Time to read: 11 minutes(s)

On the morning of June 24, as Wagner tanks entered the center of Rostov-on-Don and a political crisis loomed in the country, Yakutsk was living its own life. A national holiday began in the capital of Yakutia— Ysyakh, which lasts two days. This year, the authorities decided to link the ancient ritual of asking for favors from the deities with the "SVO." Many online were outraged by this decision and wrote about the "desecration of tradition." Popular presenter Liza Gazizova refused Lead the holiday. However, many people wanted to observe traditions, dress up in national attire, and celebrate the arrival of summer. The phrase "Yakutia is a planet unto itself" has taken hold online, thanks to the popular public group "Lepra." A planet unto itself? Really?   

While the demand for self-identification in the republic was previously limited to knowledge of the Yakut language and the celebration of Ysyakh, it now includes the adoption of a law on the development of the Sakha language, the promotion of Yakut cinema, and the creation of public spaces with a national flavor. Young people have recently become actively involved in this process, taking an interest in the forgotten Yakut alphabet, initiating a fashion for jewelry inspired by ancient traditions, approving of covers of world hits in the Yakut language, publicly debating whether to change Russian names to Yakut ones, and criticizing local authorities for their inability to pursue independent policies. Some of our interviewees attribute this growing trend to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.      

Yakutian Tuyaara Alaas is known in Yakutia as a blogger and someone who has trademarked her name. Alaas is not a pseudonym, but her real surname, which Tuyaara inherited from her father. In the 90s, he abandoned the name Peter and the surname Sharapov. Civil registry officials refused to register the new names "Ot" (translated into Russian as "grass") and "Alaas" (the name of a plain typical of Yakutia). The former Sharapov long defended his right to use his own name, writing articles for newspapers and appearing on the radio. 

"People didn't understand him at all back then. His fellow countrymen mocked him, and the authorities persecuted him. My father wasn't a flexible and gentle man, like people like him, who are said to have an inner core. He was considered an oppositionist. But in reality, he wrote articles about Sakha culture and published critical materials about the healthcare system, which, as a doctor, he observed from the inside. And the authorities interpreted publications about, say, Yakut knives, as inciting separatist sentiment. These assumptions affected us too. I was teased at school because of my last name, and adults insulted me. And my mother, a university teacher, was fired from her job. She couldn't find work anywhere after that," Tuyaara recounts. 

Alaas emigrated in the mid-2000s, traveled the world, and settled in Canada. His entire family soon joined him, except for Tuyaara, his eldest daughter.

"I wanted to live in my hometown, which I considered the best place on earth. I also felt a responsibility to my grandfather, whom I didn't want to leave alone," the Yakut woman explains of her choice. 

Tuyaara owes her love of Yakut culture and literature, and her respect for the traditions of her people, not only to her parents, but also to her grandfather, Nikolai Sharapov, the first Sakha ceramic artist. "I grew up among choroons (a Yakut vessel for drinking kumys)," she jokes. Tuyaara upholds childhood traditions—baking pancakes and feeding the spirits, decorating her home with paintings by Yakut artists, eating from Yakut dishes, communicating and reading books in her native language, studying other languages ​​and the history of her family and Yakutia—in her family. She and her husband are raising four sons. 

Many years later, Tuyaara, like her father, who never accepted her decision to stay in Yakutia, was forced to leave the country. First, the family fled Yakutsk due to forest fires in the republic, then, after the announcement of mobilization, they fled Moscow.

Tuyaara Alaas believes that one can maintain one's identity even far from one's homeland.

 "Because the feeling of your uniqueness is a part of you, it gives you strength, you always rely on it. Far from your homeland, these feelings are heightened. Besides, in a globalized world, there's a trend toward returning to your roots," the blogger says.  

Last fall, during mobilization, Tuyaara Alaas spoke out publicly against the war for the first time, calling on the Sakha people to preserve themselves and not participate in crimes. She was met with hate on social media. This was preceded by a fake: unknown people wrote a post in her name, using the Z-style, calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a fascist. This message was was common in Yakut WhatsApp groups. The blogger was bombarded with accusations, threats, and curses, which completely undermined her desire to return to her homeland after the war ended.  

"My father was considered a radical nationalist, but all his friends, except one, were from different nationalities. He dreamed of a state governed by the rule of law, a strong and free people," says Tuyaara Alaas. 

Many Yakut Twitter users are now embracing the same rhetoric as Ot Alaas. This social network is popular among young people and has a high penetration rate in the region. according to Brand Analytics, remains in the top ten rankings, and at the end of 2019, the republic ranked third, behind Moscow and St. Petersburg. By comparison, VKontakte ranks 67th in terms of popularity and user activity in the region, while Instagram* ranks 45th.    

Twitter users were the first to use the letters of the alphabet created in 1917 by the first Sakha linguist, Semyon Novgorodov. This script was used in Yakutia to eliminate universal literacy during the early years of Soviet rule. 

"I see in Novgorodov's alphabet a long-forgotten, yet true, authentic, as they say now, 'true' meaning that needs to be revived. Text has tremendous power—it can ignite, inspire, or even kill. We must use our alphabet, even unofficially, to preserve the Yakut language and culture as much as possible," says artist Kyydaana Ignatyeva, a "thousander" on Twitter. 

Kyydaana, a Yakutian media personality, is known for her work on national-themed murals in Yakutsk and regional centers. The urbanist and designer uses the Novgorod alphabet in her projects. Letters of this forgotten alphabet appear in the Ysyakh Tuymaada brand book, public spaces, cafe interiors, and the name of the brand created by Yakut medical professionals to produce uniforms. "In our murals, interiors, and public spaces, my colleagues and I always strive to feature authentic Yakut words in our identity," explains the artist, who helped the doctors develop the brand concept. 

The Novgorod alphabet is still far from widespread use. However, the Museum of Literature, together with the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics at NEFU, has developed a keyboard based on it for Windows. A mobile version is currently in development. 

Kyydaana Ignatyeva was also one of the first to introduce the trend for a mask in the style of a 17th-century Yakut bride. Annakh, the name of the architrave from the wedding attire of that time, is now very popular among Yakut fashionistas. Yakut women also complete their look with braided hair, a must-have accessory for the hereditary beauties of four centuries ago. Earrings and chest ornaments made of copper and brass were also popular at the time, and are now being recreated by master jewelers, responding to market demand. Haladaai (national dress), deybiir (mosquito repellent), amulets, and national-style tableware have seen a resurgence and are now used outside of Ysyakh.     

Singer Aina Illarionova, better known as Kakitoka, embraces this trend of uniqueness without breaking away from global trends in her work. Considered one of the unofficial ambassadors for the popularization of the Yakut language, the artist has already been dubbed a Yakut reggae performer. Aina graduated from the Higher School of Music, specializing in piano and oboe. This unique educational institution was opened in the 90s at the initiative of Mikhail Nikolayev, the republic's first president. 

Kakitoka was talented, but just one of many young performers, until she covered the well-known Yakut hit of yesteryear, "Kyys Amma," dedicated to the Amga River. A video of the non-Yakut singer singing in Sakha instantly went viral on Yakutnet. Inspired by her success, Kakitoka recorded Yakut-language covers of famous hits by international and Russian musicians, the videos of which went viral. 

Among them are "Kometa" by JONY, "Do You Know" by Maksim, "Ocean Eyes" by Billie Eilish, "Die for You" by The Weeknd, and a song from the show "Good Night, Little Ones!" The singer admits she didn't plan to hype the songs, adding that creating covers is a pleasant pastime for her. Aina's grandmother, children's author Amma Daayys-Darya Vasilyeva, helps her with the translations into Yakut.    

"If I want my lyrics to sound rich, especially lyrical ones, I consult with my grandmother and ask her for help. Sometimes she helps me understand complex literary words whose meaning I don't know," Kakitoka says. 

This year, the promotion of Sakha culture was elevated to a new level by young people who moved to Kazakhstan after the war began. Here in Almaty, the Yakuts celebrated their national holiday on a large scale for the first time. 28-year-old Nyurgun Antonov, one of the event's organizers, says the idea of ​​holding Ysyakh was just around the corner. 

"After the mobilization was announced, many active, creative, and imaginative young people came to Kazakhstan. We thought, 'There are already a lot of us here, we need to show each other and prove ourselves to others.' There were also Kazakh spectators at the Ysyakh festival, which was very gratifying," says the Yakut native. The festival was held in both the Yakut and Kazakh languages, respecting the traditions of both nations, which, according to the organizers, demonstrated their kinship.  

In his homeland, Nyurgun, who left Yakutsk a year ago, worked at the ministry developing a program for the preservation and development of national languages. He believes citizens should not remain aloof from politics and should use various means to influence government decisions. "I entered public service with this in mind, especially since the work aligned with my interests," Nyurgun says. 

Faced with the unwieldy Russian bureaucratic machine, the young man became disillusioned and considered moving to another country. The war unleashed by the Russian state only reinforced these thoughts. According to Nyurgun, it strengthens the interest of Russia's small peoples in their roots. 

"Shocks awaken self-awareness. Of course, I'd like this process to have had positive causes, but what happened is what happened. It turns out that during social upheavals, people begin to seek protection in something close and familiar," he says. 

As an example, Nyurgun cites observations of changes in the statistics of his blog about Sakha culture and language, which he started ten years ago while studying in Prague. He started it and read an olonkho (epic tale) that he asked his mother to send him to preserve his ability to think in his native language. Nyurgun says the influx of subscribers to his page occurred during the forest fires in Yakutia in the summer of 2021 and last year. 

"It's clear that people are becoming increasingly interested in their national culture and native language, and their sense of national identity is beginning to grow. Our job, as people working in this environment, is to shape this and channel it in the right direction. Because growing national identity is a good thing, but it can easily take a wrong turn. And we could end up with radical nationalist movements. The very idea of ​​decolonization could lead to self-isolation, which is also bad," Nyurgun believes.  

According to him, there are many like-minded people in the republic. But they are unable to express their position openly. "An acquaintance of mine who wrote a couple of posts on this topic received a call from the FSB at work and was urged to keep quiet. After all, any attempt to discuss nationalism is considered separatism by the federal authorities," Nyurgun explains. 

In his opinion, knowledge of one's language, the desire to follow one's people's traditions, and the recognition of one's national identity are local processes integrated into a global one. "That's actually a good thing. Cultures should enrich each other, not oppose each other. It's important for us now to learn—it sounds strange, but the ability to preserve ourselves," Nyurgun believes. 

Over the years of centralization, a clear understanding has emerged in the national republics that overly emphasizing their uniqueness and actively promoting their culture and native language could be perceived as separatism. These concerns intensified after February 24 of last year. Many respondents currently living in Yakutia, including those who recently began learning the Yakut language, did not want to publicly discuss their interest, fearing possible repercussions.

_{*the social network is recognized as extremist.}