Sabantuy

Summer festival of certain Turkic people
Sabantuy is a Tatar, Idel Uralian, Bashkir and Kazakh ('Sabantoy') 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 2012, Kazan Sabantuy was celebrated on June 23.

Tatar speakers call the holiday Sabantuy (Сабантуй, ), or, more correctly, Saban tuyı (Сабан туе, ) plural form: Sabantuylar
Other Turkic peoples living along the Volga also celebrate the holiday. Bashkir speakers call it Habantuy (Һабантуй), Chuvash speakers — Akatuy (Акатуй). The holiday's name means "plough's feast" in Turkic languages. The synonym "plough's holiday", or Saban bäyräme (Сабан бәйрәме ) also occurs.

Sabantuy traces its origins to the pre Islamic epoch, when it was celebrated before the sowing season. The presence of Sabantuy was noticed by ibn Fadlan as early as in 921. Traditional songs and other customs of the Sabantuy probably had a religious connotation 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 to celebrate the holiday. In the beginning of the 20th century Sabantuy gained recognition as the national festival of the Tatars. The Soviet authorities approved of this festival probably due to its humble rural origin. However, they moved Sabantuy to the after sowing season, thus merging it with the ancient summer festival Cıyın (Cyrillic: Җыен, ). Recently, Moscow announced plans to nominate Sabantuy for the inclusion into the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity list in 2007.

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, pot smashing , finding a coin in a qatıq (a beverage made from sour milk), and other contests. Such activities take place on the mäydan, which would usually be located at the edge of a forest. A tradition, called sörän, was held to collect a fare for guests of the festival and prizes for the winners of the contests. Qarğa botqası (Rook's porridge), 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! ).

The wrestling Kurash, is the main competition of Sabantuy. Wrestlers 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 becomes the batır, the hero of the Sabantuy. The prize varies from a ram in small villages to a car at big cities' celebrations.