Tuvinian national holidays and festivals play an important role in the life of all the Tuvinians. Every festival is unique and requires careful preparation. The most interesting and important holidays include Shagaa (the tuvinian new year), Naadym (cattle breeders' holiday), Ustuu-Huree (the festival of ethnic music), the festival of "hoomei" and Shamans' symposium.

Shagaa is a New Year holiday which is celebrated according to the lunar calendar. It is one of the biggest tuvinian holidays. The New Year starts in the end of January or in the beginning of February. The exact date of the holiday is defined by Lamas. The New Year starts not at midnight, but at the dawn of the first day. This holiday is celebrated in spring, after cattle bear babies because only after this time the year cycle is fully completed.

The time when the New Year starts is believed to be a special and sacred time, as during this period the future and the past are separated from each other, the good and the evil struggle against each other.

The territory of the settlement is carefully cleaned several days before the New Year. Yurts are cleaned from the snow, dust and dirt. This ritual symbolizes cleaning the house from the evil powers. Every family eats specially prepared food. Everybody cook a lot of national dishes for guests who may visit their yurt.

Usually the Tuvinians do not sleep during the night before the New Year. Men burn the fire at the dawn, throw food in the fire place and say their wishes for the next year. Women usually make tea and then sprinkle it in direction of the four parts of the world.

Another great tuvinian festival is Naadym. It is a festival of cattle breeders which is usually held in the middle of August. Naadym has been celebrated in Tuva since 1922, from the moment of Tuva republic foundation. During the soviet period this holiday was banished, but from 1933 it started to be celebrated again. Naadym traditionally attracts hundreds of tourists. But first of all this holiday is important for local people. Many yurts from different regions of Tuva are assembled in steppe. The representatives of the regions seriously prepare for this grandiose festival. They choose the best horses for race; prepare sportsmen for "huresh" wrestling and archery etc.

The essential part of Naadym festival is horse racing. This event fully represents national peculiarities of the Tuvinians, as we cannot imagine their life without a horse. Horse racing doesn't require any special talent, so everybody can ride a horse can take part in racing. Usually this competition starts in spring, after the snow melts. Traditionally racings are started by the western regions of Tuva and then continued by the southern regions.

The main part of the festival has always been national "huresh" wrestling. The stadium is usually overcrowded on the day of wrestling. The number of participants usually exceeds 350 people. The winner is the only one. He is presented with the main prize - a car. Other sportsmen get less expensive prizes. The most famous "huresh" wrestler is Ayas Mongush. He has won this competition for 17 times already. There is also a contest for the best dancer of "the eagle dance" organized during "huresh" competition.

Archery contest is another part of Naadym festival. 

There are two kinds of archery: shooting the belt and shooting the aim. Originally archery was a war craft which required dexterity and accuracy. As time went by this craft has turned into a kind of sport. There are also many other contests held during Naadym.

The festival of ethnic music "Ustuu-huree" is held annually in summer in a tuvan city Chadan. The main purpose of the festival is to attract social attention and to gather money for reconstruction of one of the most valuable Buddhist monuments in Asia - Upper Chadan temple complex which was destroyed in 1937.

The festival of throat singing "hoomei" is included in the program of the international symposium of hoomei singing. The first symposium was held in 1992. After that it was organized in 1995, 1998 and 2003. In July 2008 the 5^th international symposium "Hoomei - the cultural phenomenon of the Middle Asia" was held in Kyzyl. It included both a scientific part and a contest. This year more than 100 participants from Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Finland, Norway, Japan and the USA presented their performance of hoomei. The winner of the contest was a musician of "Alash" band.  

Another symposium is held once in 4 years. It is the international symposium of shamanism. It has already been organized in Tuva 2 times. The first symposium was carried out in 1993 on the initiative of the Finnish anthropologist Heimo Lappalainen. Shamans from Austria, Canada, America and Germany took part in this symposium. In 2003 14 foreign guests came from Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Hawaii and the USA. Russian shamans came from Altai, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk and Moscow. The majority of foreign shamans are psychotherapists. During the symposium they visited the Valley of Kings, carried out the ritual of kamlanie under supervision of Ay-Churek Oyun. The symposium also has a scientific part. The participants decided to make Tuva the official country of shamanism.

There are also other holidays and festivals in Tuva which are not less important but not so grandiosely celebrated. They are the Tuva Constitution day, the Day of republic, seasonal holidays of nature and Buddha birthday.