Cultural life
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Cultural milieu
Little survives in Belarus of the earliest period of settlement by east Slavs. A distinctively Belarusian culture began to emerge clearly only in the 16th century. As Belarusian culture developed, however, long periods of foreign control—first by the grand duchy of Lithuania and the kingdom of Poland, then by tsarist Russia, and later by the Soviet Union—introduced a series of outside influences, from the European Baroque and Classical architectural styles to the cultural constraints of Socialist Realism. Yet notwithstanding the considerable efforts made by Russian tsars and Soviet rulers to suppress the Belarusian language and culture, Belarusians succeeded in preserving their distinctiveness as a people. Belarusian nationalism received a boost in 2022 when human rights activist Alex Bialiatski, who in 1986 had cofounded a group of young writers that amplified Belarusian literature and cultural thought and corresponded with a broad awakening of Belarusian national identity, won (with the Center for Civil Liberties and Memorial) the Nobel Peace Prize.
Daily life and social customs
Independence Day, the national holiday of Belarus, is celebrated on July 3, the date of the Soviet liberation of Minsk from German occupation in 1944. Some Belarusians, particularly opposition groups, still recognize the holiday’s former date, July 27—the date on which state sovereignty was declared in 1990. The opposition also celebrates March 25, the date of the declaration of independence by the short-lived Belarusian National Republic in 1918. Most Soviet holidays are still commemorated, especially Victory Day (May 9), as are religious holidays, including both the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Easters.
A presidential fund for culture and the arts provides for a number of annual and biannual festivals. Among the most notable festivals in Belarus are the Slavic Bazaar in Vitsyebsk, an international festival of the arts; the Spring International Music Festival in Minsk; and the Arts for Children and Youth festival.
After independence the country’s total fertility rate fell below two children per childbearing woman; most families are thus small in size. Many families spend summers at dachas, or country cottages, growing local produce. The practice of mushroom picking remains very popular.
Much Belarusian cuisine incorporates locally grown crops. Potatoes are a nearly ubiquitous ingredient, featured in such popular dishes as potato dumplings, potato pancakes, and baked potato pie. Other common dishes, often served with rye bread, include borsch (beet soup), pork stew, stuffed chicken, beef sausage, and meat- or cabbage-filled pastries. Well-known dairy products are a fresh cheese (tvorog) and a fermented cheese (siyr). Kvass is a traditional drink made from fermented bread, and kompot is a berry juice. Vodka is typically the alcoholic drink of choice, although beer has become popular, especially among younger drinkers.
The arts
Architecture
One of the oldest surviving monuments of architecture in the country is the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Polatsk, dating from the 11th century and built in the Eastern Orthodox style. The church of Boris and Gleb (Barys and Hlyeb) in Hrodna dates from the 12th century. Most of the other early buildings that remain, mostly as ruins, are the princely stone fortresses of the 12th to 16th century. One of the best-known of these is the 13th-century White Tower in Kamyanyets.
The 17th century marked the appearance of the Baroque style, which was largely linked to the eastward movement of Roman Catholicism; it is exemplified by the design of the Jesuit, Bernardine, and Bridgettine churches in Hrodna. Belarusian craftsmen played a role in extending Baroque influence farther eastward into Russia, where it was adapted as the “Moscow Baroque” style. By the 18th century, Classical styles predominated in Belarus, as seen in the Governor’s Palace in Hrodna. The ravages of World War II destroyed a large segment of the country’s architectural heritage, especially in Minsk. Because much of Minsk was reconstructed after the war, most of the architecture of the city centre reflects the grandiose Stalinist style with its Classical borrowings.
Literature
Literary activity in Belarus dates to the 11th century. In the 12th century St. Cyril of Turaw, venerated among Orthodox Slavs as “the second St. Chrysostom,” wrote sermons and hymns. In the 16th century Francisk Skorina of Polatsk translated the Bible into Belarusian and wrote extensive explanatory introductions to each book. His editions, produced in Prague (now in the Czech Republic) in 1517–19 and in Vilnius (Lithuania) in 1522–25, were the first printed books not only in Belarus but in the whole of eastern Europe. In the 17th century the Belarusian poet Simeon Polotsky (Symeon of Polatsk) was the first to bring Baroque literary style to Moscow.
Modern Belarusian literature began in the first half of the 19th century with the work of Yan Chachot and Vincent Dunin-Martsinkyevich, who translated part of the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz’s epic Master Thaddeus into Belarusian. Literary classics of the early 20th century include works by the poets Maksim Bahdanovich, Ales Harun, Vladimir Zylka, Kazimir Svayak, Yanka Kupala, and Yakub Kolas and the prose writers Zmitrok Byadulya and Maksim Haretski. Many of these writers had been contributors to the influential Belarusian newspaper Nasha Niva (“Our Field”), published in Vilnius during the period 1906–16. Of crucial importance for an understanding of the Belarusian cultural predicament in the face of war and revolution are Kupala’s play The Locals (1922) and Haretski’s short novel Two Souls (1919).
Many outstanding poets and prose writers made their mark in the 1920s, including the poets Vladimir Dubovka and Yazep Pushcha, the novelist Kuzma Chorny, and the satirist and playwright Kandrat Krapiva. Pushcha’s literary polemics with the poet Andrey Aleksandrovich at the end of the 1920s led to tighter political control over Belarusian cultural activities. Literature in the part of Belarus that was under Polish control—until Soviet forces occupied it in 1939—developed somewhat more freely. Two writers of note emerged from that area: Maksim Tank, author of the long poems Narach (1937) and Kalinowski (1938), and Natalla Arseneva, whose greatest poems are to be found in the collections Beneath the Blue Sky (1927), Golden Autumn (1937), and Today (1944).
Most noteworthy of the writers to preserve and develop the Belarusian literary tradition in the 1940s and ’50s are the poets Pimen Panchanka and Arkadi Kulyashov and the prose writers Yanka Bryl, Ivan Shamyakin, and Ivan Melezh. The 1960s marked the tentative beginnings of yet another national revival with the novels of Vasil Bykau and Uladzimir Karatkievich. Among later 20th-century writers, the poets Yawhyeniya Yanishchyts and Ales Razanov and the short-story writer Anatol Sys should be noted. Other well-known writers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries are Svetlana Alexievich, whose Voices from Chernobyl was translated into English in 2005; Volha Ipatava, a prominent poet and novelist; and the poet Slavamir Adamovich, whose poem “Kill the President!” led to his imprisonment in 1996–97. Several prominent Belarusian writers left the country in the late 20th and early 21st centuries because of the political climate. They included Bykau and Ales Adamovich, both well known for their works on the Soviet-German conflict during World War II.
Music
Belarus has long had its own folk music. There was also a considerable tradition of church music from the 16th century on. The development of classical music largely has been a feature of the period since World War II. Among the most notable composers is Kulikovich Shchahlow, who, like some writers, went into exile after the war. Others include Yawhen Hlyebaw, composer of the opera Your Spring (1963) and the ballet Alpine Ballad (1967), and Yawhen Tsikotski, whose works include the operas Mikhas Padhorny (1939–57) and Alesya (1944). There are a conservatory of music in Minsk and a national philharmonic society. Concerts are held regularly at the Nyasvizh (Nesvizh) and Mir castles, which were designated UNESCO World Heritage sites in 2005 and 2000, respectively.
Mikhail Ivanovich Rostovtsev Anthony Adamovich Richard Antony FrenchDavid R. MarplesCultural institutions
Among the most prominent museums in Belarus are the Great Patriotic War Museum, the National Museum of the History and Culture of Belarus, the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus, the Yakub Kolas State Memorial and Literary Museum, and the Yanka Kupala State Literary Museum, all located in Minsk. Other notable attractions are the Brest Fortress, completed in 1842; the Khatyn Memorial, constructed in remembrance of Belarusian villagers massacred by Nazis; and the Stalin Line museum complex, which preserves a series of defensive fortifications used in World War II, near Zaslavl. The early home of Belarusian-born artist Marc Chagall and a small museum devoted to his paintings are in Vitsyebsk. The National Opera and Ballet Theatre in Minsk houses the country’s respected ballet and opera troupes. The National Library of Belarus was established in Minsk in 1922. In 2006 it was relocated to a new building.
Sports and recreation
Belarusians enjoy a variety of sports. The most popular sport is undoubtedly football (soccer); most Belarusian towns and villages boast amateur and semiprofessional teams, while larger cities sponsor professional squads that often compete internationally. Basketball also enjoys a wide following, and there are several professional teams. Other popular sports are ice hockey, athletics (track and field), gymnastics, and wrestling.
Belarus has a well-organized system of sports education, with specialized children’s sports schools, undergraduate schools for physical education, a graduate sports academy, and two Olympic training centres, one of which hosted several of the football matches in the 1980 Moscow Games. These schools boast many distinguished graduates, among them weight lifter Alexander Kurlovich, tennis player Natalia Zvereva, and skater Igor Zhelezovsky.
Belarusians competed on the Soviet Union’s Olympic team between 1952 and 1988. At the 1972 Games in Munich, gymnast Olga Korbut earned three gold medals. At the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Belarus was part of the Unified Team, which comprised athletes from the former Soviet republics. Belarus made its solo Olympic debut at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta. In these and subsequent Games, Belarusian athletes have won numerous medals in athletics, wrestling, gymnastics, weight lifting, and rowing, among other events.
Media and publishing
The media are heavily controlled by the government, with some outlets serving as state organs. The main newspapers are the Russian-language SB–Belarus Segodnya (“Belarus Today”), the presidential organ; Narodnaya Hazeta (“People’s Newspaper”), the organ of the Belarusian National Assembly, issued in Belarusian and Russian; and Zvyazda (“Star”), in Belarusian, another state organ. The main opposition newspapers are Narodnaya Volya (“People’s Will”), in Belarusian and Russian, and Nasha Niva (“Our Field”), in Belarusian; the government determines where these papers may be sold. Influential journals include Belaruskaya Dumka (“Belarusian Thought”); Neman (a reference to the river of the same name), a literary and sociopolitical magazine; and the bimonthly Arche (a nod to the Greek for “beginning” or “authority”), an independent scholarly journal.
There are only a handful of Belarusian television channels, and access to Western channels is minimal. Several Russian channels broadcast in Belarus, however. Radio stations are mostly government operated. European Radio for Belarus is an independent satellite station that began operations in 2005.
David R. Marples