Holidays and Festivals of Mari El

“Uyarnya”, Maslenitsa (The Pancake Week)

The Mari holiday Maslenitsa (The Pancake Week) is called Uyarnya. Mari ancestors celebrated the holiday in late winter to say good bye to a cold winter and meet a spring with its lifeblood and solar heat. The holiday combines the elements of winter and spring rituals that have become a special feature of the holiday. At the basis of the holiday’s rituals there was an agrarian cult. People wanted to awaken and revitalize the nature, to revive the fertile land forces, to ensure the economic welfare to the family, and to protect themselves and their farms from the dark forces. Unfortunately, the original idea of Uyarnya was forgotten. Nowadays during the holiday people build a snow fort, ride on poles, fight on fists, and play winter youth mobile games. The fair is also held with pancakes, hot tea, with a sale of arts and crafts products. During celebrations everyone rides horses.

The Interregional Festival of Satire and Humor Benderiada includes the following events:

• The carnival procession along the streets of Kozmodemyansk town;
• The meeting with Ostap Bender at the pier “Vasyuki”;
• The chess tournament “Long live the flush of the chess thought!”;
• Cockroach races;
• The auction “12 chairs”;
• Concert programs “Ostap’s children”, “The Youth”, the show “The distorting mirror”;
• Retro and youth disco;
• Fireworks “The Effervescent Benderiada”.

The Mari National Costume Festival invites

The Mari National Costume Festival is a show and a presentation of national costumes. You’ll able to admire a historical reconstruction (the replica of the ethnographic costume), a modern household suit, a modern scene costume, and handmade dolls in national costumes. Every national costume and hand-made items are made by the author’s own sketches not later than the past two years and are demonstrated for the first time at the festival.

Peledysh Payrem (The Flower Festival)

The first festival Peledysh Payrem (The Flower Festival) was held in 1920. Nowadays Peledysh Payrem is an integral part of the national culture of the Mari people. People celebrate the peaceful labor, the workers at this day. The holiday serves to strengthen the national consciousness of the Mari people, its unity. The holiday says the idea of preserving the national language, the songs, the dances, the folk costume. It promotes the friendship between peoples.

The Interregional Folk Ethnographic Festival Forefathers’ Land

The Interregional Folk Ethnographic Festival Forefathers’ Land is a presentation of folk dancers and masters of the traditional culture and the crafts of Mari El Republic and the Russian regions. During the festival the national dance and sports events, the games, the workshops in traditional crafts and trades, the folk disco with popular artists of the Republic of Mari El are usually held.

The International Opera and Ballet Art Festival “Winter Evenings”

The International Opera and Ballet Art Festival “Winter Evenings” is a holiday of music, songs, dances, grace, without which it is impossible to imagine the cultural space of the republic. According to the festival’s organizers, the main festival’s idea is to be the center of attraction to the true masters of opera and ballet, choreographers, conductors, directors. The festival annually attracts stars of the Russian and global level on the Mari scene to show masterpieces of opera and ballet.

The Interregional Russian and Slavic Dance Competition The Silver Bootee

Soloists and dance groups from all places of the Volga region take part in the Interregional Russian and Slavic Dance Competition The Silver Bootee. They may be amateur dance groups of cultural institutions, of higher and specialized secondary schools, of institutions of further education, of children’s art schools and kindergartens.

The purpose of the contest – the propaganda of the Russian folk art and the other Slavic peoples’ creativity, the popularization of the Russian folk dance, the promotion of the Russian folk art in the country and abroad, the preservation of original, ethnic and cultural traditions in the dance art of the country.

Yoshkar-Ola Day

In the City Day the following celebrations are held:

• the city flower exhibition;
• the fireworks festival;
• the exhibition and the sale of craft items “The City of Masters;
• the festival of arts and crafts “Golden hands creation”;
• concerts of creative teams of the Culture houses;
• the entertainment show;
• the Segway race;
• the air hockey;
• the virtual youth race;
• extreme competitions;
• concerts of Mari and Russian pop music and much more.

The Ballet and Opera Festival “Summer Seasons”

The Ballet and Opera Festival “Summer Seasons” is opera and ballet performances in the open air. The festival have already proved that summer can also be a theatre season if there are real professional performances, brilliant artists, talented managers who are able to fulfill the most unexpected projects. The biggest interest of the festival guests is given to the performances in the open air.