X Finno-Ugric Congress in Mari El
Abstract
Since 1960 every fifth year the scholars in Finno-Ugric studies: ethnology, folkloristics, linguistics, archaeology and history, have gathered to congresses in different university towns in the Finno-Ugric area. The previous congress was held in Tartu, Estonia in 2000. In august this year the venue was Yoshkar Ola, the capital of the Republic of Mari El in the Russian Federation. The Mari Republic has a mythic location at the bend of the River Volga, which has been regarded as the home place of the Finno-Ugric peoples. lt was a pity that although about 800 people had showed their interest to participate the congress, only 400 signed in; from Finland about 40, from Hungary about 30 and from Estonia 20. Highest numbers were from the Finno-Ugric areas of Russia. Besides Finno-Ugric countries, there were participants from Japan, USA, France, Sweden and Germany. The previous congresses have attracted more participants. For example, 210 participants from Finland took part in the previous congress in Tartu.
