CULTURE
Belarusian
publishing has had a notable impact on the region: Belarusian
bibles were some of the first books to be printed in Eastern Europe,
and the 17th century Belarusian poet, Symeon of Polatsk, introduced
the Baroque style of literature to Russia. Modern Belarusian literature
was born in the 19th century - Jakub Kolas is considered the classical
pioneer, while Natalla Arseneva, author of Beneath the Blue Sky,
is known as a paragon of 20th century literature. Local writers
were stifled by the Soviet occupation, but the literary scene
is now undergoing a revival.
The
country has a strong musical tradition and many 12th century Orthodox
hymns and sermons had their origins in Belarus. Belarusian folk
music is well known; don't miss a performance if you get the opportunity.
Modern folk music originated from ritualistic ceremonies or church
music, and became highly developed from the 16th century onwards.
Belarusian classical music is a 20th century phenomenon, though
this hasn't stopped the Minsk opera and ballet companies from
earning international reputations.
Belarus,
like Ukraine, has always been a crossing point between Latin and
Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Around 70% of Belarusians are Eastern
Orthodox, but a sizeable Roman Catholic population (which dominates
the clergy) has resulted from centuries of Polish rule. There's
also a scattering of Protestants (a remnant of the once-large
German population), Muslims (mainly Tatars) and Jews, although
many of these are emigrating.
Belarusian
is an Eastern Slavonic language, related to Russian and Ukrainian.
It's usually written in Cyrillic, but there's a rarely-used Roman
Belarusian alphabet. Under Soviet rule, 80% of Belarusian children
were taught exclusively in Russian, and Russian was the official
language of all business and government transactions. In 1990,
Belarusian was made the country's official language. Street names
are now changing, and education is shifting its emphasis back
to Belarusian history and literature. However, Russian is still
the most widely-spoken language.
The
Belarusians love their mushrooms, and gathering them is something
of a local ritual. Many main dishes use fungus in one way or another
- in a rich sauce, in a creamy filling, or by itself. Popular
dishes include hrybi v smtane (mushrooms with sour cream), hribnoy
sup (mushroom and barley soup) and kotleta pokrestyansky (pork
cutlet with mushroom sauce). Other important ingredients are garlic,
fish and caraway. Kvas is a favoured drink made from malt flour,
sugar, mint and fruit.
