ABSTRACT
The emergence of greater political freedom following perestroika created an opportunity to bring yhyakh back. From 1992, yhyakh has been an official public holiday widely celebrated in the Republic. The city of Yakutsk holds a large annual yhyakh gathering hundreds of thousands of people. Such enthusiastic resurgence of the festival and other performing and creative arts since perestroika resulted in more confidently articulated Sakha identity. We discuss some transformations in social and cultural arenas in the Republic during the post-Soviet period and how some reforms were strategically used by public figures and leaders in Sakha (Yakutia) for revitalisation of Sakha culture and further transformed this festival. Yhyakh now stands for a celebration of identity for Sakha people as well as for celebration of the belonging to the Republic, unity, and cultural awareness in a broader sense.
