Itelmen "Alhalalalai" in Kamchatka was won by a loving couple from the city of Magadan

On September 7, the Itelmen ritual holiday "Alhalalalai" was held in the ethnocultural center "Aushin" near the village of Razdolny in the Yelizovsky district.

This is the main holiday of the Itelmens, at which the indigenous people of Kamchatka thank nature for good fishing, hunting, and the harvest of mushrooms and berries. According to Itelmen beliefs, passing through a birch ring, scary grimaces, offering and feeding Khantai will help get rid of adversity and illness, and bring good luck in fishing and hunting. The start of the holiday was given at 12 o'clock.

According to tradition, the competitions "Lvi Ikh,l,kh," (Best owner), "Mimsk," (Best housewife), and scary grimaces were held. The audience was delighted with the performances of national groups. The culmination of the holiday, as always, was the open championship of Russia in dances of indigenous peoples. The dance marathon lasted 6 hours – from 5 to 11 p.m. Andrey Katavynin and Daniela Tereshchenko were the best in the art and endurance competition. The couple came to the championship from Magadan. They also won in the nomination "Kuzelkinga" - the most loving dance, lasting one hour. Kamchatka dancers became prize winners.

Second place went to Artem and Tatyana Uvarov, third - to Nadezhda Neyolova and Dmitry Petrovets. Note that when the dances were not limited by time, the record was set in 2019 and is 17 hours 5 minutes. Recall that the holiday was revived in the village of Kovran 35 years ago by activists of the Kamchatka Itelmen Council "Tkhsan" and the artistic director of the folklore ensemble "Elvel" Boris Zhirkov. In December 2009, by decision of the deputies of the regional Legislative Assembly, the Itelmen “Alhalalalai”, along with the Koryak “Khololo” and the Even “Nurgenek”, received the status of an official holiday of the Kamchatka Territory.

Photos by kamchatinfo.com

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