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Belarus–Kupalle

One of the most important traditional holidays in Belarus is the pagan, albeit increasingly Christian, summer solstice holiday of Kupalle. The holiday originated as a celebration of fertility in honor a female God named Kupala, which means “She Who Bathes.” It has also more recently become a Christian celebration of both the birthday of John the Baptist and of Saint Ivan Kupala. Whatever one’s religious leaning, Belarusians who celebrate Kupalle — increasingly fewer as Belarus urbanizes — do so by flocking to forests, wearing flower garlands, going to saunas or to cold water springs to “bathe,” dancing in karagods (circles around fires) and even jumping over fires. Traditionally, Belarusians believed that evil spirits took advantage of the night of Kupalle to plan terrible things for villages over the next year. Families “protected” their houses with sharp nettles and hung garlands of herbs and birch-tree branches on their cows’ horns. Young people even stayed up all night to guard their families from the spirits, and greeted the sunrise with great joy. (Today, village youth take advantage of staying up all night for Kupelle by playing pranks, such as switching their neighbors’ gates and hoisting horse carts to the top of houses.)

In class we celebrate Kupalle in a way that would make Belorussian villagers proud.

More information:
Kupalle celebrations in all their glory on YouTube | More on Kupalle in the Belarusian Holidays page | More Belarusian pagan history: sacred stones

Belarus–Music

Is Belarusian music really “first of all Eastern European music?” That may be a matter of personal taste, but what is not in dispute is that Belarusian folk music has a thousand years of history behind it, and continues to grow and develop as the nation matures. While almost all Belarusian music from the 16th centuries developed in accordance Orthodox church, the Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries freed music from somewhat from its Christian bounds. During the Soviet era the Communist leadership only allowed music that didn’t threaten its power, which is a tactic the Belarusian government still uses today; in 2004 Belarusian bands that performed in support of protests against President Lukashenko’s attempt to change the constitution to allow him to run for a third term found themselves banned from radio play.

More information:
Wikipedia on the music of Belarus | A great page about contemporary music in Belarus — folk, rock, goth and beyond

In class we’re going to listen to:

— “Postoaj!” by Knyaz Mishkin from the album “Lubov Negodyaya” Knyas Mishkin is a two-decades old Belarusian experimental jazz band that features Leonid Narushevich at the center of a revolving cast of musical characters.

More information:
An interview with Leonid Narushevich: the only band around named after a Dostoyevski character? | Knyaz Miskhin live, in full experimental mode.

— “Jac Made Hay” by Pesniary
Pesniary is unarguably the best known Byelorussian psychedelic folk-rock band of all time. The band first rocketed to fame in the USSR in 1971 with their first album, Pesnyary (I), in which its members vibrantly reinterpreted traditional Byelorussian songs as psychedelic rock anthems. At the time, the USSR effectively forbade rock music; rather than be a “rock group,” Pesniary had to call itself a “vocal-instrumental ensemble.” Pesniary rarely ruffled the feathers of the Communist leadership, and the Soviets granted the band reasonable freedom, awarding them the title “People’s Artist” and allowing them to tour the U.S. Pesniary continued in its original form until 2003 when its leader, Vladimir Muliavin, died in a car accident. The band eventually split into three bands, each of which claims to be the official descendant of Pesniary. (If you read the history above, Belarus is not a stranger to partitions.) All three keep touring and performing original Pesniary songs.

More information.
The story of Pesniary (scroll down): “there is no other band like PESNIARY in the whole history of world’s rock music!” | Pesniary performs live in 1971 — you must watch this video, at least for the mustaches

Belarus–Language

Before the 16th century the Belarusian and Ukrainian languages used to be one and the same — Ruthenian! Ruthenian split in half throughout the 17th century, as the Polish part of the Polish-Lithuanian empire ruled what’s now known at the Ukraine, and Lithuania ran what’s now known as Belarusia. From that point on, the language we now call Belarusian experienced a constant identity crisis. Before the Belarusian became independent in 1992 the national language was known as Byelorussian or Belorussian, though some called it White Russian or even White Rutehenian. After independence it was called Belarusan, and now we know it as Belarusian….

Whatever we call it, Belarusian is not the most widely-spoken language in Belarus. According to a Belarusian government study, about 3/4 of Belarusians speak Russian at home, while only about 10% of Belarusians speak Belarusian. Only about half of Belarusians can both read and speak Belarusian, and less than a third can read, speak and write it.

This “Russianization” was a conscious policy of Stalin who wanted to transform Byelorussia into a “buffer zone” along the Polish border to protect Russia from Western influence. The Soviets moved Russian speakers into Belorusia, unofficially banned Belorusian from public use and suppressed all forms of national culture.

In class we’re going to reclaim a bit of Belarusian (or whatever we choose to call it) by using it to say hello and goodbye.

Hello: Vitaj
Goodbye: Zdarou

Belarus–When you go there

Lonely Planet’s Belarus page describes Belarus as “Europe’s outcast.” While other former Soviet republics have raced headlong toward capitalism, many Belarusians — especially those who live in the “picturesque villages,” among “a simple yet pleasing landscape of cornflower fields” and “thick primeval forests” — live as they have for millennia. Belarusian villagers are, according to Lonely Planet, of “earthy humour,” and greet travelers with hospitality. At least they greet their bleak political situation with a better nature than one would expect.

Visiting Minsk is different. Though Minsk-dwellers may or may not be of “earthy humour,” they do live in a city that has survived being literally flattened during World War II and rose again in grand Soviet style. Minsk boasts wide boulevards, vast public squares and Soviet-era architecture on a grand scale. It also carries the weight of its current autocracy, complete with KGB-style secret police, rumors of wire taps and spies, and the constant threat of a government crack-down.

Belarus–Overview

Belarus began its life as a nation torn into bits. In 1918, after a millennium of being under the control of empires such as those of the Scandinavian Varangians, the Mongols, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Kingdom of Poland, the Russians and the Germans, the land we now know as Belarus formed in two parts: the German-occupied Belarusian People’s Republic and the Russia-dominated Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia. Soon thereafter — follow closely now — as a result of a war between Poland and Russia, the part of Belarus under Russian rule became the Belarussian Soviet Socialist Republic, which then merged into the Lithuanian-Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. Then, when the Polish-Soviet war ended in 1921, Belarusian lands separated into the Polish and Soviet territory, with the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic becoming a founding member of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

No matter whose land used to be whose, World War II devastated the entire region. Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 and held the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic until 1944, decimating more than 3/4 of Belorussian cities and 85% of its industry. By the end of the war there were between two and three million casualties — up to 1/3 of the total population — including almost all of Belorussia’s Jews. Belorussia’s struggles continued after World War II. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin installed a policy of “Sovietization” to keep the West from influencing the BSSR. Stalin moved Russians from all over the USSR into lead positions in Belorussia and substantially limited the the public use of Belorussian language and culture. When Stalin died in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev kept Belorussian Sovietization alive, saying, “The sooner we all start speaking Russian the faster we shall build communism.”

After this long history of outside domination, Belarus finally became independent in 1991…hurrah! But independence from the Soviet Union hasn’t necessarily made Belarus free. Alexander Lukashenko has been president since 1994 and has presided over the implementation of Soviet-era policies like state ownership of the economy and increasing consolidation of his personal political power. International human rights organizations accuse the Belarusian government of human rights abuses, especially in its actions curtailing free speech and squashing political opposition. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice even called Belarus, “the ‘last dictatorship in Europe.” Lukashenko has responded by accusing the West of unduly trying to undermine his government and boasts that he has overseen an unprecedented period of Belarusian economic stability. At the same time he’s been careful not to alienate the Ukraine’s pro-Western government, hoping that together they can exert influence on Russia, which relies upon both as East-West transport routes for its oil. A very tricky balance .

More information:
Wikipedia on Belarus | A fabulous guide to Belarusian culture — music, dance, poetry…it’s all in here | Belorusian nature…Exotica?? | Religious groups in Belarus, then and now | Alexander Lukashenko: “Dictator With a Difference.” | The U.N. says “no” to Belarus | What’s in a name?: The twists and turns of the name of this country | What is “White Russia?” | Is Belarus the true center of Europe?