At the beginning of the summer Khakassia resembles a disturbed behive. One often comes across archaeologists in the steppe. Their orderly excavations are multiplying like mushrooms after a rain. Carefully, inch by inch, they remove the earth layer, first with a spade and ultimately with a tiny brush. This way the last strokes are being added to the picture of the history of Khakassia. Tun Pairam is a traditional holiday celebrated by the Khakass livestock-breeders since time immemorial. The green of the meadows is punctuated with bright orange flowers called "zharki" in Khakassia. As usual, the shepherds get up at sunrise. But this morning they are especially careful in saddling their horses. All of them are in their Sunday best, for this is the day of Tun Pairam, the holiday of livestock-breeders, who represent the most ancient trade of the Siberian aborigines.

Several thousand spectators gather in the clearing and on the mound which serves as a stand. All are eagerly awaiting the opening of the festival. At last a horseman appears in the distance with a torch in bis hand. He is enthusiastically greeted and applauded. The horseman dismounts in front of the mound and lights a flame in a big bowl.

Tun Pairam is a kaleidoscope of rhymes, colours and sounds; it’s horses apparently flying over the steppe and the light movements of dancers in bright costumes; it is the fascinating melodies performed on a seven-string chatkhan. The highlight of the festival is probably the competition of athletes. Only a veritable Hercules is able to lift and throw over his shoulder a boulder weighing more than two hundred pounds. Some spectators sometimes also try their hand, but at best they will be able to lift the stone only to their waist. Old-timers insist that this boulder, polished by time, was brought to the celebrations even when they were small boys. Not everybody would dare take part in the "kures" wrestling match, but a rare person would reject a cup of cold kumys, a traditional Khakass drink made of mare's milk which is exzellent for
quenching the thirst. The festival has always coincided with the appearance of the first milk products. Tun Pairam is the Khakass for "The festival of the first airan" (a drink made of milk). lt has long become a tradition to hold this festival at the end of the hard winter period when the herds are transferred from winter to summer pastures. lt symbolizes the respect for the people's traditional occupation livestock-breeding.

Tun Pairam is also one of the oldest festivals of the Siberian peoples. In early summer shepherds would usually gather in the foothills and make a huge bonfire. A white horse was tied to a birch tree and consecrated by the shaman (the local sorcerer). The elder blessed the sky and poured several drops of airan into the fire. Much water has flowed under the bridge since that time and the life of the Khakass people has changed. However, today, as before, thousands of people in the Khakass Autonomous Region hurry in early June to join in the merry-making of TUN PAIRAM.

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