Wagtail Day - Tumblr Posts

It’s the Wagtail Day/Вурщӑк хӑтл! A first Khanty-Mansi holiday I’ll attend, It’s so exciting! 

I’ll add a bit of info from a Khanty-Mansiysk news paper “Khanty-yasang”. Done with google translate, but I had to fix one word that it got wrong, so there might be more mistakes:

On the first day of summer, the indigenous peoples of Yugra traditionally celebrate Wagtail Day, a holiday of spring, summer and warmth.

In the mythology of the Ob Ugrians, this small bird is given considerable attention. She is a prophetic bird, that is connected with other worlds, she brings happiness, protects children, endows babies with speech.

In the past, the Kondinsky Mansi performed a special ceremony dedicated to this bird. In today's life, this is a holiday that was restored according to the description of the Mansi storyteller Anna Mitrofanovna Konkova.

The Wagtail Festival, having absorbed additional realities associated with children, was filled with new content, and has firmly entered the practice of many ethnographic museums in the district. It began to be held on International Children's Day and became very popular with the younger generation.

In the open-air ethnographic museum "Torum Maa" in Khanty-Mansiysk, it was first celebrated in 2010, since then it has been celebrated annually.

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I’ve tried writing the Khanty name of the holiday, but the last letter doesn’t show, so I’ve just replaced it with the closest think: “Вурщӑк хӑтл”. Actually the “л” should have a little tail, like “щ” does.

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The Mother-of-mothers greets the people, and the woman in blue sings a song. Two Wagtails tell the audience the different beliefs the indigenous people have about the wagtails. A third Wagtail interrupts them and scolds them for boasting while the ice is still there. They try to break the ice, struggling, and ask the audience to help them.

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Then the "Mother-of-mothers" comes and angrily asks who broke all her ice. She says she wants to cast ice on the hearts of humans. Wagtails think she's enchanted by that white shawl, and blow it away. Mother-of-mothers returns to normal. Wagtails tell her that the winter cast that shawl on her.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

They play a game where you have to guess the bird by the sound it makes. The Mother-of-mothers wishes the audience warm days. The singer in the blue dress performs another song, and they walk off stage.

"Good afternoon, dear friends! Today we have gathered to celebrate the ancient holiday of the peoples of Khanty and Mansi. The wagtail holiday-the holiday of waiting for a warm summer!"

"Over Konda the ice sparkled, it did not let the water dance, the wagtail flew in, the ice turned gray, and it began to crumble. The ice floes creaked with a roar, taking the frosts into the distance. She broke them with her tail, little bird, and it’s not a pity!"

*A song*

"The Khanty and Mansi revere us, the Wagtails, very much." "And the Kondinsky Mansi devoted a whole holiday to us, so there!" "And the Khanty believe that the wagtail brings happiness, and that's certainly true, for that, they call us: "йис туты вой" - ("soul-bearing bird")." "Hah! And the southern Khanty believe that thanks to the wagtail, children begin to speak, and this is true, true, true! Because when we fly south in the fall, we leave them - hmm! - a speech!" And the women, talking with the wagtail, ask her to help the children, protect them. And also the Mansi say that- *talk over each other* "Ah!" A third wagtail pushes them apart. "Boasters! You boast, but don't look around!" "So what?" They both say. "You see, there's ice everywhere!" The ice waves their hands. "Hey!" "The winter must want to return!" "Ah! But we've smashed it all! For warmth and light to come! And there they are again-!" She swats her wing at them. "-Frozen..." "Alright, sisters, don't panic! We broke it once - we will break it again! And no problem! So what are we waiting for? Let's get to it!" "Let's go!"

"What is it?! It doesn't work! Let's stomp on it." "Again doesn't work! Let's knock?" "Still doesn't work!" "Let's dance?" "Doesn't work, let's spin around. Harder, harder girls!" "Let's walk in circles. Faster, faster let's spin it! Go on, go on!" "It doesn't work at all! Well, what to do now?! We can't break the ice!" The ice closes in on them, taunting. "Scram!" The wagtails swat at it. The ice backs away and laughs. "I know! Let's ask the kids to help us!" "Well, I don't know, I don't know! What if they won't manage it?" "Well, let's try! Will you help us?" "Yes!" "Alright! Repeat all the moves after us!" "Let's melt that ice! Let's break it. Prepare your little wings!" "Yeah, show him! The ice has moved!" "Hurray! Thank you!"

"The old winter sure gave us trouble this year." "Yes, almost ruined all summer!" "Oh, look who's that over there? Ah, that's Mother-of-mothers! Only... She looks at us way too angrily! Oh, what happened to her?" Mothe-of-mothers walks around with an icy glare. "... She doesn't recognize us..." "Who has broken all of my ice?!"  "That was us, we did it!" "I wanted to freeze the hearts of humans-" "Ghasp!" "So that they couldn't enjoy the summer's light and warmth!" "Oh, sisters, isn't Mother-of-mothers bewitched by that mantle?" "Gasp! Right, we must get it off her quickly!" "There is no way! You won't succeed!" "Kids, help us, help us! Let's blow away that awful mantle off of the Mother-of-mothers! Inhale!" "On the count of three let's blow very hard at the Mother-of-mothers together, and take off that mantle!" "One...Two...Three! Blow!" "Oooh!" Mother-of-mothers gets blown away towards the ice. "Again, one more time!" "Ooh!" "Again, do it again!" "Ooh!" "Huzzah!"

"Oh! What's happening here? Why are you trying to blow me away?" "Yes, we did it! The spell is off! "We, respected Mother-of-mothers, we're saving you from the mantle the winter has cast on you, bewitching you. She wanted to freeze everyone!" "Oh, she's tricky! Doesn't want to give up. But it's summer already! My dear messengers of summer light and warmth, thank you!" "And thank you, kids!" "I ask the spirits of the sky to send us a hot long summer. Warm rains, so that the berries would appear as soon as possible. Let the rivers and lakes be full of fish, and the forests of beasts!"

"Mother-of-mothers, let's test how well the kids know our birds!" "Yes, let's play our favorite game, that's called-"Guess who's voice."" "Let's play?" "Yes!" *Play the game* (I don't feel like writing all that. Maybe later.)

"Good job, kids!"

"My dear adult daughters and sons- Oh!" The men with drums walk in "Haha!" "My dear children, I congratulate you on the holiday of the wagtail! The first summer bird has flown, the sacred little bird has flown. The winter won't come back!" "Hurrah!" "My dears, it's time for us to depart. Piece to you, kind people!" The woman sings. "A warm summer to you! Fareeval!" Speaks language "Whole hands to you whole legs, live happily, and have good thoughts! speaks language" walks off stage.