Sabantui
Sabantui is a Bashkir , Chuvash and Tatar summer festival . Originally the festival was celebrated by farmers , today it is a national holiday and is also celebrated in cities .
Word origin
The Tatars called the festival Sabantuy (Сабантуй, sʌbɑnˈtuɪ ) or Saban tuyı (Сабан туе sʌˈbɑn tuˈjɯ ; in the plural Sabantuylar sʌbɑntuɪˈlɑr ). The Turkic peoples living on the Volga also committed this custom. The Bashkirs called the festival Habantuy (Һабантуй), the Chuvash called it Akatuy (Акатуй).
The meaning of the name can be translated as festival of the plow . A synonym of the name is Saban bäyräme (Сабан бәйрәме, sʌˈbɑn bæɪræˈme )
history
The origin of Sabantui goes back to the pre-Islamic era of the Volga Bulgarians . The festival was celebrated before the sowing . The existence of the festival is documented for the year 921, when the custom of Ahmad ibn Fadlan was recorded. It goes back to the pre-Islamic era when it was celebrated before the sowing . The presence of Sabantui was noticed by ibn Fadlān as early as 921. Both the songs and the other traditions of the Sabantui probably had a religious meaning at the time.
With the conversion of the Tatars and Bashkirs to Islam and the conversion of the Chuvashes to Christianity , the holiday became secular. In all religions, the individual villages took turns holding the festival.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Sabantui was recognized as the national festival of the Tatars. The Soviet authorities probably allowed the festival because of its rural origins. Nevertheless, the Soviets postponed the festival to the time after the sowing and merged it with the ancient summer festival Cıyın .
Traditions
Local costumes are worn during the Sabantui . Main components of the festivities are the Tatar wrestling Kurash , horse races , sack races , columns climbing, egg and spoon race and several other games. The Sabantuy is played on a Mäydan , which is usually on the edge of the forest.
Another tradition is the söran . Money is collected in order to cover the guests' travel expenses and to give the winners of the competitions a prize. Other traditions include cooking oatmeal and praying in a cemetery .
Kurash
The Kurash is the main ingredient of the Sabantui. The wrestlers use towels to wrestle their opponent.
Usually young men compete in the competitions. At the end of the Sabantuy, the winner, called Baatar, is determined in the final . The prices are not fixed, for example sheep are offered as prizes in villages , and cars in cities.
additional
The Sabantui is mostly celebrated on a Sunday between June 15th and the beginning of July, but it has no fixed date. The first Sabantuis are celebrated in the villages, followed by the Sabantuis at the provincial level. Lastly, the Sabantui are celebrated in the big cities. The very last Sabantui is celebrated in Kazan , the capital of Tatarstan .
In recent years a Sabantui has been held in Moscow by the Russian government. Even in cities with a large Tatar community, Sabantui are organized by the same.
The respective Russian presidents come to the Sabantui in Kazan every year.
