Ethnic policy in the Altai Mountains: emergence of Soviet festive culture in the 1920s-1930s

The article analyzes the festive culture of the peoples who lived in the Oirot Autonomous Region. Formation of values and symbols of Soviet festive culture is viewed through the lens of ethnic policy pursued by the Soviet government in relation to the indigenous Turkic-speaking population of the region. The transformation of festive culture and emergence of its canon is presented using the example of the October Revolution Day. It has been established that the policy of the Soviet government regarding ethnic minorities in the 1920s was aimed at developing symbolic forms of ethnic identity. Festive culture of a new type, which was manifested in the use of the elements taken from traditional culture and in the policy of encouraging the development of ethnic culture was emerging in the Altai Mountains. Resurgence of festive culture was intended for demonstrating a new order of things to the population. Feast days were considered to be the means for integrating various ethnic groups into a single value-oriented and symbolic system, and consolidating the normative structure of the Soviet state. In the 1930s, the accent was made on the transition from the ethnic nature of culture to the international nature in attempts to build up a tradition associated with the history of the Soviet state and joint life of various peoples there. Historical memory of the Turkic-speaking population of the region was forming in the social and political discourse on festivities. The idea on the culture which would be Soviet in its contents and ethnic in its form was embedded in Soviet feasts which were supposed to unite the working people of Oirotia on the class basis and shape an international community.