DUSHANBE, June 6, 2009, Asia-Plus — Tatar community in Tajikistan is celebrating a Tatar summer festival, Sabantuy, in Varzob on June 7.
Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, Mr. Galim Fashutdinov, an activist of the Tatar community in Tajikistan, said that celebrations were organized on an initiative the Tatar-Bashkir Culture Center Dustlik (Friendship). According to him, some 200 activists of the Tatar community will gather in Varzob gorge tomorrow to mark the festival.
“Known artistes from Russia’s Tatarstan Republic, representatives of other ethnic communities and some diplomatic missions accredited in Tajikistan are expected to take part in the festival,” Fashutdinov said.
According to him, the Tatar community in Tajikistan that was established in 1991 currently numbers more than 18,000 people.
Sabantuy is a Tatar and Idel-Uralian summer festival that dates 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 2008, Kazan Sabantuy was celebrated on June 21.
The holiday is also celebrated by other Turkic peoples living along the Volga. The holiday’s name means “plough’s feast” in Turkic languages. Sometimes, it is also referred to as “plough”s holiday”,
Sabantuy traces its origins to the pre-Islamic epoch, when it was celebrated before the sowing season.
In the beginning of the 20th century Sabantuy gained recognition as the national festival of the Tatars.
Sabantuy does not have a set date. The festivities take place approximately from June 15 to July 1, and usually fall on a Sunday.
Many cities in Europe and Asia that have major Tatar diasporas, such as Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tallinn, Prague, Istanbul, Kiev and Tashkent, also hold Sabantuy.
Today Sabantuy can be characterized as an international festival attracting many people of various ethnicities who participate in Sabantuy, both in Tatarstan, and all over the world.
