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We expect children's video and audio messages in their native languages to be put into a time capsule to be opened in 2050. The organizers want to encourage as many participants as possible, especially speakers of rare languages, to contribute to the preservation of rare languages and the support of national original cultures.
The capsule is an occasion to draw children's attention to their native culture, traditions and history. Children and young adults can send their messages to the future in audio or video format via a special chatbot in Telegram. The main thing is to start wishing good and peace to all mankind with the three main words that formed the basis of the campaign – “Happiness, Peace, Friendship” - in their native language.
We hope that participation in the Action will help to form the habit of studying heritage and passing on values to the next generations. After all the messages have been collected, the organizing committee will select official ambassadors who, together with the guests of honor, will take part in the installation of the capsule at the Pole of Cold in the Oymyakonsky District of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in the summer of 2025. The unpacking of the capsule will take place in summer 2050. Today's young authors of messages will be able to hear their own words spoken in childhood exactly a quarter of a century ago. And, perhaps, give a start to the next similar action.
Action Organizers: International Union of Non-Governmental Organizations “Eurasian and African Peoples’ Assembly”, “Aggregator of Happiness” magazine, Creative Association “Kyndykan”, ANO “Laboratory of Digital Transformation” and Agency for Development of Creativity “ARTSEVERA” and “Agency for Tourism Development and Territorial Marketing” of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).
“We call on children from all regions of Russia and from all countries of the world, especially speakers of rare languages, to take part in creating our special time capsule,” - says Marina Volkova, the organizer of the Action, Ambassador of Peace, Head of the Department of Happiness of the Eurasian and African Peoples’ Assembly, Head of the “Aggregator of Happiness” magazine. - This will be our common contribution to the preservation of linguistic diversity. Together we will not only form a cultural object filled with happiness, kindness and friendly warmth, but will unite a community of enthusiastic researchers. Our project will become a point of intersection between the interests of educational organizations, cultural institutions, institutions of public diplomacy and many other”.
The starting point for the Action was the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). This is no coincidence: The North of our vast country has a great diversity of rare dialects. The first messages to the future in their native languages about peace, friendship and happiness have already been recorded by the best pupils of the Republic of Yakutia, young athletes who have achieved high results at the regional level, pupils of the Kyndykan Academy of Ethno-Acrobatic Choreography, and popular bloggers. The winner of the Blogema Award in the nomination “The Best Children's Blogger of the Country” Aiyn Kozhurova became the first children's ambassador of the Action representing the republic and many others.
“We are the happiness of our ancestors - this is the slogan of the Action,” - says Ilaan Popova, Head of the Kyndykan Creative Association and great-granddaughter of Kyndykan - the only girl who survived in the Even camp and became a symbol of the strength of spirit of indigenous peoples and a symbol of the Action. - Because we must not lose touch with our past, with the languages spoken by our ancestors, with their traditions, legends and life stories. Today, these stories unite us - all of us who care about our heritage. We also want to draw attention to the role of the territories of the North and the Arctic in preserving the ecological and climatic balance of our planet, so we will lay a capsule with audio messages at the Pole of Cold”.
According to the legend of the Tower of Babel, people once spoke the same language and understood each other perfectly, but God punished people for their pride in building a tower to heaven by separating them and forcing them to speak different languages. The diversity of the world's languages today does not even lend itself to accurate statistics. And their lives are full of ups and downs: history knows many languages that have died out, but it also knows those that have come back to life.
The date of the Mother Language Day - 21 February - is linked to the dispersal of a peaceful demonstration in defense of the Bengali language in Pakistan in 1952. Four years later, Bengali was given the status of the state language.
Language is not only a means of communication, it is the living history and culture of a people. That is why it is important to preserve languages as an invaluable heritage. This is not always possible. In every country of the world there are examples of extinct dialects: in 1986 Cameroon said goodbye to the last speakers of the Boussouu language, in 2008 the Eyak language disappeared in the USA, in 2022 the last speaker of the Aleut-Mednish language died on Bering Island (Russia).
But there are hopeful stories. For example, spoken Hebrew was considered a dead language in the 19th century, but today it is spoken by over 10 million people. Irish Gaelic has a similar story - after the country's independence it acquired the status of the state language and is now spoken. Hawaiian is also lucky.
Traditionally, on International Mother Language Day, actions in support of rare languages are held all over the world, national cultural centers and public associations hold events to preserve the linguistic heritage: presentations of books in endangered languages, intergenerational meetings and discussions on the peculiarities of rare languages, and so on. Each country has its own projects in different regions. One of them is the action “Happiness, Peace, Friendship”.
Nowadays there are about 7,000 languages in the world, but more than 40 per cent could disappear by the end of the century. UNESCO calls this forecast “optimistic”. The negative trend is increasing: if in 2015 the world lost one language in 3 months, in 2019 - already in 40 days. And in 2022, the UN said that one indigenous language dies out every 2 weeks.
The UN has declared 2022-2032 the International Decade of Indigenous Languages to mobilize resources to preserve endangered languages. Today, foundations and NGOs around the world work on this.
The Action “Happiness Peace, Friendship” is supported by:
Yakutia Culture Development Foundation, State Autonomous Institution of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) “Agency for Tourism Development and Territorial Marketing”, Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Ministry of Culture and Spiritual Development of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Ministry of Entrepreneurship, Trade and Tourism of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Ministry of External Relations and Peoples' Affairs of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Department of Northern Philology of the M.K. Ammosov Institute of Languages and Culture of the Peoples of the North-East of the Russian Federation, Association of Indigenous Minorities of the North of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).
Facts about endangered languages in Russia
Russia is home to about 190 peoples who speak 270 languages, many of which have no written language. The 2021 Russian census indicated five languages that have disappeared and one that has fallen asleep (dormant languages) *, scientists of the Russian Academy of Sciences reported on the results of the census analysis. 139 indigenous languages of Russia are considered to be on the verge of extinction: 22 are in critical condition, 29 - in danger, 49 languages are in danger of extinction, 20 - cause concern. Linguists specify that 15 languages have gone extinct in Russia since the beginning of the 20th century.
* Dormant languages are languages that have speakers who remember something (e.g. individual words, a song - this is the case with Oroch) or people who have partially learnt such languages as adults (e.g. this is the case with the Soyot language spoken in Buryatia).
