The international festival "Meeting of Cultures" took place in the Gorny's Multifunctional Complex. Its participants were 140 people from 29 universities of Northern Capital, representing 13 countries - Azerbaijan, Vietnam, Indonesia, China, Myanmar, Tanzania, Turkey and others.
This is a traditional competition, which gives everyone the opportunity to learn the culture and traditions of the peoples of different countries. And foreigners themselves, who came to our country to get higher education, faster adapt to the local realities and find friends from among compatriots.
The festival consisted of two stages. At the first stage, within the framework of the exhibition-presentation, young people presented their national costumes, musical instruments, household items and national cuisine. In the second, they performed on stage with creative performances.
"The festival contributes to maintaining a friendly and peaceful atmosphere within the walls of the Mining University, developing and strengthening the principles of tolerance among students of different nationalities. Every year the number of its participants grows. So does the number of distinguished guests. This year we had representatives of the Committee on Foreign Relations of St. Petersburg, the Consulates of Azerbaijan, Syria and Turkey", - said the chairman of the International Friendship Club "Gornyak" Leila Alieva.
Teams from China, Azerbaijan and Indonesia won the competition. In the category "Most Emotional Performance" the winner was Tanzania, and in the category "Preservation of Cultural Heritage" the winner was Yemen. However, as explained by the foreigners, in this case it is not about winning, but the possibility of popularizing national cultures and integration into Russian society.
"This festival has always been a special event for me. It introduces us to the cultures of different countries, and also gives us the opportunity to show our own culture. I graduated from the music school named after Muslim Magomayev in Baku. And I had a dream: to make my contribution to popularization of creativity of this remarkable singer and composer, as an internationally recognized master of the Soviet and Azerbaijani singing. At the booth, we showed our national instruments: saz, tar, kemancha, gaval, as well as elements of Azerbaijani cuisine. Then we demonstrated a traditional Azerbaijani dance, in which guys from different universities participated. In my opinion, such meetings are very important, because they create conditions for the university to graduate from its walls not only highly qualified specialists, but also highly spiritual personalities," summed up the captain of Azerbaijan team, a second-year postgraduate student Emil Elchin Oglu Gasimov.
