International Altargana Festival as a Factor of Buryat Intra-Ethnic Consolidation: Late 20th – 21st Centuries

Goals and Materials. The article analyzes field, literary, and media data to explore the urgent issue of contemporary ethnic processes inherent to the people that – due to a number of historical circumstances — live in three federal subjects of Russia (Republic of Buryatia, Zabaykalsky Krai, Irkutsk Oblast), and constitute separate diasporas in Mongolia and China. So, the festival which started in 1994 in Mongolia grew to become international since 2002, and is nowadays held nationwide with official state support every two years in one of Russia’s regions where the Buryats live. Results. Cyclicity, established forms and demonstrativeness elevate the event to the rank of a ritual characterized by symbolism of actions. Through spatial whirling, it physically and mentally covers the ethnic territory of the administratively separated Buryats, emphasizes integrity of the nation, being an important factor for the intra-ethnic consolidation in the late 20th – 21st centuries. The performance comprises three main parts, namely: grand opening; contests and sporting competitions aimed at preserving and reviving the Buryat language, traditional culture, ethnic sports; and grand closing ceremony. Despite the international status, the event still remains poorly understood, and the article opens prospects for its further research.

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