Sabantuy

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Sabantuy logo
Sabantuy logo
Sabantuy by Lotfulla Fattaxov.
Sabantuy by Lotfulla Fattaxov.

Sabantuy is a Tatar and Idel-Uralian summer festival, that dates back to the Volga Bulgarian epoch. At first Sabantuy was a festival of farmers in rural areas, but it later became a national holiday and now is widely celebrated in the cities. In 2006, Kazan Sabantuy was celebrated on June 24.

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[edit] Nomenclature

Sabantuy (Сабантуй, [sʌbɑn`tuɪ]), or, more correctly, Saban tuyı (Сабан туе, [sʌb`ɑn tu`jɯ]) is a Tatar name for the holiday. Its plural form is Sabantuylar [sʌbɑntuɪ`lɑr]).

The holiday is also celebrated by other Turkic peoples living along the Volga. In Bashkir, it is known as Habantuy (Һабантуй)[1], in Chuvash — as Akatuy (Акатуй) [2].

The holiday's name means "plough's feast" in Turkic languages. Sometimes, it is also referred to as "plough's holiday", or Saban bäyräme (Сабан бәйрәме) [3].

[edit] History

Sabantuy traces its origins to the pre-Islamic epoch, when it was celebrated before the sowing season. Traditional songs and other traditions of the Sabantuy are supposed to have had religious connotations at that time.

Later, with the spread of Islam among Tatars and Bashkirs and Christianity among Chuvashs, it became a secular holiday. In each region, villages took turns as to where the holiday should be celebrated next.

In the beginning of 20th century Sabantuy gained recognition as the national festival of the Tatars. The Soviet authorities approved of this festival due to its plebeian origin, but they had Sabantuy moved to the after-sowing season, thus merging it with the ancient summer festival Cíın [4].

Recently, Russian Federation announced plans to nominate Sabantuy for the inclusion into the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity list in 2007.

[edit] Traditions

The main distinctive elements of Sabantuy include the traditional sporting competitions such as köräş (Tatar wrestling), horse racing, race-in-sack, pillar-climbing, egg-in-spoon-in-mouth-racing, sacks-battle on the crossbar, pots crashing [1], finding a coin in a qatıq (a beverage made from sour milk), and other contests. Such activities take place on the mäydan[5], which would usually be located at the edge of a forest.

A tradition, called sörän[6], was held to collect a fare for guests of the festival and prizes for the winners of the contests. Qarğa botqası (Rook's porridge) [7], a ritual porridge, was cooked before the Sabantuy to treat children in the village. Another tradition was praying at the cemetery.

In the recent years Sabantuy is also often combined with the folk and pop music festivals, as well as accordion music festivals, named Play, accordion! (Uyna, ğarmun!).

[edit] Köräş[8]

Tatarça köräş
Tatarça köräş

The Tatar wrestling (Tatarça köräş[9]), is the main competition of Sabantuy. Wrestlers [10] use towels and the aim is to knock down the opponent.

Usually young boys start the competition. At the end of Sabantuy, the main event of the festival is the final of köräş. The winner becames the batır[11], the hero of the Sabantuy. The prize varies from a ram at the village to a car in the city.

[edit] Holding

Sabantuy does not have a set date and varies approximately from June 15 to July 1, and usually falls on a Sunday. Initially, village Sabantuylar are arranged, which are followed by district Sabantuylar, and the Sabantuylar of major cities. The last Sabantuy is held in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan. A similar practice is applied for Akatuy in Chuvashia and Habantuy in Bashkortostan.

In the last few years, the Russian government has tended to arrange the federal Sabantuy, in Moscow. Many cities in Europe and Asia that have major Tatar diasporas, such as Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Tallinn, Prague, Istanbul, Kiev and Tashkent, also hold Sabantuylar.

Today Sabantuy can be characterized an international festival as many people of various ethnicities participate in Sabanuylar, both in Tatarstan, and all over the world.

[edit] Political traditions

As Sabantuy is a symbol of Tatarstan, every Russian president visiting region, takes part in Kazan Sabantuy. Boris Yeltsin had crashed the pot being blindfold in mid-1990s, Vladimir Putin had found a coin in a sour milk. Sometimes this participation in contests are interpreted as symbolic actions. Yeltsin crashed the complex problems of Tatarstan in simply way, but without assurance. Putin discovered Tatarstan's money that hadn't been transferred to Russian budget.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ English: [hʌbɑn`tuɪ]
  2. ^ English: [ɑkɑ`tuɪ]
  3. ^ [ sʌb`ɑn bæɪræ`me]
  4. ^ Cyrillic: Җыен, [ʓɯɪ`ɯn]; spells in English [ʤɪ`jɪn]; "jee-yen"
  5. ^ Мәйдан; [mæɪ`dɑn]; also maydan, майдан, [mʌɪ`dɑn] in spoken language
  6. ^ Сөрән; [sœ`ræn]; English: [sɛ:`ræn]
  7. ^ Карга боткасы, [qʌr`ɣɑ bɔtqɑ`sɯ]; English: [kʌr`gɑ bɔtkɑ`sɪ]
  8. ^ Көрәш, transliterated koeraesh, English: [kɜ:`ræʃ]
  9. ^ Татарча көрәш, [tʌ`tɑrʆɑ kɶ`ræʃ]
  10. ^ Tatar: köräşçe(lär)/көрәшче(ләр)
  11. ^ [bʌ`tɯr] English: [ bʌ`tɪr], also батыр/batyr, паттӑр/pattăr

[edit] References

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