Festivals
By far the best festivals in the whole of the Russian Arctic take place on the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region.
At the time of the Soviet Union, the government introduced a series of festivals in all the towns and villages of the region. Some trading posts hold their own festivals too. They take place between February and April every year. Each settlement holds its festival at the same time every year, when the majority of local reindeer herders are camped not far from the settlement. Some villages hold their festivals in the village itself, while others hold them on the frozen surface of a nearby river.
Many nomads from the surrounding tundra travel to the village or town on the day of the festival. For many of them it is the only day off they have all year. It is also often the only chance to see relatives and friends with migration routes far from their own. For young unmarried nomads, it can be one of the best opportunities to find a spouse.
All nomads wear their very best and most beautiful fur clothing to visit the festival. Men also wear their ornate, home-made belts with medallions, bear claws, woolly mammoth ivory and more. There is usually a beauty contest for the best dressed man, woman and children.
There are also a large number of traditional sporting competitions. These include reindeer sledge racing, Nenets wrestling, tug of war, lassoing, jumping over sledges and others.
Here are a few of the festivals we usually take guests to:
Salekhard (last Saturday of March). Salekhard is the capital of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region and has one of the biggest festivals. It takes place on a frozen river surface on the edge of town and has a huge market with lots of traditional Nenets items on sale. It also has one of the most vibrant atmospheres of all the festivals.
It has the biggest number of visitors, but many of them are not nomads. Only about 10% of the visitors are nomads in traditional dress. The rest are local Russians in Western dress, film crews, etc. Also it takes place to the background of Salekhard’s multicoloured, multi-storey concrete buildings.
Aksarka (first Saturday of April). Aksarka is a village about 60km from Salekhard. It is accessible in 45 minutes by the region’s only asphalt road. The festival takes place on a frozen river outside the village. You cannot see any
colourful concrete buildings from the festival so it feels a little wilder. There is, however, a huge car park with hundreds of cars of people who arrive from Salekhard.
There is a higher proportion of nomads to Russians here – maybe about 20% or 30% are traditionally-dressed nomads. The atmosphere is slightly less vibrant that the Salekhard one but it looks a bit more traditional. However, there are still a lot of local Russians in Western dress, film crews, pop music, etc.
Panaevsk (usually the last Sunday of March but for the last two years has been the second Sunday of April). Of all of these festivals, Panaevsk is the smallest but feels the wildest and most traditional. It is the only one without loud pop music playing the whole time. The majority of people at the Panaevsk festival are traditionally dressed nomads and there are very few Russians, no film crews, and about 5 cars maximum – just local traders selling food and so on out of the back. There is not a concrete building in sight anywhere as it takes place in the tundra outside the village.
Yar-Sale (first Saturday and Sunday or April with the main events on Sunday). This festival is considered one of the best and biggest, as Yar-Sale is the main centre for nomadic culture on the whole of Yamal. There are thousands of people attending and around 50% of them are traditionally dressed nomads. However, most of the festival takes place in the village centre of Yar-Sale, surrounded by multi-coloured concrete buildings and with loud pop music playing. Only the reindeer races take place outside the village, but they are still surrounded by a crowd of around a thousand people, half of whom are Russians in normal Western dress and holding flashing cameras.
Seyakha (third weekend of April). One of the remotest festivals in the whole of Yamal. Similar to the Panaevsk one described above.
Nadym (first Saturday and Sunday of March). A big town in eastern Yamal. One of the biggest festivals with large numbers of nomads but, again, huge numbers of non-nomads too. Festival takes place in the town centre.
A visit to any of these festivals can be added to any of our Yamal Peninsula itineraries below.
Anabar District in Arctic Yakutia has a similar reindeer herders’ festival. It can be included in our Dolgans migration tour. The same goes for the Pinega District festival and our Archangel tour.
By far the best festivals in the whole of the Russian Arctic take place on the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region.
At the time of the Soviet Union, the government introduced a series of festivals in all the towns and villages of the region. Some trading posts hold their own festivals too. They take place between February and April every year. Each settlement holds its festival at the same time every year, when the majority of local reindeer herders are camped not far from the settlement. Some villages hold their festivals in the village itself, while others hold them on the frozen surface of a nearby river.
Many nomads from the surrounding tundra travel to the village or town on the day of the festival. For many of them it is the only day off they have all year. It is also often the only chance to see relatives and friends with migration routes far from their own. For young unmarried nomads, it can be one of the best opportunities to find a spouse.
All nomads wear their very best and most beautiful fur clothing to visit the festival. Men also wear their ornate, home-made belts with medallions, bear claws, woolly mammoth ivory and more. There is usually a beauty contest for the best dressed man, woman and children.
There are also a large number of traditional sporting competitions. These include reindeer sledge racing, Nenets wrestling, tug of war, lassoing, jumping over sledges and others.
Here are a few of the festivals we usually take guests to:
Salekhard (last Saturday of March). Salekhard is the capital of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region and has one of the biggest festivals. It takes place on a frozen river surface on the edge of town and has a huge market with lots of traditional Nenets items on sale. It also has one of the most vibrant atmospheres of all the festivals.
It has the biggest number of visitors, but many of them are not nomads. Only about 10% of the visitors are nomads in traditional dress. The rest are local Russians in Western dress, film crews, etc. Also it takes place to the background of Salekhard’s multicoloured, multi-storey concrete buildings.
Aksarka (first Saturday of April). Aksarka is a village about 60km from Salekhard. It is accessible in 45 minutes by the region’s only asphalt road. The festival takes place on a frozen river outside the village. You cannot see any colourful concrete buildings from the festival so it feels a little wilder. There is, however, a huge car park with hundreds of cars of people who arrive from Salekhard.
There is a higher proportion of nomads to Russians here – maybe about 20% or 30% are traditionally-dressed nomads. The atmosphere is slightly less vibrant that the Salekhard one but it looks a bit more traditional. However, there are still a lot of local Russians in Western dress, film crews, pop music, etc.
Panaevsk (usually the last Sunday of March but for the last two years has been the second Sunday of April). Of all of these festivals, Panaevsk is the smallest but feels the wildest and most traditional. It is the only one without loud pop music playing the whole time. The majority of people at the Panaevsk festival are traditionally dressed nomads and there are very few Russians, no film crews, and about 5 cars maximum – just local traders selling food and so on out of the back. There is not a concrete building in sight anywhere as it takes place in the tundra outside the village.
Yar-Sale (first Saturday and Sunday or April with the main events on Sunday). This festival is considered one of the best and biggest, as Yar-Sale is the main centre for nomadic culture on the whole of Yamal. There are thousands of people attending and around 50% of them are traditionally dressed nomads. However, most of the festival takes place in the village centre of Yar-Sale, surrounded by multi-coloured concrete buildings and with loud pop music playing. Only the reindeer races take place outside the village, but they are still surrounded by a crowd of around a thousand people, half of whom are Russians in normal Western dress and holding flashing cameras.
Seyakha (third weekend of April). One of the remotest festivals in the whole of Yamal. Similar to the Panaevsk one described above.
Nadym (first Saturday and Sunday of March). A big town in eastern Yamal. One of the biggest festivals with large numbers of nomads but, again, huge numbers of non-nomads too. Festival takes place in the town centre.
A visit to any of these festivals can be added to any of our Yamal Peninsula itineraries below.
Anabar District in Arctic Yakutia has a similar reindeer herders’ festival. It can be included in our Dolgans migration tour.
