Sabantui: Information

Sources about celebrating Sabantui are found from extreme antiquity and are connected with an agrarian cult. Its name testifies to it: “Saban,” means, “Summer,” or, “plough,” and, “tui,” means, “wedding,” and, “celebration.” Thus, the sense of the word Sabantui means a celebration in honour of sowing summer. Earlier, Sabantui was celebrated in honour of the beginning of spring working in the field (at the end of April), now it is celebrated at its end (in June). The initial purpose of the ceremony was to coax the spirits of fertility to favour a good harvest in the new year.

With the changing ways of economic life, magic ceremonies lost their meaning, but many of them continued to live on as national holidays. So it happens with Sabantui. Sabantui was a universal favourite national holiday. For this reason it does not interrupt existence in the present. Only in time of war was its celebration suspended. As soon as peace returned the people again gathered for the holiday. However, changing living conditions are reflected in the holiday. The local distinctions observed by traditional life have disappeared. A more convenient time for celebration became standard. Sabantui is now celebrated everywhere in the summer, after the end of spring field work, when for inhabitants of the village, there comes a small respite from the intense summer season.

As a whole in Tatarstan its celebration in stages is characteristic: at first Sabantui is celebrated in separate villages, and the next week the holiday is celebrated regionally. Sabantui is celebrated in the big cities and in the capital of Tatarstan, Kazan, last. In traditional life, Sabantui was not celebrated strictly on a certain day of week, but depended on weather conditions and each village celebrated it on a day they found most convenient. Now Sabantui is celebrated on a standard day off of the week, Sunday.

Sabantui is now a state holiday: decrees and decisions about its preparation, terms and venues are published, organising committees made up of high-ranking officials are appointed at each level (village, settlement, territory, city, republic), and financing sources are defined. The ancient holiday has been gradually supplemented with modern traditions, however the basic foundations of the celebration remain, passing from century to century.
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