives of the scientific and cultural community of the region. Guests from Mordovia, led by the first deputy minister of culture of the republic, also came to the holiday Alexander Kargin.

At each of the farmsteads, the head of the region and other distinguished guests were treated to bread and salt, greeted with national songs and dances, and told about local attractions.

After this, the guests of the holiday went to the house of culture, which was converted into a center of Mordovian culture. Local activists - Sergey Alpatov with his wife - showed the governor the developed tourist routes to local attractions on a colorful diagram. According to them, such tours would allow visitors to discover the unique local nature and introduce them to the culture of the village.

For example, Sergei, who runs a cultural institution, proposed installing an observation tower in a mountainous area. He recalled that there is an old mill in the village, and a horse trail for tourists could be built to the nearby village of Loch.

Valery Radaev agreed that Orkino should have its own “zest.”

“There is no need to repeat Saratov, Penza, or Saransk. We need to live with our own flavor so that people come here like they do today, for a holiday. The main thing is that there are devotees like the Alpatov family in the village,” the governor shared.

After which the village head Aleksandr Kuznetsov showed Radaev the local museum, which was organized on the initiative of a villager about 20 years ago. It presents objects of Mordovian life, dating back to the 18th century. According to Kuznetsov, the museum began as a library, and then grew into a collection of rare national items. Among them are many things that are hardly familiar to a modern visitor. They were handed over by residents of Orkin and neighboring villages; some exhibits were brought here from Mordovia.

For example, Senator Arenin really liked the plow. He even pretended to follow her and loosen the ground.

“This is how you walk for 40-50 hundred meters, you will sweat all over,” he told reporters, remembering his childhood.

The director of the museum himself removed collectible musical instruments from the wall and played them for the governor and guests.

Then it began for the audience festive concert V national style. At the very beginning, the Mother of the Mordovian Land Mastorava and her sisters - Vityava, Borovava, Mikshava, Barmoava, Bulava and Viryava - invited the festival participants to dance in a round dance. Then the folk groups “Umarina”, “Sudarushka” and the pride of the village “Kuchugury” (which recently turned 20) performed on stage; they sang for the audience in Mordovian and Russian.

Valery Radaev told those present that he was once again amazed by the folk museum at the Center of Mordovian National Culture.

“Not every district has one. And I also want to say thank you to Alexander Kuznetsov, who helped organize such a wonderful festival. Devotees like him not only preserve memory and traditions, but also infect young people with their energy,” admitted the head of the region and presented the regional chairman with the Order “For Love of the Native Land.”

According to him, the main goal of such events is communication, getting to know the traditions of the peoples living in the neighborhood. “People will come and remember the language and traditions. For example, today the real Mordvins visited us, the original ones,” Radaev noted.

The culmination of the holiday was the lighting of the ancestral shtatol candle. By ancient tradition, fire among the Mordovian people symbolizes fertility, purification and happiness, it is also a symbol of ancestor worship and the unity of nations. Having accepted it from the artist portraying Mastorava, Alexander Kuznetsov carefully brought it to a large symbolic candle near the stage and lit it.

He recalled that Orkino is a unique ancient Mordovian village that welcomed the famous rebel Emelyan Pugacheva, its residents participated in Patriotic War 1812 and other important historical events.

The holiday ended with the symbolic decoration of a birch tree - the artists on stage wished that the next festival would be just as fun and gather many guests. At the same time, after each phrase, multi-colored ribbons were attached to the tree.

In 2004, republican national folklore holidays were established in Mordovia: Moksha - “Aksha kelu” [White Birch], Erzya - “Rasken ozks” [Patrimonial Prayer], Tatar - “Sabantuy” [Plow Festival] and Russian “Day of Slavic Writing " Their goal is to preserve, revive and develop national traditions, national sports and strengthen interethnic relations. National holidays were held in Mordovia before, but today they have a higher status and funding.

Holiday "Aksha Kelu". Photo - “Diagonal”

“Aksha Kelu” is traditionally held in the village of Vadovskie Selishchi, Zubovo-Polyansky district, on the Trinity Day. On the right bank of the Vad River, folk festivals, tasting of Mordovian cuisine and concert program. Guests from Mordovia and regions of Russia come to the holiday. The highlight of the “White Birch Festival” is Mordovian belt wrestling. There are several differences between Mordovian wrestling and similar competitions: the weight category of the wrestlers does not matter, opponents cannot take their hands off each other’s sash. The winner is the one who can put the opponent to the ground three times [if one of the wrestlers throws himself and touches the ground first, he loses]. Previously, these competitions were called “bear wrestling”, now they are called “Aksha kelu” in honor of the republican holiday.

“Aksha kelu” fight. Photo - “Diagonal”

“Raskeni (Velen) Ozks” takes place in the village of Tashto Kshumantsia, Bolsheignatovsky district, on the second Sunday of July. Veleni Ozks [Rural Prayer] is held annually, and every three years a larger festival is held - “Raskeni Ozks” [Ancestral Prayer]. At the holiday, guests are greeted not with traditional bread and salt, but with bread and honey: so that future life will be sweet and satisfying. A special feature of the holiday is the meeting of the Council of Elders, at which the results of the year’s work are summed up. The holiday begins with the lighting of the shtatol [candle]. At the prayers, the main request of those present is heard - for the preservation of the Moksha and Erzya peoples, so that their native language, traditions, and culture live for many centuries and are passed on from generation to generation. The main treat at the holiday is Bukan Yam [beef soup]. At the holiday, soup is boiled in ten cauldrons so that none of the guests is left without a traditional treat.

National Theater at the festival "Rasken Ozks". Photo - MGNDT

The Sabantuy holiday is held in Lyambir at the end of May - beginning of June. Previously, the holiday took place in the central square of the regional center, but the square could no longer accommodate all the guests. Therefore, for three years in a row, Sabantuy has been held on the territory of the central flying club of DOSAAF Russia named after Hero of the Soviet Union M.P. Devyatayev. Sabantuy marks the end of spring field work, so the best workers in the agricultural sector are awarded at the festival.

Sabantuy is characterized by performances by amateur artists, Tatar cuisine and performances by parachutists, motorcyclists and an equestrian club. Traditionally, Sabantuy is replete with sports competitions, which attract athletes not only from many regions of our republic, but from neighboring regions. Koresh [belt wrestling] attracts the most spectators. The winner receives the title of “batyr” [strongman, hero] and a live ram as a gift.

Sabantui. Photo - Evgeniy Ptushka

The Day of Slavic Literature and Culture is celebrated in Saransk on May 24. On this day, a thematic concert is held, in which students of the music school and children's groups take part. In 2017 holiday events passed near the Cathedral of the holy righteous warrior Theodore Ushakov, where 15 choirs performed.

In 2018, Saransk will host the interregional festival of Mordovian culture “Shumbrat” for the first time - the idea of ​​​​establishing a republican Mordovian folklore and ethnographic festival has been brewing for a long time. Several venues in the city will host concerts of creative groups, a theatrical procession of the peoples of Mordovia “We are all Russia!”, an exhibition of products by masters of folk arts and crafts, a competition of national humor and ditties “Kuldor-Kaldor” and an ethno-disco. The Republican holidays “Rasken Ozks” and “Aksha Kelu” will retain their status.