For the first time, the World Abaza Congress will hold the “Abaza” cultural and sports festival in Abkhazia.
Said Bargandzhia
The cultural and sports festival “Abaza”, initiated by the World Abaza Congress, will open for the first time in Abkhazia on October 16 and will be held for two days. The festival will be held under the motto “Unity through culture and sport.”
The organizer of the festival, together with the WAC, is the International Association for the development of the Abaza-Abkhaz ethnos “Alashara”. The Abaza festival will be held with the support of the Ministry of Culture and the Protection of the Historical and Cultural Heritage of the Republic of Abkhazia, the State Committee of the Republic of Abkhazia for Physical Culture and Sports, as well as the Abkhaz State Museum.
The head of the Women's Councils of the Congress, Geta Ardzinba, commenting on the upcoming event, noted that the successful experience of the ANO “Alashara” in the KChR was the impetus for the cultural and sports festival in Abkhazia: for six years now, the association has been holding such a festival in Cherkessk, and it has been very popular among representatives of the Abkhaz-Abaza Diaspora.
“An idea arose to acquaint the Abkhaz with the results of an invaluable business, the founder of which was Mussa Ekzekov. This is a painstaking revival of Abaza culture. Mussa Khabalevich has been providing financial assistance to our athletes for many years, in particular wrestlers. All these messages together gave an impetus to the Abaza festival in Abkhazia,” said Ardzinba.
Geta Ardzinba noted that the main goals and objectives of the cultural and sports event are to acquaint everyone with the history of Abazashta, with national traditions, with the modern cultural and creative environment of Abazashta, to help the young generation of the Abaza to form a high level of national identity.
She added that the younger generation is being brought up today largely on information “from the Internet, where many different subcultures are represented that do not correspond to the national and cultural values of Abkhaz and Abaza.”
“The result of this influence is that Abkhaz society has seriously distanced itself from the idea of the former unity of the roots of the Abaza people. I really want the youth to be imbued with the spirit of inseparability of the Abaza, to feel the joy that you can experience from meeting with your brother, whom you have not seen for a long time, but with whom you have much in common in your childhood. Abkhaz and Abaza even have a term that clearly describes this moment of our national culture, aibabara (meeting, communication in Abkhaz - ed.). This is the moment of sharing joy from communication. Our brothers are coming to us, bringing to us a real holiday, their songs, dances, their treats. Such a festival must necessarily become part of our modern culture,” says Ardzinba.
It is expected that sportsmen from Adygea, Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia, Ingushetia, Chechnya, Dagestan, as well as from the cities of Kaliningrad and Sochi, will come to the festival.
The cultural and sports festival “Abaza” on October 16 in Gudauta will open the Freestyle wrestling tournament for the cup of the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the World Abaza Congress Mussa Ekzekov. The tournament will be held for two days. On October 18, the festival will move to Sukhum on the Makhadzhir’s embankment in front of the Abkhaz State Drama Theater and continue with a cultural program. The holiday in Sukhum will begin at 13:00 and will last until late in the evening.
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