Fascinating Festivals in Tomsk

I am living in Tomsk City for exactly 5 months today. I came here when it was summer, and now here is already winter. Tomsk isn’t like Moscow or Saint Petersburg which have a lot of tourist destination and places (actually I’ve never been there). This is just a lonely city, but that’s what makes it lovely.

As a (broke) student, of course I have a very interesting and amazing life. Mostly sleep, study, eat, and repeat. Yeah I know it’s suck, but however, if there is any interesting event held in this city, I will have time for that. Since I’ve been here, there were many fascinating events which I attended. My favorite are the festivals. In festival, I can meet a lot of people, I can see something new, and the most important is… I will have a chance to gain money, yeah because I am a freelance journalist lol. All hail money. Cheers~

So, in this post, I will tell you about some interesting festivals in Tomsk which I attended. Since in every season there must be at least one festival, so I will start from the summer.

1. Feast of The Ax / Праздник топора

In the summer there was a very unique festival in Tomsk. It was held at the Okolitsa Park, approximately an hour from the centre of Tomsk City. It was held in the third week of August 2017. I came on 18^th August, to be honest this festival was so great! There was around 200 masters of wood sculpture from Russia and 22 other countries. I could see a lot of cool sculpture, statues, wooden home, and a lot of stuff. As a fan of Game of Thrones and Vikings, it was such a honor to come to the festival. I found an Iron Thrones (but actually it was made from Styrofoam lol), so maybe I should call it The Foam Thrones. Besides, I also tried to use the Iron Hand like Jamie Lannister, also I could see the other weapons from medieval age, and the process how to make them too. It was lit.

Baba Ega

I said to my self that I should come there again at the closing day (20^th August), I thought it might be cooler. Unfortunately, the day when I came there, was the last day of the feast. I read before about some people who got hospitalized due to poisoning after they ate in the canteen of this feast. There was a reporter who interviewed me to about this. He asked me about my opinion to this “force closing” of the feast. But I didn’t realize that it would be the last day.

After I came to my room, I read the news and it was right, the feast was closed an hour after I got interviewed. According to the data,it was almost 150 victims of the poisoning, about 30 people was hospitalized. I was so sad to hear that, I knew that there would be a lot of cool stuff in the closing day, but I know that was for the best.

This festival will be hold every 1 or 2 years, so if you have any plan to visit Tomsk in the summer, I suggest you to come in August, so you will have a chance to see the majestic of this festival.

Sirin, a mythological creature from Russia

The Foam Thrones

2. The Day of Tomsk / День Томича

In the early autumn, there was a big festival too in Tomsk. The name of this festival is “The Day of Tomsk”. It was held on 9 and 10 of September 2017. I was so surprised, when I came to Tomsk, there were not so many people I saw in the street. Yes I know because it was probably a summer holidays. As a “students city”, the majority of people in Toms, maybe more than 75% are students. So, in the summer, some of them will go home (in different cities), some will go to work or practice outside the Tomsk. So, after summer, this city seems rise from a grave.

Ok, back to the festival, on these days, I could see a lot of beautiful decorations, not only in the City Park and Novosoborsknaya Area, but also in many spots in Tomsk. In the city park there were some booth which sold so many products originated from Tomsk, such as meat, milk, cheese, coffee, and more. Many people wore traditional dress of Russia, I like that. It was also a parade from the students of all universities in Tomsk, since they celebrated the new academic year. There were also some stages, they performed the traditional songs, dances, and many more. On the second day, it was more to “The Day of Youth” in Tomsk. It was a concert in Lagerneuy Sad (Park), thw stage was near from the Tom River. So, I think it can be your reference if you want to visit Tomsk, wait until the day of Tomsk.

3. The Crystal Tomsk / Хрустальный Томск

Actually it was a competition of ice sculpting, started from 11 of December 2017, and finished in 16 of December. I never saw this kind of competition before in my country (of course, the ice will melt even before they start to sculpt lol). Honestly, the ice sculptures they made were magical. I believe that they are the best of ice artist from their countries. On 16 of December, it also the the inauguration of the greatest Christmas tree in Tomsk, they said its height is 24 meters. Besides, they also decorated the Novorsoborsknaya Park with hundreds of stars, dozens of small Christmas trees, and many more cool stuff. Oh yes, and a beautiful fountain too.

I also watched a hockey match of children, I guess they were school students from Tomsk, about 10 years old. They play hockey pretty good, and also they can skate on ice very well, not like me. Many parents came to this festival with their children. A lot of places for children to play, like the ice labyrinth, ice statues which they could ride, ice slide (it was a 5 meters ice slide there), ice skate area, and more.

There were some performances on the festival. A groups of Santa Claus which sang so many lovely songs, a dancing group with a traditional clothes (like the clothes of Water Tribe in Avatar film), and other performances. It is an annual festival too.

In the fall season, there will be a festival called Maslenitsa, I was attended this festival before, but in Tyumen, not in Tomsk. So I think I should write a special post for this festival. Paka)