An image from Days of Yakutia in Toronto, Canada.

What a great news! Sardana Savvina let me know that two Yakutian films are going to participate at The Imagine Native Film + Media Arts Festival in Toronto, Canada. They will be screened at Bell Light BOX Movie Theater on October 22nd and 23rd, 2011.

If by any chance you appeared to be in Toronto on those days, don’t miss the chance to visit the film festival and watch Yakutian movies. You won’t regret ever! Check the screening schedule.

Further, find films description and get energized by the While the Wind Blows movie trailer with a song performed by the famous Yakut rock band “103″ and Varya Maksimova.

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Evgenia Arbugaeva, a Yakutian photographer, keeps stunning us all the time. In September – October, she is exhibiting her pictures from the project “Tiksi In Winter” in Toronto, Canada. Her photo exhibit will be a part of so-called Days of Sakha-Yakutia at Bezpala Brown Gallery.

Days of Sakha-Yakutia at Bezpala Brown Gallery
Sept. 30-Oct. 9; Oct. 15-30, 17 Church St., Toronto; bezpalabrown.com

If you are in Toronto, don’t miss a chance to see her images of the Russian Arctic seaport of Tiksi located in Yakutia in the area of the Lena Delta.

Some of Evgenia’s photographs you might see right now.

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Event: Nikolay Evstifeev’s “Winter Road. The Land of Fierce” Documentary Public Screening at Diamond House Cafe in Yakutsk, Russia.

Time: 08.00 pm (UTC+09:00), Sept. 14, 2011.

Location: Diamond House Cafe (EPL Diamond’s Trade Center), Yakutsk, Russia.

About the documentary check the post “A Siberian Documentary: The Winter Road. The Land of Fierce…”

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Yesterday I started using the Instagram iPhone app. My god, I fell in love with it. Take a look at photographs of Yakutsk (Yakutia, Russia) taken by the iPhone and uploaded on the net with the help of Instagram. All of them instantly appeared on my Twitter account @yakutia.

In pictures: a couple on Ordzhanikidze Square, Russian Airborne Forces celebration on a fountain, the rainy morning and the British motor bikers, Ed and Ben, ready to ride to Magadan through Stalin’s Road of Bones. A story about these motorcyclists are coming soon on AskYakutia.com.

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This is the video from the Live Music of the Silent Film event arranged by Kostas Danilov for cine amateurs in EPL’s Diamond House Cafe in Yakutsk (Yakutia / Russia) a couple of weeks ago.

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The Mirninsky Region Toponomy website screenshot, the winner of the first school kids online project contest held in Yakutia, Russia, in 2011.

It’s getting really interesting. It seems the eYakutia – English blog is getting popular in my hometown, Yakutsk. Here is the news I was asked to share with you. I like it much, because it is about what I love, actually. It is about motivating school kids to promote their lovely regions with the means of Internet.

A week ago, the Republic’s Complementary Educational Center (SakhaEdu.Ru) successfully finished the 1st “My Homeland” Internet projects contest among high schools in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Siberia / Russia.

The contest mission was simple. Children were assigned to create websites dedicated to their homelands, i.e. regions, towns or villages. As a result, 19 schools from 10 Yakutian regions submitted their online projects for the republic competition.

So, who are the winners? See the list below.

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There are a few interesting people living in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Andrey I is Russian TV celebrity, explorer and PR expert. German Arbugaev is entrepreneur, travel enthusiast, the Chochur Mouran ethnographic complex owner, Yakutian laika dog breeder, and a man of the Arctic (he lived many years in Tiksi). Sergey Sobolev is director of DASAAF Yakutsk Affiliate, ice diving and underwater hunting instructor. All of them are experienced divers.

What happened when they gathered together this year? Right. They’ve got an idea and arranged the so-called Target Shooting Under Ice Festival on the Amga River near the village of Abaga in South Yakutia, Siberia / Russia. It happened last week and… as they say… for the first time in the world.

Two men got courage to join such a Siberian challenge. They are Elshan Nazarov, constructor, and Alexey Voronzov, metalworker. They are also ice divers, but never tried hunting and target shooting under the ice river cover in winter.

Below, please, see pictures of divers’ shooting targets (artificial fishes) under ice. The outdoor temperature was -17C, water temp around 0 degree Celsius. Assignment was to swim 12 metre and hit targets from spearguns.

Well, it has all elements of ice diving, underwater hunting, spearfishing, and target shooting… and… that’s in a frozen Siberian river. Cool, isn’t it?!

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Here in historical videos, you can see how Yhyakh (Ысыах in Russian), the Yakut national holiday, was celebrated in the 1960s. For the long period, the Soviets prohibited the Yakuts to hold its traditional summer event, but eventually, since 1941, allowed.

Yhyakh is the celebration of the summer solstice. Dedicated to the spirits of Ajyy and nature revival. Followed with the rising sun worship ceremonies, abundant food, kumis (also spelled kumiss, koumiss or kumys; it’s the horse milk) drinking, national sports games, horse races.

Further, please, find the second historical video. Read the rest of this entry…

YAKUTSK, March 21, 2011 – Today ALROSA Airlines’ cargo plane delivered 30 wood bison (10 males, 20 females) at Yakutsk Airport in Russia’s Siberian region of Yakutia from Edmonton, Canada.

Direct flight lasted 8 hours. The plane landed at Yakutsk Airport at 01.00 pm. The temperature was -5C. Many officials and mass media representatives met the IL 76 cargo plane with Canadian buffaloes.

Further, please, see more info, photos and video.

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Enjoy khomus (Yakut Jew’s harp) music and images of Yakutia in the amazing video slideshow created by Marianna Leontieva in 2008. The author lives in Moscow and she called the video “Khomus… A Yakutian’s Nostalgia…” Think, no additional info is required.

By the way, Yakutsk will host the 7th International Jew’s Harp Society Congress on June 23-26, 2011. It will be held right before the Yasyakh national holiday celebration in the area of Ys Khatyn near Yakutsk. My god, my fingers are crossed, don’t want to miss this must-be-awesome event.

Download the Congress Program (pdf, 525 Kb).