From June 12 to 14, on the western coast of Lake Baikal in the valley of the Anga River at the foot of Mount Yekhe Erd, the fifth international festival “Yordyn Games” is taking place. Our photojournalist Ilya Tatarnikov went to the event and will keep diaries of the festival.

Day 1 (June 13)

11:00 Good morning dear friends! Today, the first day of the international ethnocultural festival Yordyn Games opens with the shamanic ritual of Ekhe Taigalan “Delhey dayyn murgel”.

11:16 Visitors to the event also participate in the ceremony.

11:39 On the way to the main site of the Yordyn Games, we stopped at the site of horse racing. Everything was not organized very well - the riders started and rode over the horizon and there was nothing else to see there (the finish was in a different place).

13:25 The opening ceremony of the Yordy Games has ended. There was a vibrant and colorful theatrical performance reflecting the culture and customs of the indigenous people.

15:44 The main sports competitions of the Yordy Games take place all day. There are souvenir shops and cafes. A competition of uligershiins (performers of odic poetry) is taking place on stage.

All age categories take part in sports competitions.

16:15 The games are accompanied by good weather and clear skies.

17:39 The competition “Beauty of the Erdyn Games” continues. Participants demonstrate their skills in reading national poetry, singing, and knowledge of foreign languages.

17:51 Mount Yehe Erd. Its height is about 42 meters. To walk around the mountain, you need to take 700 steps.

18:33 There are stunningly beautiful landscapes around the festival site. All this beauty is harmoniously accompanied by national music and singing from the stage.

18:42 If you climb the nearby mountain, you can see the scale of the festival.

19:42 This concludes the broadcast for today, and guests of the festival will still enjoy a gala concert with the participation of performers from Buryatia and the Irkutsk region. Till tomorrow!

Day 2 (June 14)

11:00 The final day of the Yordyn Games has begun. Today the program of events includes an exhibition of folk art products, a festival of traditional circular dance, Buryat national wrestling, a race around Mount Yord, and the most important and interesting event: the circular Yokhor around Mount Ekhe Yord.

11:15 Festival guests can try homemade national board games. One of them, for example, Shage-nadan, develops concentration and speed of reaction. The player’s task is to throw one die before it falls and collect another from the table. Without proper skill it is very difficult.

11:32 At the same time, a circle dance festival takes place.

12:32 Competitions in Buryat national wrestling have begun.

13:55 The Bator competition ended with a race around Mount Ekhe Yord.

23:16 Unfortunately, at the end of the festival, communication at the site of the events was turned off, so we are catching up: the games were visited by the governor of the Irkutsk region S.V. Eroshchenko, he awarded the competition participants and beauty contest participants.

After the award ceremony there was a final concert, with songs and dances of both Buryat and Russian folk.

Acting Governor Sergei Eroshchenko came to the closing of the festival:
“Events such as the Erdyn Games are an incentive to develop the infrastructure of unique places in the Irkutsk region.” The very idea of ​​reviving the Erdyn Games, which for thousands of years was a reason for the nomadic tribes of Eurasia to forget about wars and conflicts and gather near the sacred Mount Erd for the sake of national sports and ethnocultural competitions, serves as a reason for the infrastructural development of the Olkhon region.

The event ended with a grand yokhor (round dance) around Mount Yehe Yord. There were so many people who wanted to take part that two round dances were performed.

This concludes our broadcast. The next Yordyn Games will take place in 2017.

The Yordyn Games are one of the ancient holidays that developed on Olkhon land.

In Buryat, Yordyn naadan, were held around two hills - Ekhe Yord and Baga Yord, located in the valley of the Anga River. The largest of the hills, Yehe Yord, is a hill of almost regular dome shape, 40 - 42 meters high above the floodplain of the valley. The Baga Yord hill has an oblong-elongated shape, its height above the floodplain is 12 meters.

The Yordyn games were timed to coincide with the sacred “tailgan”, called “Delhey dayyn murgel” - a religious and cult rite with sacrifices and prayers. Representatives of the Ekhirits, Bulagats, Khorins, Sagenuts, Khengelders, Buyanguts and other Buryat clans and tribes gathered here.

Knowledge about the Yordyn Games was revived thanks to the research of Professor D.S. Dugarova. The researcher found brief reports about the games in the field diary of the prominent Buryat ethnographer M.N. Khangalova (1908): “In the Yalantsovsky department there are two small mountains that have an oblong-cone shape and a height of about 25 fathoms. These two mountains are called one Small Yord (“Baga Yord”) and the other Big Yord (“Ehe Yord”). These mountains are remarkable in that the former Buryats, during the zegete aba around the Big Yord, organized the national holiday “khatarkha”... In the Kudinsky department, I heard that the games around the mountain lasted about thirty days. That one young man wore out six high boots in 30 days. The Kurumkan department heard that during the game around the Yord mountains (Yord naadan), good and accurate guys found beautiful and good wives. Beautiful and good girls found good, smart and accurate husbands.”

Oral traditions about the games were preserved mainly by the Olkhon Buryats. Generalized information about them is as follows. Games were held either once a year, in the spring, in May, when the ground was covered with fresh greenery, or twice a year, in spring and autumn. In this regard, D.S. Dugarov suggested that the games were once held twice a year, and later - once, only in the spring, and then stopped altogether.

The main event at the games was the multi-day circular dance Yekhor around the Ekhe Yord hill. To cover the entire perimeter of the hill with dancers, it was necessary to have at least 700 participants. When so many people did not gather for the holiday, the games were considered unsuccessful, and those who arrived quickly left. In accordance with this, the year as a whole was considered unsuccessful, not bringing happiness and benefits to people. When up to 2 - 3 thousand people gathered, the games took place over several days. On the first day, the arrivals settled in place. On the second day there was a general prayer service and a solemn ritual part. On the third and fourth days, the actual games began. On these days, wrestling, archery, and horse racing competitions were held, yokhor danced, and songs were sung. The “uligershi” storytellers in their songs of praise sang of those who especially distinguished themselves, whose fame spread on both sides of Lake Baikal and remained in the memory of the people for many years.

In 2000, on the initiative of the administration of the Olkhon district and the administration of the Irkutsk region, within the framework of the federal program “National Heritage”, the ancient Yordyn games were revived. Over 2000 people took part in the first festival.

In 2005, the second Yordyn Games were held. Delegations from Buryatia, Tuva, Khakassia, Gorny Altai, Yakutia, Aginsky Buryat National District, and Mongolia came to the holiday. In 2011, the third international festival “Yordyn Games” was held.

Today, the cultural program of the Yordyn Games is quite rich. Various exhibitions of the creativity of folk craftsmen and craftsmen, competitions of yurts, national cuisines, yokhor groups, a competition of uligershins, folk songs, and a competition “Beauty of the Yordy Games” are held. Sports competitions are held in national wrestling, archery, tug-of-war, stone throwing, etc.

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of the Yordyn Games - the quintessence of the spirituality and culture of the Buryat people, the most numerous of the indigenous peoples living around Lake Baikal. Thanks to its mass appeal, entertainment and the skill of performing folklore ensembles and sports teams, this ritual holiday has become a noticeable phenomenon in the revival of national traditions. Games have great potential for uniting people, so that our Siberian region becomes strong and prosperous.

Chairman of the Parliament of Yakutia Anatoly Dobryantsev shared his impressions of the festival.

– This year the International Ethnocultural Festival “Yordyn Games” took place for the sixth time in the Khotoruk area of ​​the Olkhon district of the Irkutsk region.

Today the Yordyn Games are a kind of Olympics of the peoples of Eurasia. Thanks to the efforts of the public, the Festival was revived after many years of oblivion. In 2001, the first holiday was held in the Olkhon region, in a sacred place for all the peoples of Siberia, two kilometers from the shore of Lake Baikal. Only the twentieth century interrupted the tradition of holding the Yordyn Games. In 21, they were held five times: 2001, 2005, 2011, 2013 and 2015, attracting a record number of participants - more than five thousand people. The frequency of the event is set to be once every two years.

In 2013, they were included in the UNESCO calendar of events. In 2016, the festival became a laureate at the All-Russian Event Tourism Competition - winner in the “Folk Traditions” nomination, as a result of which it was included in the national calendar of cultural and tourist events of the country. The Yordyn Games are planned to be included in the list of intangible heritage of the world, and Mount Yord itself is planned to be included in the list of tangible heritage.

More than 400 artists from the Irkutsk region and the Ust-Orda Buryat district performed at the official opening ceremony. Thematic blocks were devoted to the centuries-old mixture of nationalities and the fusion of cultures.

At the VI International Ethnocultural Festival “Yordyn Games - 2017”, a festival of traditional circular dance of Eurasian peoples was held at a high level, bringing together more than 400 participants from groups from different regions. For the first time, the cultural program of the Yordy Games included the festival of ethnic costume “Threads of Time” and the festival of ethnic music, in which the ensemble “Kyl kyryimpa” took part under the direction of Anna Tomskaya, singer Lagentay, Evenki ensemble from the Zhigansky ulus, a folk group from the Vilyuisky ulus. The delegation from the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) consisted of 88 people.

The founding regions presented their exhibitions in exhibition yurts decorated in national styles. An exhibition-fair of folk art products ran for two days. The conference “Yordyn Games - Commonwealth in the Eurasian Space” was held.

Ten participants from Mongolia, Irkutsk region, Buryatia, Tyva, and Trans-Baikal district took part in the “Beauty of the Yordy Games” competition. The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) was presented by a native of the Srednekolymsky ulus, artist of the National Dance Theater named after S.A. Zverev - Kyyl Wala Vasilena Sharina. There were dance numbers, vocal performances, and a fashion show in national costumes. The Yakutian performed well in all stages and won the Grand Prix of the traditional beauty contest.

The sports competitions “Games of Bator (heroes) of the Middle World” included such types as Buryat national wrestling (buhe barildaan), stone throwing (10 kg) at a distance, shooting from a traditional national bow at a distance of 50 meters, running around Mount Yord (800 meters), mas-wrestling, Yakut national jumps (“kylyy”, “ystanga”, “kuobach”), stone carrying (from 110 to 125 kg), tent, horse racing over rough terrain, sheep shearing. The all-around games are the main competitions of the festival. Here the famous Buryat heavyweight wrestler, Master of Sports of Russia of international class, won Baldan Tsyzhipov, who became the absolute champion in hapsagai wrestling.

Our republic was mainly represented by a national team from the city of Neryungri. Michiel Yakovlev from the Churapchinsky ulus became the absolute champion in Yakut jumping. Two boot tourers from Neryungri also won in their age categories. Also, two Yakut athletes took 2nd place in stick tug.

I had the great honor to give a welcoming speech at the opening of the Yordyn Games. In his speech he proposed to consider the Russian postal route as a Eurasian project. After all, the road map of the Russian Empire with all the postal and country roads running from St. Petersburg to Yakutsk, from Okhotsk to Ayan, overlooked the Pacific Ocean. Thus, the first steps were taken towards the development of Russian America, trade was carried out with China and Japan. Today, China is putting forward the "Great Silk Road" - a caravan route that connected East Asia with the Mediterranean in ancient times and the Middle Ages, so we need to pay due attention to this.

On the opening day of the main festive events, the shamanic ritual Ekhe (Big) Tailagan was held - a prayer service, worship and sacrifice to the spirits and masters of the sacred Mount Yord and the Aya rock with the participation of shamans and elders of the clans. The culmination of the holiday was the grandiose ritual circular dance of Yokhor around Mount Ekhe Yord.

Press service of Il Tumen

Until the 17th-18th centuries, on the western coast of Lake Baikal in the valley of the river. Angi, a major inter-tribal Buryat holiday was held - the Yordyn Games (Yordoin naadan). The practice of holding games at the foot of Mount Yekhe Yordo ceased with the arrival of Christian missionaries to Baikal around the 18th century. And only at the end of the 20th century, thanks to the publications of Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor D.S. Dugarova, the Yordy Games were revived and took place again in July 2000 at that sacred place.

Then over two thousand people attended the Yordy Games: guests from Buryatia, Sakha-Yakutia, Aginsky Autonomous Okrug of Chita Region, Ust-Ordynsky Buryat Autonomous Okrug. The festival program included performances by folklore ensembles and sports competitions: traditional archery competitions, classical wrestling, and horse racing. In addition to traditional national competitions, the sports program included competitions in stone throwing and stick tug. The latter sport is national among the Yakut people.

In the 21st century, the Yordy Games have become a noticeable phenomenon in the revival of the national traditions of the Buryat people.

Among nomadic peoples, spring holidays took place when migration from winter roads to summer roads ended. Usually these holidays were accompanied by competitions in strength and dexterity.

Among the Buryats, such competitions were called naadan, which translated means “three games of husbands.” Such competitions included buhe barildaan - national wrestling, surkharbaan - archery, urildaan - horse racing.

Since ancient times, bows and arrows have been the main weapons of hunters and warriors, so archery was a mandatory and favorite type of competition. Among the Buryats, wrestling has always been a favorite sport. Buryat wrestling is very democratic: there are no weight categories in it, and the duration of the fight is not set in time. The winner is the one who forces the opponent to touch the ground with the third point. Also, the festival program could include competitions in lifting and carrying heavy stones.

Young people in competitions had the opportunity to demonstrate their best qualities: strength, endurance, agility. During the holiday competitions, the Buryats found out who is the best horse rider, who is stronger in national wrestling, and who is the most accurate archer. Winning the title of best was a very prestigious achievement. The winners received good prizes as a reward: it could be cattle, or it could be the hand of a beautiful girl. Uligers (legends) were written about the winners of sports competitions, thanks to which the heroes were glorified for many years.

Each Buryat family had its own special place for holding a national holiday. This place, especially if it was a mountain, became sacred over time. For example, in the Kudinskaya Valley, tai-lagans (ancestral holidays) were held near the sacred mountains of Baitog and Ukher Manhai. Among the Agin Buryats (Chita region) this is Alkhanay, a sacred mountain, a walk around which promises all sorts of benefits and good luck. The Barguzin Buryats have Mount Baragkhan-uula, in whose honor special prayer services are held. In the Tunka Valley, local residents reverence Mount Mundorga. But the Buryats attached special importance to participation in the holiday near Mount Yordo. The popularity of this holiday was so great that guests from the most distant corners of the Baikal region and Transbaikalia came to it.

Yokhor around the sacred mountain Yehe Yordo usually lasted 6 days and nights, and in order for the circle to close, over 700 people had to participate in the round dance at the same time. If the circle did not close, the games were considered unsuccessful and those who arrived quickly left.

About holding the Yordyn Games in the valley of the river. Angi, an entry was found in the field diary of the Buryat scientist M.N. Khangalov, who wrote down in 1908 from the words of the Kudin Buryats: “In the Yalantsovsky department there are two small mountains that have an oblong cone-shaped shape and are about 25 fathoms high. These two mountains are called one Small Yord (Baga Yord) and the other Big Yord (Ehe Yord). These mountains are remarkable because the former Buryats, during a round-up hunt (zegete aba) around Ekhe Yord, organized the national holiday of Khatarkha. The circumference of Ehe Yord is about 700 ordinary steps, therefore, about seven hundred people took part here, and they couldn’t do less, but they couldn’t do more, as much as they wanted. There are many folk legends regarding the organization of the national Khatarkha dance around this mountain... In the Kurumchi department I heard that during the game around the Yord (Yord Naadan) mountains, good and accurate guys found themselves beautiful and good wives. Beautiful and good girls found good, smart and accurate husbands.”

The isolated life in remote Buryat uluses was not conducive to frequent celebrations, so the opportunity to establish relationships and acquaintances at common holidays was very significant and one of the most important motivations for traveling to the Yordy Games.

ABOUT MOUNT EXE YORDO

Ekhe Yordo translated from Buryat means “large protruding, protruding” (erdoikho). Mount Yekhe Yordo is located 9 km from the village. Elantsy and 2 km from Baikal on the right bank of the river. Angi. For currently unknown reasons, this low (34 meters) regular domed hill was chosen by ancient people to hold the most important and crowded national Buryat holiday on the shores of Lake Baikal.

There are a large number of ancient folk legends about Mount Yekhe Yordo. One of them tells, for example, that the rich man Dali-Bayan, who lived at the mouth of the Anga, covered all the slopes of the sacred Yordo hill with the skins of white lambs before the games, and it became snow-white. And white color has been considered sacred among the Buryats and Mongols since ancient times. It can be assumed that covering the top of the hill with white skins had a magical character of “cleansing” and “blessing” the hill.

During the holiday, only shamans climbed to the top of the hill; no one else had such a right. Just before the very top of Mount Yordo on the western, flatter side, where shamans usually climbed, there is an ancient sanctuary, which is a cavity under two huge 5-meter flat stone slabs mounted on stone supports. From the outside, the cavity is fenced with a wall of stacked stones. Much suggests that the fire was kindled here in ancient times. During the holiday, shamans climbed the Ekhe Yordo hill and lit juniper on its top, the fragrant smoke from which was intended for local ezhins (spirits). The purpose of the ritual is to appease the owners of the area so that they will patronize the inhabitants of the Angi Valley, send rains on time, provide warmth, protect them from various diseases, and promote the reproduction of livestock.

Information sheet

Siberia has become the cradle of formation of many peoples living on the territory of the Russian Federation. The central place in these processes is occupied by Baikal, the cleanest and deepest lake in the world. Numerous peoples of Eurasia revered and attached sacred significance to these lands. Intertribal collective prayer services are held here every few years. Gradually, prayer services transformed into a general holiday with song, dance and sports competitions. The place of these holidays was Mount Yord, which later gave the name to the holiday “Yordyn Games”.

The Yordyn games were held around two hills - Ekhe Yord and Baga Yord (Big Yord and Little Yord), located in the valley of the Anga River, 8 km from the regional center of Elantsy, Olkhon district, Irkutsk region. The main event at the games is the Yokhor circular dance around the Yekhe Yord hill. To cover the entire perimeter of the hill with dancers, you need to have at least 700 participants. In addition to Yokhor, singing competitions were held at the festival.

The Yordyn Games are a kind of Olympics of the peoples of Eurasia. Teams compete in national competitions: Buryat national wrestling, archery, mas-wrestling (stick tug), Yakut national jumping, stone carrying, shatar (chess), horse racing. In a sacred place, on the top of Mount Yord, shamans turn to spirits. For thousands of years, numerous nomadic tribes gathered in this valley once a year. During this time, wars and conflicts ceased. In a single prayer, people asked the creator for the health and well-being of the family. Mount Yord, according to shamanic legends, connects the earth with the sky. In this place, the higher and lower worlds of spirits are open to contact with people.

Thanks to the efforts of the public, the Festival was revived after many years of oblivion. In 2001, the first holiday was held in the Olkhon region, in a sacred place for all the peoples of Siberia, two kilometers from the shore of Lake Baikal.

Only the twentieth century interrupted the tradition of holding the Yordyn Games. In 21, they were held five times: 2001, 2005, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017, attracting a record number of participants - more than five thousand people. The frequency of the event is set to be once every two years.

In 2013, they were included in the UNESCO calendar of events. In 2016, the festival became a laureate at the All-Russian Event Tourism Competition - winner in the “Folk Traditions” nomination, as a result of which it was included in the national calendar of cultural and tourist events of the country.

The Yordyn Games are planned to be included in the list of intangible heritage of the world, and Mount Yord itself is planned to be included in the list of tangible heritage.

VI The international ethnocultural festival “Yordyn Games” will be held from June 13 to 15, 2019 in the town of Khotoruk, Olkhon district, Irkutsk region.