YSYAKH - FÊTE NATIONALE SAKHA

This great feast of Yakutia (Republic of Sakha) celebrates the arrival of summer after a long and hard winter. Yassyakh, which means «aspergement», is the survival of a pagan feast in which the spirits of nature are reconciled by offering them to drink. These days, we plant the birch around the poles and a piquet (serguet) adorned with drawings. Wooden bowls are prepared, called tchoran, the local drink par excellence. An old man in national dress presides over the party. After we shed koumyss on the stake - for the spirits of the fire - in the fields and in the waters, the young people perform a ritual dance, while the assembly dances ossokhaï, a sort of round. Then, by groups, we drink koumyss and eat by listening to legends (olonko). During these two days, there are also singing and dance competitions, sports competitions (Kapsagaï games, jumps on grass, Lutte and Kobakh wrestling). It is also an opportunity to see young beauties sakhas in national costume decorated with fur and shoes embroidered with glass grains.