The festival featured many attractions, such as exhibitions of traditional artifacts, souvenirs, and paintings. The Native American dance contest was, perhaps, the most spectacular performance at the festival. Precise movements of the contestants, expressed in the mystical language of the dance, communicated to us the tale of the past. The multitude of colors on the traditional clothing of the dancers emphasized the ancient rhythms.

"There is a theory," said Tim Tingle, a native American from the Choctaw nation, "that the first tribes crossed from Siberia and moved to the West. At least some of them did." Tim Tingle is a writer and, like his predecessors, - Jack London, Mine Reed, James Fennimore Cooper - he explores the topic of Native American folklore. He told me an ancient legend that puts forward the idea of either a foot or a boat migration. The Indian tribes, the legend asserts, came from the land to the West and crossed the Big Water. They named the Big Water Misha Sipokni, which means beyond old - something that been there before time itself.

Archeologists are in favor of the migration theory. They discovered that humans spread gradually across the Eurasia continent from West to East, until they reached North America. Archeologists found that migration was taking place between 40 and 15 thousand years ago.

Linguists, supported by their own research, also believed that Native Americans arrived from Siberia. They, however, suggest that migrations started about 11 thousand years ago - much later than the archeologists think. Linguistic data shows that migration proceeded in the form of several waves starting with the earliest groups that settled in South America and concluding with the latest Eskimos that spread through North America reportedly as late as three thousand years BC.

Native Americans confirm that their traditions, dancing styles, and native clothing are similar to the respective elements of Siberian native cultures. "Costume is what you wear for Halloween. What we are wearing for dancing is called regalia!" said Anthony Tsugeah, from the Kiowa nation. "People wear costumes to pretend. We are not pretending. Both, regalia and dance reflect the personal style of the dancer."

Genetic studies conducted by scientists from the US and Russia determined that DNA patterns of American Indians have 50% similarity with Mongolian, Chinese, and Altai native groups. Further studies revealed that the DNA structure of Native Americans and native Tuva people are more than 70% alike. Based on these facts, scientists believe that southern and eastern Siberia, in the area of Baikal Lake and Altai mountains, where Tuva people live now, is a possible birthplace of Native Americans.

Genetic scientists from the US determined that the Siberian version of the male chromosome is ancestral in relation to the American version of the same chromosome. It is calculated that the split between the Siberian and the American chromosomes occurred 26 thousand years ago.

Genetic scientists went further in their research and studied Siberian chromosomes with greater detail. They found that their structure is related to the DNA of Europeans. Archeologists confirmed this European relation when they located ancient remains of a European human on the American continent.

Based on the studies of male chromosomes of contemporary populations, scientists learned that the descendents of European males and Mongolian females still live on the territory of Siberia. These findings confirm the theory that Native Americans arrived from Siberia.

Children participate in the Native dancing at the paw-wow along with adults. Since early infancy they start learning traditions that originated in the land that now we call Russia, traditions that came across continents and time into the present day.