An international festival of ethnographic traditions will be hosted by Petrikov District’s Lyaskovichi agro-town in the Gomel Region, and, for the first time, acquiring it’s international status
The forum will gather creative groups, masters and craftsmen from Russia, Ukraine and Moldova. As is traditional, the event will also feature amateur artistes and folk masters of Belarusian Polesie. Belarus will be represented at the festival by eight districts of Gomel Region (Zhitkovichi, Yelsk, Kalinkovichi, Lelchitsy, Mozyr, Narovlya, Petrikov, and Khoiniki) and three districts of the Brest Region (Luninets, Pinsk, and Stolin), alongside the collective of the Pripyatsky National Park.The event will feature a rich concert programme, as well as arts and crafts expos, reflecting the peculiarity and uniqueness of the Polesie lands. The forum will first host an award ceremony for the ‘Honorary Polesie Resident’ and the cancellation of the postage stamp. The forum will also include the Polesie Beauty contest, a photo exhibition, entitled Famous Polesie Residents, and a young family competition and a rushnik (towel) festival.
The main organisers of the festival are the Brest and Gomel Regional Executive Committees, the Culture Ministry, the Agriculture and Food Ministry, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, the Information Ministry, the Pripyatsky National Park, the Mozyr Oil Refinery and Belagroprombank.
The major goal of the festival is to preserve and popularise the ethno-cultural traditions of Polesie, to study and support the historical and cultural heritage of this unique land while strengthening creative ties between residents of the Polesie border-zone of Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and creating favourable conditions for tourism development.
The Call of Polesie was first held in 2010. The programme of the festival is aimed at the preservation and popularisation of ethno-cultural traditions which are Belarus’ national cultural assets.
