The First international festival of Finno-Ugric nations "SHUMBRAT, FINNO-UGRIA!" will be held in the capital of Mordovia - Saransk on July 19-21. Numerous delegations from Hungary, Finland, Estonia, all Finno-Ugric republics of Russia, representatives of more than 30 Russian regions, i.e. about thousands of people will arrive in Saransk. The festival will be held under patronage of the Governor of Mordovia Nikolai Merkushkin and with assistance of the International Consultative Committee of Finno- Ugric nations and the Association of Finno-Ugric nations RF.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin, President of Finland Tariu Halonen and Prime-Minister of Hungary Franz Durchan are expected to arrive in Saransk during the festival.

 “This Festival will let us expand cultural exchange and it will attract attention of a wider range of people to cultural life of Finno-Ugric people”, said Peter Tultaev, Minister of Culture of Mordovia.

The opening ceremony will be held on the stadium “Start”, where the guests and the hosts will present Finno-Ugric music including folklore and modern popular shows.

On the first day Moskovskaya St. is to host applied and decorative art exhibition “Town of Craftsmen”. Under the open air blacksmiths from Finland and Estonia will demonstrate their skills. Not far from them wood-cutters will surprise everybody with their imagination.

 Here one can walk along a fabled Finno-Ugric-style village. It’s a unique chance to know household way of life and to try national food.

The program includes competition of woodcutters, art gallery, folklore festival, exhibition of national clothes, pop show, contest of TV-programs and films, student festival, exhibitions of national literature and national cookery and arts and crafts exhibition.

"SHUMBRAT, FINNO-UGRIA!" will remain just cultural event, the real problems of Finno-Ugric people as one of the small nation groups wont be discussed on international level.

There are many Finno-Ugric peoples living in Russia. These groups speak languages that are related to modern Finnish and/or Hungarian and include the Karelians, Komi, Maris, Mordvins, and Udmurts. These groups traditionally lived in the Middle Volga region of Russia and are culturally diverse.

Sources:

    www.rian.ru

    www.gazeta.ru