The Tozhu. Modern Culture and Crafts, Folklore Groups, Professional Art

The modern festive culture of the Tozhu is based both on the inner ethnic customs and the traditions of the all-Russian culture. The lunar New Year Shagaa is celebrated both at the republican level and in the family. Long before the onset of Shagaa the Tozhy start their careful preparations that include cleaning the house and the sheep barn. 

On the first day of Shagaa, the Tuvans go to an elevated space for the sangsalyra ritual, that is, the lighting of the sacred fire. There is a belief that whoever participates in this ritual will be favored by good spirits for a whole year and will enjoy success.

After the sansalyra, a celebratory feast is served in the house. All guests, no matter the number, are generously fed. Meat is served on wooden dishes, with as many khan fatty chunks as possible, and hot soup poured into cups. 

The Tozhu usually hold their cups in their right hand, supporting their wrist or elbow with the left. When held with both hands, the left is placed behind the right. The guests will first throw pieces of meat into the fireplace and only then will they begin to eat. From time to time, one or the other will pull out pieces of fat with the shopulak or omaash small wooden spatula and transfer them into a neighbor's cup. 

Having emptied and licked the cup dry, the guests hand it back to the host and receive a second cup. The guest has to eat everything he/she is treated to and cannot refuse it. There is a saying: “If you give food with good intentions, it digests well.”

On this day, it was customary to visit each other and give gifts. There was a special ritual for this: the giver would hold a small piece of silk fabric with the gift on top. When presenting it, one had to do it with both hands.

In March, a festival of reindeer herders and hunters is held in the Tozhu kozhuun. It has competitions, dances, songs, and fairs. Here you can buy frozen fish caught in the local river, confectionery produced by the women from Toora Khem and Saldam, dairy products, knitted clothes, souvenirs, handmade jewelry and paintings.

In July, the arzhaan (thermal springs) summer season opens and the san sary rite of spring consecration is held.

On August 9, the Tozhu traditionally celebrate the holiday of livestock breeders “Naadym” and the International Day of World’s Indigenous People. The events take place in the administrative center of the Tozhu kozhuun, the village of Toora-Khem. The holiday begins with a colorful parade of participants from rural settlements and communities of the indigenous peoples of the North. They also hold the “Gifts of Nature” festival, where they traditionally sell meat and fish products from the region.

August 15 is the Day of the Republic of Tuva. In 1921, at the All-Tuva Constituent Khural, the Tannu-Tuva Ulus was proclaimed and the first Constitution of the Tuvan People's Republic was ratified. “Naadym,” the holiday of the livestock breeder, celebrates this event at the regional level.

Musical culture of the Tozhu  

The musical culture of the Tozhu people comes from ancient beginnings; it is based on the pentatonic system, that is, on a sound system containing five notes per octave. There are two main musical genres: the yr and the kozhamyk. There was no choral singing or ensemble playing. When several musical instruments played together, it was a performance in unison.

Bowed and plucked instruments were the most common. Instrumental music was the two-part harmony igil and the one-voiced byyaanza, chadagan, etc. The instruments were characterized by a soft, relatively quiet sound.

One of the most loved musical instruments of the Tozhu was the shoor pipe. In order to make a shoor, a thin white inner shell was removed from the moose esophagus and stretched onto a tube made from willow bark. The shoor was then fastened with seven tendons and three small holes were drilled in it. Only the men could play the shoor, sitting and placing the front end of the instrument on the ground. It was impossible to find an aal of reindeer herders without a single shoor. It was played during leisure hours, usually in summer. Shoor was not taken to hunting or fishing activities.

Another common musical instrument of the Tozhu was the khomus mouth harp, which existed in two types, the wooden yyash khomus and the iron demir khomus.

Contemporary Music Culture

In the second half of the 1960s, throat singing ensembles (khoomeya) appeared in many regions of Tuva. The folk and ethnographic ensembles “Sygyrga” (founded in 1976), “Amyrga” (founded in 1981), and the children’s ensemble “Saradak.”

In 1988, music and folklore historian Zoya Kyrgys founded The “Tyva” ensemble in collaboration with the famous throat singer Gennady Tumat. This marked the era of the very first ensemble-level performance of throat singing. The initial composition of the ensemble included the musicians that by now have become legendary: Kaigal-ool Khovalyg, Gennady Tumat, Kongar-ool Ondar, Stanislav Tanma, Ivan Saryglar, Boris Hurley, Evgeniy Oyun, Sergey Ondar, Otkun Dostai and others. In 2003, the State National Orchestra was established.

The Republic of Tyva also has a musical and drama theater, a philharmonic society, a symphony orchestra, the State Song and Dance Ensembles “Sayany,” “Ayan,” and others. There is also the State National Orchestra, the Union of Composers, the Republican Center for Folk Art, 35 children's art schools, the Republican Center for Folk Art and Leisure, the Center for the Development of Tuvan Traditional Culture and Crafts, and the Center of Russian Culture.

Every summer, the Tozhu hold a competition among composers and performers of the original song “Lilies of Azas” on the shore of Lake Azas in the Tozhu kozhuun. Each participant presents two works in honor of the memory of the Tozhu composer Valery Sambukai: a song about their beloved Tozhu, and one song from the composer’s repertoire. In addition to the competition program, the participants and guests can enjoy national dances and a theatrical performance against the backdrop of the fabulous Azas with blooming lilies.