With the support of RN-Uvatneftegaz (part of Rosneft’s oil production complex), the Uvat District Centre hosted a festival of the indigenous culture of the North — The Wealth of the Uvat Taiga.

The festival was held for the third time. Each year it attracts more and more participants, and this year it was the largest ever — around 1,500 guests from all the taiga settlements in the Uvat district attended the event. The winter festival began as an arts and crafts fair, but with the support of oil industry workers, it has taken on the format of a cultural festival.

The festival’s cultural programme included national singing and dance performances. Guests of the festival took part in master classes on making national Khanty amulets and dolls, and painting plates with traditional northern ornaments depicting animal symbols of the Uvat district. An exhibition of paintings «Beliefs of the Khanty people» was held in the building of the district house of culture.

During the sports programme, the participants competed in national sports — throwing a tynzyan to the khorey (a harness thrown over a long pole used to hunt reindeer), archery, jumping over sledges, tug-of-war, etc. One of the most spectacular events was the sports and hunting tournament — a competition of dexterity over an obstacle course. The young guests enjoyed an entertainment and development program.

In the market stalls, visitors were presented with the products of traditional crafts — fresh-frozen and smoked fish, meat, berries, pine nuts, furs and beads.

Moreover, the visitors might savor dishes of national cuisine — northern fish soup and tea with taiga herbs and berries.

One of the key areas of Rosneft’s social policy is the preservation of the national culture of the indigenous peoples of the North and their traditional way of life. The Company’s enterprises implement numerous social projects in their regions of operation, developing infrastructure in northern villages, supporting reindeer herding families, and improving the material and technical base of educational institutions and social and medical facilities in the ancestral homelands of indigenous minorities.

RN-Uvatneftegaz supports the representatives of the Khanty, Mansi and Evenks in the Tyumen region. The oil workers, together with the administration of the Uvat municipal district, presented the indigenous people with equipment for traditional fishing activities — snowmobiles, boat motors, petrol generators and Rosneft motor oil for engines. In recent years, the enterprise has supplied over 160 units of equipment to Khanty families.

The enterprise also provides access to winter roads and ice crossings built for production purposes, and organises fuel distribution in the fields closest to the camps.

In addition, with the participation of RN-Uvatneftegaz, an ethnographic cultural centre «Uvas Mir Khot», which means «House of the Northern People» in Khanty, has been created and is being developed near Tyumen. Throughout the year, the centre hosts national ritual festivals, cultural events, concerts, interactive excursions, local history and language lessons and masterclasses.

Department of Information and Advertising
Rosneft
February 17, 2025

Keywords: Social news 2025