Happy New Year, friends!!! Wish you all the best dreams to come true!!!! Thank you for staying with Yakutia the last year. Let’s do it again in 2012

Meanwhile, enjoy the New Year fireworks happened in Yakutsk, Russia.

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This is a 5-min video about Yakutia!

Its creators tried to do the impossible… to show all images of the vast diverse region called Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Think, they succeeded, but, frankly, such a hard mission won’t be possible to do ever.

No more words! Watch Yakutia!

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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A week ago, my friends and I visited Valera Varlamov’s Yakut horse breeding farm in the area of Mytaah village in Gorny Ulus (district). 4 hours by car westward from Yakutsk, the administrative center of Yakutia, Siberia/Russia. If travelling with cheery friends, four hours go fast and pretty insensibly.

If anyone doesn’t know what to do after museum visits in Yakutsk, to spend one day with woolly stocky Yakut horses and try horse trekking in real Siberian taiga is worth to embark one day travel.

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The government of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) has a good habit. In each February, regional high officials travel across Yakutia, the biggest Siberian region with 3 million sq km, and give people a report on what was done in the course of the previos year. It is a sort of direct communication between ordinary people and authority representatives.

Frankly saying, I can’t remember when such practice started being exercised. Maybe, 7 years ago. In the beginning, people were sceptic to such sudden authority travels. They thought, “Well, it must be another form of telling people how good the authorities are, and, please, do a favor, vote for them in the upcoming elections.”

Irrespective of such attitude, people decided to take advantage of such direct chats with the repulic’s government officials, i.e. President, Prime Minister, Vice PM, ministers and deputy ministers. Dwellers of remote settlements started to share their own local urgent matters and problems. Like “Could you allocate funds for improving communal systems?”, “Is it possible to construct a hospital in a village? Currently we need to find a car, pay for fuel and travel hundred of kilometres to the nearest regional hospital.” or “Would you say the government to give us a truck?” and so on, and so on.

Many issues are raised and, finally, included in the list of required actions for the republic’s government. If any of stated problems wouldn’t be resolved, following year people would say, “You didn’t do what you promised. What the hack do you do in Yakutsk? Just spending budgetary funds?” To avoid accusations, officials try to redeem all given promises.

Such tradition, certainly, is good. At least, officials must see, how people live in the far-away places, and check, if municipal ‘bosses’ say truth in their annual reports.

Oops. The current post is about to give brief insight into people’s life in Yakutia’s northernmost region of Anabar located in the Polar Circle. Below, please, see Nyurgun Stepanov‘s photographs. He visited Anabarsky Ulus as a member of one of the above described republic governmental delegations.

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This is the trailer of non-existing fantasy / horror / history / drama movie created and presented by Yakutsk-based film makers, E. Osipov (producer), Misha Vasiliev (director), Sema Amanatov (cameraman, director of arts). A short film trailer was done on the Canon 7D digital camera.

This way E. Osipov (his blog) is trying to attract investors and sponsors to the production of the widescreen movie about love, shamans, a warrior and Sakha (Yakut) people’s ordinary, but brutal life of the past in the biggest Siberian region called Yakutia.

Based on Sardana Sivtzeva’s novel “Taming Demons.”

Another good news. Yakutia is becoming Siberia’s Hollywood with a dozen of new widescreen movies produced per year! Did you know about it?

Yakutia’s President Yegor Borisov restricted strong alcohol retail sales in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), The Far East InterFax informs. Vodka will be now available at daytime.

Since Monday, November 1st, 2010, on the whole territory of Siberia’s Yakutia, vodka and other strong tipples are allowed to sell between 2.00 pm and 8.00 pm only.

All retail stores and kiosks (stores in the form of booths) are permitted to sell alcohol of 15% and more strength between 2 pm and 8 pm, according to the Decree of Yakutia’s President.

The decision was motivated by numerous appeals from inhabitants and sad statistics. About 500 people die on account of alcoholic intoxication in Yakutia annually.

What do people say about new restrictions? Read the rest of this entry…

See photographs of the Even reindeer herders taken by anthropologist Florian Stammler in the northern part of the Verkhoyansk mountains in Yakutia, Siberia/Russia.

Florian Stammler is one of a few antropologists, who mainly studies the peoples of the Russian Arctic. He used to lecture in Cambridge. Now he teaches at the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi, Finland and is the coordinator of the anthropology research team at its Arctic Centre (http://www.arcticcentre.org/anthropology). He has been to Yakutia many times. This time, a couple of weeks ago, he and his wife Anna traveled to the Eveno-Bytantaisky region with Bruce Parry and his IndusFilms documentary team (wrote about them previously). Read the rest of this entry…

Proud to announce that today we start publishing the unique collection of the Czech photographer Pavel Kolínský’s stories about living in Yakutia’s Arctic, precisely in the Lena Delta. The first part is dedicated to the Yakutian sea port of Tiksi.

Pavel Kolínský’s photos taken in July of 2006, frankly saying, reveal the whole story. I could say, “No comments are required! Take a look and get the clue!” That’s absolutely true. However, I would like to say a few words. Read the rest of this entry…

See the first portion of old photos. 42 photographs. Scanned and presented by Misha Maltsev, a London-based Yakutian.

My comment: I think scanned old book pictures have their own aesthetics.

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