Interregional national holiday “Peledysh pairem” (“Flower Festival”)

For the first time , the Flower Festival was held in the villages of the Sernur canton on May 27-29 , 1920 . The day of its celebration was the first day of the national holiday “Semyk”.
Mari people have long attached great importance to flowers, understood their mysterious world full of beauty and mysteries. It was important for them to know the flowering time of the cultivated plants, especially the loaves.
According to the flower clock, they determined the beginning of haymaking. Through the flowers, the soul of the Mari was drawn to the beautiful. People loved flowers, composed songs about them, comparing human life with them.
In 1923, this holiday received an official status. It became the People’s revolutionary day of all workers of the Mari Autonomous Republic. The date of the celebration was set Thursday, when Semyk was also celebrated
. Therefore, in 1923, the “Peledysh Parem” in Yoshkar-Ola took place on May 23.
In the summer of 1928, the Red Flower Festival went beyond the Mari Autonomous Region. It was held in the Mari villages of the Votsky (Udmurt) Autonomous Region, the Yelabuga canton of the Tatar ASSR and in the Bashkir ASSR.
Peledysh pairem was revived in 1965. The Bureau of the Mari Regional Committee of the CPSU adopted a resolution on the restoration and annual holding of the holiday in all settlements of the Mari Autonomous District on the third Sunday of June (the date was chosen to fall after the end of spring field work). The restored holiday received a slightly different name – “Peledysh pairem”, that is, the word “yoshkar” (“red”) was removed from it. On June 20, it was held in the districts of the republic, and on June 27 in its capital Yoshkar-Ola.
In 1996, it was decided to set a date for the celebration
June 12 (simultaneously with the Independence Day of Russia, which has become Russia Day since 2002.). Since 2009, the holiday has been celebrated independently
on the third Saturday of June.
The holiday with a century-old history “Peledysh pairem” has become official. The law “On holidays and memorable dates” was adopted
On June 30, 2022 at the 28th session of the State Assembly. The idea to assign a different status to the flower festival was made by the head of the region, Yuri Zaitsev. The same document fixed the dates of its implementation at the legislative level. In villages and towns, the holiday will be celebrated on the first Saturday of June, in district centers – on the second, and on the third Saturday of the month “Peledysh Pairem” will gather all residents of Mari El in Yoshkar-Ola.
Today “Peledysh Parem” has become a favorite holiday, an expression of the soul and spirit of the Mari people, its cultural code.