Preparations for celebrating the 1000-year unity of the Mordvinian people with peoples of the Russian state
Mordvinian tribes have lived next to Slavic tribes from the earliest times. The first Slavic settlers appeared on Mordvinian soil at the end of the first millennium AD. This marked the beginning of a thousand-year period of common life for Russians and Mordvinians. According to historian Vasily Klyuchevsky, Slavic and Finno-Ugric tribes lived peacefully and mutually enriched each other's cultures.
Numerous archeological and historical artifacts dating from the 10th and 11th centuries provided grounds for preparing the celebration of the 1000-year unity of the Mordvinian people with peoples of the Russian state. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin headed the steering committee for the landmark date. In January 2010, the Russian government approved a plan of basic events connected with the preparation and celebration of the occasion.
These events included: an inter-regional Olympiad among schoolchildren on the Moksha and Erzya languages and Mordvinian literature; an inter-regional festival of Finno-Ugric variety songs, "Od Vii"; the All-Russia dance festival, "Kshtima"; the 7th international ethno-cultural expedition-festival, "The Volga, a River of Peace. Dialogue of Cultures between the Volga Peoples"; the all-Russia national festival, "Shumbrat!" and others.
As many as 27 social infrastructure facilities are now under construction according to the plan. Builders have commissioned the Institute of National Philology and Culture of Finno-Ugric Peoples of the Mordvinian University, and are completing work at the Pushkin National Library and the Yaushev Opera and Ballet Theatre, facilities belonging to the Centre of Finno-Ugric Culture.
