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Sabantui – "celebration of the plough" – is one of the unique, colourful and especially popular Tatar festivals. It takes place at the beginning of summer in the villages, after the first haymaking, and district centres and completes its progress through the republic in the towns at the end of June. Sabantui brings together many traditional games and competitions, which have developed over the centuries: on the squares at the centre is a pole with a national embroidered cloth attached to it. Everyone can take part in racing with the yoke carrying pails full of water, sack races, smashing pots while blind-folded, running while holding between the teeth a wooden spoon with an egg without breaking it, and tug of war competitions. Or even try their luck at clambering up a pole for a pair of embroidered shoes. Also Tatar wrestling is very popular and, of course, horserace where the skill of the dzhigit (trick rider) is rewarded with special gifts.
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