El Oiyn Holiday as an Ethno-Cultural Symbol in the Image Construction of the Altai Republic

The purpose of the study is to highlight the ethnocultural role of the El Oiyn holiday as a symbol that has semantic meanings that are important while constructing the image of the Altai Republic. The relevance of the topic is manifested in the fact that, thanks to the established tradition to celebrate the event together with another important event or an anniversary date, El Oiyn 2022 is dedicated to the Year of the Cultural Heritage of the Peoples of Russia and the 100th anniversary of the Oirot Autonomous Region creation. The source database of the study which includes field materials, documentation, information from the regional press, and the Internet, made it possible to conclude that “society and government materialize memory” through the creation of museum expositions, book and photo exhibitions, holidays and festivals dedicated to the date of the Oirot autonomy formation, renamed the Gorno-Altai Autonomous Region in 1948. It is revealed that the national holiday El Oiyn has acquired the features of a cultural event, has become a kind of statement in the cultural and sports spheres. Due to the tourist popularity of Altai, the El Oiyn holiday is becoming focused on the commercial needs of the leisure industry. The image of the Republic of Altai is manifested in the demonstration of the El Oiyn holiday as an ethnocultural symbol, but therefore the born folk meaning of the first holidays is lost. The experience of holding the El Oiyn holiday allows us to conclude that the Altai national holiday is held not only at the level of an official event but acts as a form of self-expression of the Altaians’ modern ethnic culture. The characteristic of the ritual practice to honor the natural environment of the Altai-deity, carried out by the elders in the morning on the opening day of the El Oiyn holiday, is also given. Presented a review of documents, namely regional laws, adopted in connection with the organizing problems, they consider the traditional symbolism of honoring the Altai nature while determining the place and date of the event, which has acquired national significance and acts as an interregional holiday attracting folklore groups and amateur athletes from neighboring regions. The El Oiyn holiday is not an exclusively Altai phenomenon, but one of the forms of transition from the culture of the past to a new ethnic culture

Archaeology · Art history · Documentation · Exhibition · Linguistics · Political science · Popularity · The Republic · Tourism · Arctic and Russian Policy Studies · History · Law · Psychology · Regional Socio-Economic Development Trends · Sociopolitical Dynamics in Russia