#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The IV Family festival-competition Native Language Revival Through Everyone has opened in Dudinka.
The festival in Taimyr is held as part of the International Year of Native Languages, declared by the UN in order to preserve the cultural heritage, ethnic identity, revival and development of the languages of indigenous peoples and unlock the creative potential of the Taimyr inhabitants.
The competition of families also opens the Taimyr Attraction festival in the region, summing up the territory cultural life within the Folk Art Year. In Dudinka, they say that the local cultural community is starting to prepare for the Teacher and Mentor Year, announced by the President of Russia, with a holiday and a festival.
“Against the globalization backdrop, the languages of entire peoples, especially the indigenous peoples of the world, are on the verge of extinction. The issue of preserving the language in such conditions becomes more relevant than ever. For us, language is a true spiritual value through which we learn the traditions and culture, the identity of our peoples. Therefore, we express our sincere gratitude to the festival participants, who, despite difficulties and bad weather, found the opportunity to come to Dudinka from the most remote corners of Taimyr”, Nikolay Maimago, Taimyr deputy head for Indigenous Minorities and Agriculture, greeted the participants.
Together with the representatives of the families who came to Dudinka for the festival, Nikolay Maimago lit the ritual fire, starting the ethnic competition, and stood together with everyone in the traditional round dance around the fire.
This time, the Kirgizov family from Syndassko, Hatanga region, the Kostrekin family from Ust-Avam, the Chunanchar family from Volochanka, six Yaptune-Yar persons from the Nosok village of the Ust-Yenisey region are participating in the competition.
Not everyone was able to get there in time for the beginning of the festival, but the participants have the opportunity to make it to other thematic competitions for another four days.
On the festival’s first day, national clans’ members took part in the Ancestors’ Melodies competition, singing a song in their native language. Another test was for the knowledge and performance of oral folk epos.
Within a few days, the contestants will take part in the Fashion Marathon and Health Planet contests, as well as demonstrate the best recipes of the national cuisine.
More than 200 families took part in the preliminary stage of the mother tongue festival this year, more than 90 of them were from Hatanga. According to the organizers, if this dynamics continues, the next, fifth festival will break all records.
Earlier in Norilsk, an artistically designed collection Fairytale Taimyr was presented, which included 18 little-known myths. We also talked about how this year Dudinka celebrated the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.
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Text: Denis Kozhevnikov, Photo: author