How dear Sabantuy is to us and how free Holy Trinity Day is

      And the "prioritization" specific to Orthodox Vyatka was explained back in April by the "governor's inner circle," saying that the money raised from the sale of the Kirov Representative office building in Moscow would be used to pay for festivities in Vyatka Polyana as a "useful investment in establishing political ties with Tatarstan."

      Which, judging by the hundreds of millions of rubles going from the local budget to Kazan road construction companies for the repair of Kirov roads and bridges (when the regional Vyatavtodor collects bulls on the roadsides), are growing stronger under Alexander Sokolov without Sabantuy.

      Are dancing more important than God's Trinity?

      Let us recall that the feast in honor of the Holy Trinity Day was established in 381 by the Second Ecumenical Council in Constantinople, which formulated the doctrine of the three hypostases of God (on the 50th day after Christ's resurrection, the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles gathered in the Upper Room of Zion in Jerusalem). And only six centuries later, in 921, the first Muslim Sabantuy festival took place, as a celebration of the end of spring field work, the date of which is determined by the regional authorities.

      It is noteworthy that the Kirov authorities probably conducted serious monitoring to determine the date of the small-town fun in Vyatka Polyany in order not to interfere with "their celebrations in Tatarstan," where folk festivals in villages will be held on June 7-8, and in Kazan on June 21.

      It is not known whether it was taken into account that on the same days — June 7-8 — Orthodox Russians have Trinity Parents' Saturday and Holy Trinity Day. And there have been no official releases, especially regarding government investments (although Christians also celebrate the end of the sowing season on June 7).

      At the same time, it is difficult to deny that the regional leadership has diligently spent precisely for the benefit of the Muslims of the neighboring republic, of which 55 percent out of the total four million citizens of Tatarstan. But in Vyatka Polyany, according to official data, where the population is 30 thousand people, the number of Tatars living there is 800 people.

      "The governor allocates such a lot of money for the celebration of Sabantuy in Vyatka Polyany that the local population sent a letter to the head of the TFR Alexander Bastrykin, calling it a "disregard for the traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church," the "fun" in the "gray house" comments. Having specified that a new line in the rider of festivities — the racetrack and horse racing - causes special "emotion" today. After all, the transportation of racehorses from Kirov and the surrounding area, which will not reach Vyatka Polyany and back on their own, is "very expensive."

      A million back and a million back, and that's half a billion

      By the way, back in November Newsler.ru After partially analyzing, he published the cost and meaning of entertaining Vyatka-Poly events (at that time, memories of billions spent on the double celebration of the 650th anniversary of Kirov were still fresh: repairing facades with painting over windows, Gates of the Russian North, and so on), mentioning "the most amazing." Among them — "city improvement": 161.6 million, "Courtyard": 28.2 million rubles. "Rolling and dancing zones", museum ethnic village and "Fair": almost 19 million rubles.

      Plus, the "soundtrack of the cooking show host" is half a million rubles, although the Bavarian Radio orchestra is definitely not invited. Another "compensation for the costs of folk art crafts", including food, accommodation, packaging costs, decoration, delivery of products, workshops and consumables — a quarter of a million. Although usually the "artisans" are content with the fact that on holidays their products are in great demand. Also, "souvenir production": 600 thousand rubles, which, according to one of the organizers of the Kirov anniversary, "has been in stock since last June."

      I was very amused by the line about the "nutrition of the staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs", of which 1,50,000 people will arrive from Tatarstan. They also include employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, ambulances, volunteers, artists, and technical staff. Meals for them cost almost 10 million rubles. Despite the fact that police officers will be fed at the rate of 450 rubles for "one meal" with three meals a day... Four days. That is, the guests have long since left, and the police are still having lunch.

      Unfortunately, it was not possible to determine how many thousands, and probably millions, of rubles will be spent on "feeding" the numerous power echelon. By the way, it was planned to invite the delegation of Belarus (Muslim?) and Kazakhstan, which, most likely, will not do without a snack in nature, peremyachami and tea. And they will prefer "a wide menu with decent snacks to decent drinks aged for many years."

      Attention is also drawn to the position on "rental services for two stage complexes, sound and lighting equipment, LED screens, tents and stands for spectators," the cost of which is estimated at 30.5 million rubles. Or, probably, they planned to invite Imlight, which also serves the Eurovision Song Contest?

      By the way, perhaps the only person who risked publicly condemning "wasteful spending" was the deputy of the Legislative Assembly Albert Bikalyuk. Back in November, at the plenary session of the Regional Economic Council, where the budget of the Kirov region for 2025 was being drafted, he called these expenses "madness." Despite the fact that the figures announced in November were half as much as the April "total final costs":

      "You'd better allocate additional money for school meals by adding at least a tenner to the 66 rubles. Because children don't want to eat inedible, raw, sticky pasta, which is very suitable for fattening a well-known pig farm."

      According to one version of the Ministry of Finance, some in the department believe that the "exorbitant spending" on the usual annual Muslim holiday, for which allegedly no more than one to three million rubles were previously allocated, is a kind of revenge and a demonstration of the governor's "resentment of the Patriarch", who "dared not come." on the anniversary of the City Day." Moreover, the representatives of the Patriarchate, preparing for the arrival of the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, talked about "mandatory requirements." So a lot of money was spent on the meeting (arrival), reception, food and accommodation, for which the house on the Black Lake was built.

      By the way, last fall Newsler.ru After trying to find out the reasons for the Patriarch's non-arrival in Kirov (on September 21, he consecrated the newly built Transfiguration Cathedral in Salekhard), he turned to an interlocutor from the Patriarchate, who suggested "establishing one of the probable reasons on his own" by referring to sources from Kostroma. There, some referred to Alexander Sokolov as a "sympathetic Muslim," while others suggested that he was "closer to his wife's religion" than to Vyatka Orthodoxy.