Epic Day «Manas» in Kyrgyzstan (04/12)

On December 4, Kyrgyzstan celebrates Epic Day «Manas» (Kyrgyz Republicasynda «Manas» eposunun kunu), established by Decree of the Government of the Republic № 259 of April 27, 2015 on the initiative of the Ministry of Culture, Information and Tourism of Kyrgyzstan and on the recommendation of the Parliament of the country.

The purpose of establishing the holiday – is to preserve and popularize the Kyrgyz epic «Manas», develop manas studies in the Republic and provide state support to the main bearers of this epic – Manaschi.

«Manas» – is not just the largest Kyrgyz epic, it is the pearl of the epic heritage of the entire Kyrgyz people, a monument to their language and spirituality. The main character of the epic –, the hero who united the Kyrgyz, also bears the name Manas. Modern researchers disagree about the time of origin of this monumental creation, but it is believed that it has a thousand-year history.

The epic consists of 3 parts – « Manas», «Families» and «Seitek», this is approximately half a million poetic lines, and its main content consists of the exploits of the hero Manas. The work, which is a heroic epic, is built on the principle of genealogical cyclization and tells about the life and struggle of the nomadic Kyrgyz people for independence, the establishment of their statehood, the peculiarities of culture, everyday life, education and other aspects of life.

It is not surprising that in terms of volume this work surpasses all epics known to the world. Another feature of «Manas» is that it is currently a living and developing work of oral folk art. But today there are already about 80 options for recording it, which are stored in the funds of the National Academy of Sciences of Kyrgyzstan.

This phenomenon is due to the fact that many generations of – manasci – storytellers retain the ancient tradition of retelling this epic. The grateful memory of the people preserves the names of more than 20 outstanding storytellers, so researchers know more than a dozen variants and lists of «Manasa». According to the words of the two most famous manasci of the 20th century, S. Karalaev and S. Orozbakov, the main trilogy of the epic is recorded, and the rest are from other manasci –. In addition, several films were made based on it, the epic was translated and published in 13 foreign languages.

There is also a separate area of research within Kyrgyz studies, which is engaged in the scientific study of «Manasa», – manas studies (Kirga. Manastaanuu). Representatives of this direction are called manas scholars, and the main center – is the National Center for Manas Studies and Artistic Culture of the National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic.

It should be noted that «Manas», like any other artistic and moral heritage of every people on Earth, is permeated with the theme of protecting good from evil, humanity and humanism, tolerance and friendship, self-improvement and love for one’s neighbor. All these covenants have become a kind of moral program of Kyrgyzstan, on which the spiritual ideals of the state should be built.

Therefore, it is not surprising that «Manas» is included in the UNESCO list of masterpieces of the intangible cultural heritage of mankind, as well as in the Guinness Book of Records as the most voluminous epic in the world.

In 1994, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on the global celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the epic «Manas», which took place in 1995. The main celebrations took place in Talas (Kyrgyzstan), for the anniversary the Memorable Golden Order «Manas-1000» and a commemorative gold medal were established, and two historical and ethnographic complexes were built. And in 2015, it was decided to celebrate Epic Day «Manas» annually on December 4th.

In honor of the holiday, cultural events dedicated to the epic and Kyrgyz culture are held at various concert venues and educational institutions. During the first celebration in 2015, there was a continuous reading of the epic «Manas» for 7 days, and since then this event has been held annually.

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