Chapter 1. Performing Ethnicity: Buryat Ethnofestivals and a Rediscovered Tradition Ewa Nowicka ABSTRACT: This chapter focuses on cultural processes ongoing in contemporary Buryat society and is based upon material collected during long-term anthropological research conducted on the whole of ethnic Buryatia, i.e., the original territory which the Buryats inhabited. The initial phase ran from 1993 to 1994; subsequent research was done in 2000, 2010, and in the years 2012–2014. At the core of the analysis are three ethnofestivals (the Geseriada, the Night of Yokhor, and the Altargana), the organization of which illustrates the cultural creativity and engagement of the Buryat elite. The author introduces here the concept of “rediscovered tradition”—conducting a debate (as it were) with the concepts of tradition found in Hobsbawm and Ranger. This treatise will demonstrate conscious actions undertaken to reconstruct an ethnic cultural canon from fragments—elements of the forgotten or ebbing Buryat culture which have been rediscovered by scholars (e.g., ethnographers and historians). The ethnofestivals discussed herein do have an ultimate goal in mind: to build a modern, culturally unified Buryat nation. KEYWORDS: Buryatia, cultural canon, ethnofestival, identity, rediscovered tradition Introduction During a walk across the steppes near the Onon River, near the border with the Russian Federation and Mongolia, a Buryat teacher was queried about altargana. First pointing out the ostensible birthplace of Genghis Khan, he bent down to call attention to an inconspicuous, low, prickly and half-parched bush. Apparently in the spring it bloomed with small golden flowers—hence the plant’s name in both Buryat (altargana) and Russian (zolotarnik). Few have actually seen this flower on the steppes, but everyone knows that a grand Buryat festival by this name is held biennially in various localities.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTE5NDY5MQ==