Day Of Cyrillic Script In North Ossetia

The Day of Cyrillic Script is being celebrated in North Ossetia, a republic in the North Caucasus.

Festivities began outside a monument to the great Russian poet erected on the site of the guest house where Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837) twice stayed during his travels to Georgia. Gathered near the monument was about a thousand people, members of different confessions and religions represented in that republic.

The festivities then moved on to concert halls and to squares of the republic's capital, Vladikavkaz, where staged productions featured main characters of Russian epics, fairy tales, and creators of Cyrillic script - Cyril and Methodius.

"For the Ossetian people the Day of Cyrillic Script is one of the most important holidays, because thanks to the Russian language the Ossetians have read the masterpieces of Russian and foreign literature, and have shared in world culture in general," said North Ossetia president Alexander Dzasokhov at the inauguration of the festival.

A week ago North Ossetia marked for the first time another festival - the Day of the Ossetian Language and Literature, instituted in February by a special decree of the republic's president.