The holiday was held in a traditional place for the first time in 40 years – guests from all over the region came to the village on the Ob.

On July 2, in the village of Yurt-Ora in the Kolyvan region, the Tatar-Bashkir holiday Sabantuy was celebrated. Hundreds of guests gathered together on the village embankment. NGS journalists also traveled about 70 kilometers and got to the first Sabantuy in two years to tell how Siberian Tatars celebrate one of the main national holidays.

The Tatar village of Yurt-Ora is located on the banks of the Ob, 70 kilometers from Novosibirsk, in the Kolyvansky district, and this is one of the traditional Tatar settlements in Siberia. The weather on the holiday let us down, but the parking lot was still almost completely packed: even in the rain, a lot of people gathered on Sabantuy.

Sabantuy is a celebration of the end of field work, when everyone can already relax and unwind a little. Literally, “saban” means a plow, and “tui” means a holiday.

– Sabantuy is our national Tatar-Bashkir holiday, which has already become national. This Sabantuy is held as part of the implementation of the presidential grant that we won this year – 2.5 million. The Kolyvan district allocated 70,000 to us, the sponsors allocated some money,” said Navil Shagabutdinov, the imam of the mosque in Yurt-Ora.

In the evening before Sabantuy, the villagers invited everyone to the holiday: they walked through the streets in national costumes with poles. According to the tradition of the Chat Tatars, older people tie scarves on poles.

As soon as we entered the venue of the event, we immediately felt the smell of juicy, fried shish kebab. A fair was organized here, to which merchants from neighboring villages and regions came to show the wealth of their region and treat the guests of the holiday with national dishes.

The most daring danced
An important part of the holiday is the competition. Guests could compete for a ram by taking part in kuresh, a national wrestling. Ruslan won a vacuum cleaner: he says that the old one broke right at home. He admitted that he was engaged in wrestling, but withheld it in order to win.

An important part of the holiday is the competition. Guests could compete for a ram by taking part in kuresh, a national wrestling. Ruslan won a vacuum cleaner: he says that the old one broke right at home. He admitted that he was engaged in wrestling, but withheld it in order to win.

Eldar Mukhametdzyanov became the main winner of kuresh: he defeated an opponent who outweighed him, perhaps by half. Eldar said that he would give a ram to his parents, and invited him to visit for pilaf and barbecue

Eldar said that he would give a ram to his parents, and invited to visit for pilaf and barbecue