Midsummer

There, in central Russia, on the left bank of the Volga, between Kazan and Nizhni Novgorod lives the Finno-Ugric nation called the Maris. The total number of the Maris is 671000 people. Researchers attribute them to the sub-Urals anthropological type. The Maris are divided into three main sub-ethnic groups: the Hill, the Meadow and the Eastern Maris. All the central and the eastern parts of the Republic of Mari-El inhabit the Meadow Maris. Every year on July 12 the Maris celebrates a pagan holidy Surem. It is the main holiday, held in midsummer.