Russia’s Western Siberia will celebrate Yeti Day on November 11, the head of the regional culture and national policy department, Larisa Zauervayn announced.

In February 2009, the Kemerovo regional administration released a report that local hunters had spotted “some hairy humanoid creatures with a height of 1.5-2 meters [5'6"-6'] near the Azass Cave in Mount Shoriya,” near Siberia’s renowned ski resort, Sheregesh.

The report was illustrated with a photograph from inside the cave showing the footprint of an unidentified creature.

Several advertising and PR experts said that Bigfoot reports were probably teasers for attracting tourists to the region. Three months after the sensational news tourism agencies had introduced excursions to “Yeti’s Cave.”

“This creature is extraordinary and deserves, in our opinion, its own holiday. On Mount Shoriya Yeti has sparked a total mania,” the head of Kuzbass’s Tashtagol District, Vladimir Makuta, said.

“Every year Yeti Day celebrations will mark the start of the ski season with thousands of ski lovers from all over Russia gathering on Mount Shoriya,” Zauervayn said, adding that Kemerovo Governor Aman Tuleyev is likely to take part in the Yeti-dedicated festivities.

According to the head of the department of anthropology at the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology in Moscow, anthropologists have never seen or studied the body of a Bigfoot or Yeti, although there are numerous reports of their sightings throughout the world. Source: Kemerovo, Russia, RIA Novosti.

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Loren Coleman comments:

Of course, technically, the Yeti is a specific name for the unknown hominoids of northern South Asia, the Abominable Snowmen of the Himalayas, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, Mustang, and associated areas.

The so-called “Siberian Snowmen” are more correctly known by the locals as the Chuchunaa, Abas, Abasy, Chuchuna, Kuchena, Kuchuna, Mulen, Tungu, and a few other names. Almas and Almasti are said to range into Siberia. The “Siberian Snowmen” have only been called “Yeti” in the last few years by the Russian media and tourism officials.