The national culture festival "Zbierahajem vytoki swaje" (Preserving Our Roots) will bring together about 300 participants in the Dokshytsy district on May 27, Irina Swartsevich, head of the Department of the Centre for Traditional Culture and Folk Art of the Dokshytsy District, told a BELTA correspondent.
The national culture festival "Zbierahajem vytoki swaje" will bring together about 300 participants in the Dokshytsy district on May 27, Irina Swartsevich, head of the Department of the Centre for Traditional Culture and Folk Art of the Dokshytsy District, told a BELTA correspondent.
The event will be held for the third time in the agro-town of Torguny. Its main events will unfold on the central concert stage, to which all participants will proceed in a procession from the entrance of the settlement. Here they will pass under a birch arch, which is believed to cleanse evil thoughts and bestow spiritual strength for the entire year. Afterwards, all those willing can participate in the "kumavanne" (godparenting) ritual. "As a rule, friends, close friends, and relatives undergo this ritual, thereby confirming their spiritual closeness," noted Irina Swartsevich.
Every year, the organisers try to add a unique touch to the script to make the festival more engaging for the public. In 2017, it featured folk songs and dances. This year, it includes a demonstration of the "Kamayedzitsa" ritual, reconstructed by the folklore group "Sakavichki" of the Begoml Children's Art School. "There are many forests in this settlement, so in the 19th century, a spring ritual of appeasing the bear existed here. Dishes called 'komy' (hence the name) were prepared from peas and beans, which were then offered to the master of the forests – the bear – so that he would be kind, not destroy apiaries, and not harm people who entered his domain," the interviewee explained.
A traditional highlight of the festival is the popular "Play, Accordion!" competition. Almost twenty applications from across the district have already been submitted for participation. A fair will also be held, featuring an alley of folk art masters, children's attractions, a demonstration and tasting area for Belarusian cuisine, trade and catering facilities, and performances by creative groups. In the evening, with live folk instrument music, the older generation will give a master class to the youth on performing folk and folklore dances.
The festival is a signature event of the Tumilovichy rural council. Its organisers are the cultural institutions of this rural council and the Centre for Traditional Culture and Folk Art of the Dokshytsy District.