Hitting it big: Yakut dancers set world record

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Published time: June 24, 2012 10:37
Edited time: June 24, 2012 14:37

Russia's republic of Yakutia – officially the coldest place in the northern hemisphere – has set another world record. This time, however, it has nothing to do with frostbite, but rather a dance worthy of the Guinness Book of World Records.

­Local residents joined one another in what eventually proved to be the largest circle dance in the world, featuring no less than fifteen thousand people.  

The dance celebrating the Yakut New Year has officially made it into the Guinness Book of World Records.

The dance known as “osuokhai” reportedly lasted twenty minutes. Sakha residents did their best to impress the Guinness Book of Records representative Jack Brockbank. They were singing folk songs while forming circles, 36 of them all in all.  

The osuokhai symbolizes the unity of people and promises to cleanse the soul of those who take part in the purifying dance.