Sabantuy celebrationn will be held on 27th june 2015

Tatarstan is a multicultural republic. There sre many various festivals and holidays. Some of them are specific to this or that nation. I would like to tell you about a very popular, amusing and loved by everybody Tatar national holiday Sabantuy. Sabantuy is perhaps the most popular festival. It is a celebration of the plough (in tatar language “saban” means “plough” and ‘tuy” means “festival”). Sabantuy doesn’t have a set date. It takes place at the beginning of summer,after the first haymaking. Initially the festivals are arranged in villages, followed by sabantuy in rural districts,and the final ones taking place in major cities. Our grandparents all ways tell us about history of this festival. Earlier people believed that owing to this festival they would have a good harvest. In Sabantuy a lot of  competitions, such as horse racing, race-in-sack, pillar-climbing, egg-in-spoon-in-mouth-racing, sacks-battle on the crossbar, pots crashing, finding a coin in a beverage made from sour milk. You can choose any competition you like. The Tatar wrestling is the main competition of Sabantuy. Wrestlers use towels and the arm to knock down the opponent. All boys and men take part at this competition to find out their power. The winner becomes the hero of Sabantuy. The prizes for him is very expensive, like a TV-set or a car. But the main present is a ram. Sabantuy takes place on the maydan, which would usually be located at the edge of a forest. Sabantuyis a symbol of  Tatarstan. Russian presidents visiting the republic like to take part in Sabantuy held in Kazan. During his visit to Kazan president Vladimir Putin took part in a humorous competition where he tried to dip his face into a bowl full of sour milk in order to fish out a coin without using his hands.

Sabantuy 2014: 

 

 

 President Vladimir Putin on the  Sabantuy event held in Kazan         President Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov and President Dmitry Medvedev on the  Sabantuy event held in Kazan 2011