(2 Jul 2018) LEADIN:
Russians are celebrating an ancient festival which commemorates the end of the spring planting.
It's a time for everyone to let their hair down and party.
STORYLINE:
This is what Sabantuy looks like.
It's an ancient holiday of Bashkirs and Tatars, people who originated from the Ural and Caucasus mountains near eastern Siberia.
These crowds are from the Sverdlovsk region.
This year there is a new entertainment on the list: the wild goose chase.
It's taking place in addition to traditional types of amusements such as Koresh belt wrestling and horse riding.
The guests are obviously pleased with the novelty and prepare for a programme of goose races.
The geese are named after favourite football stars, some of whom are playing in the world cup.
There's Ronaldo, Messi and Suares, along with some Russian football players like Cheryshev and Dzyuba.
The geese are chosen from largest and strongest specimens from the neighbouring farms.
The bird's personality is also important, the natural leaders of the flock immediately get to the shortlist.
The geese also get a special diet and training, just as though they were real athletes.
The results, however, are determined not only by the name, strength and agility of the goose, but also by the tactics of the driver.
Trainer Aleksey Novokrechshenov is happy to give advise to uninitiated players.
He warns: "You need to cheer on the geese, you shouldn't take them with your hands, (or) touch them by the feet, etc, so, (you can cheer them on) by clapping, shouting, and also (you shouldn't) approach the geese close, they are running at a distance, if it (the geese) feels you catch up with it, it can turn and run in the opposite direction."
There are 18 feathered athletes competing on this 30 metre (98 foot) track, nudged on by the cheers of the crowds and the clapping of the goose drivers.
Everyone is allowed to take part in the goose race, children as well as adults, and often parents run along with their children, clapping and screaming, urging the chosen goose to the finish.
Tatyana Komleva and her son Vladislav are celebrating victory.
"We just came to the festival and straight away saw the goose races, we liked it very much, my son wanted to run, and we took which place?" she asks.
Vladislav immediately answers: "The first! This was very good for me!"
Komleva agrees: "We felt very good, we won, and we like it all very much".
The name of the Sabantuy festival can be translated as Festival of the Plough. The first half of the word means plough.
The celebration is a very old tradition among farming communities going back to the times when Bashkir and Tatar nations were roaming tribes.
When the hard work in the fields was completed everybody celebrated with parties, food and a well-deserved rest.
According to some sources, the celebrations lasted for seven days.
As in ancient times, men still demonstrate their strength and agility and other skills prized by the Tatars.
More traditional entertainments also draw a lot of attention at the festival, for example, climbing up a vertical pole.
According to the rules, you need to climb a smooth polished pillar 19.5 meters high to the very top.
This man makes it look easy, but it's anything but.
Judge Dmitry Luzhetsky says: "Those people who reach the top they have some experience, they've been doing it for quite a long time. Everybody has their own techniques, some pour water on themselves, some climb up without clothes, everybody has a different approach."
Another sport which has seen little change is a form of wrestling called Koresh.
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