The celebration of the Christmas carols in the Minsk region will end with an authentic ceremony "Drawing a Kolyada on an oak tree" in the Berezinsky district, BelTA learned from the Minsk regional center of folk art.
Unique ceremony of the wires Kolyad, listed in the list of historical and cultural values of the country, is annually held in the village Noviny on January 21 and is an ethnic feature of the village, although it was once distributed almost throughout the district. On this day, according to tradition, the villagers decorate Kolyada (a healing or pre-harvest sheaf that had to be brought into the house before the first Christmas carol) or a wheel from a cart with hay and a pot of kutya. Then the main attribute of the holiday is carried to the highest tree in Noviny - the oak tree. The sheaf or wheel, preserved since last year, is dumped from a tree and set on fire, in exchange installing a new doll or wheel with kutya. All the action is accompanied by ritual songs, dances and round dances. The essence of the rite in the desire of the villagers to get a good harvest in the new year.
In different parts of the central region, Christmas holidays are celebrated taking into account local traditions. So, one of the traditional and most interesting events will again be the Christmas carol ceremony "Tsary" with elements of the Christmas carnival, inscribed on UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage list. It will be held in the village of Semejevo, Kopylsky district, on January 13. Young men and boys (seven people), the so-called kings dressed in special costumes, as well as other characters will take part in the ritual. The mummers march through the village, go to houses, where they play the scenes with elements of the folk drama "Tsar Maksimiliyan", show the struggle of the "kings". At the end, the traditional congratulations of the hosts and the presentation of the participants are held. The rite "Tsary" appeared in Semejevo in the XVIII century. It was revived in 1997 and was subsequently the first in the region to receive the status of an intangible cultural heritage site of UNESCO.
Another rite from the most archaic New Year's greeting rites - "Shchadrets" - will be shown in the village of Rog of Soligorsk district during the Old New Year, on the night of January 13-14. It takes place with the participation of traditional costume characters - grandfather, woman, goat, crane, horse. The mummers walk around the village from the hut to the hut, they are accompanied by children. It is noteworthy that everyone can take part in the rite.
Also in the Christmas calendar there are ethno-party areas, performances, shows, exhibitions. Directly in the regional center of folk art on January 25 is the republican exhibition "Kalyadnyaya ўzory", dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the Belarusian Union of Masters of Folk Art.
The calendar holidays, customs and rituals of the Minsk region are one of the essential parts of spiritual culture, an encyclopedia of folk knowledge about nature, the world and the man himself. For the central region of Belarus, the wide distribution and good preservation of the Christmas ritual complex is characteristic, in which three culminating points are distinguished: Christmas Eve (the first kutya), New Year's Eve (generous evening), Epiphany. In the region, the status of the intangible cultural heritage is assigned to 11 sites, 6 more are applicants for its receipt.
Written by belta.by
