Cultural code of Belarusians

The President of Belarus visited the Kupala Night Republican Festival in Alexandria

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This colourful festival, which this year brought together an unprecedented number of guests (about 80 thousand) and has grown to an international scale, impressed both with a concert programme and a fun exhibition-fair. By the way, the motto and leitmotif of the holiday was ‘Protective Amulet for Peace and Unity’. Since the stork was chosen as the symbol of the Year of Peace and Creation among all the amulets, each Belarusian region has prepared its own ‘stork’.

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The representation of the Russian Federation was larger than ever: creative teams, artisans, diplomatic delegations arrived from 20 regions. But this is not surprising, because the festival was held under the auspices of the Union State.
Aleksandr Lukashenko came to the celebration at the beginning of the folk show It Will Be Very Interesting, an evening concert at the main venue in Alexandria, and with his appearance he caused a flurry of enthusiastic emotions among the audience of the festival. The speech, with which the Head of State addressed the guests of the Kupala Night festival, was presented both in Belarusian and Russian. In his speech, the President spoke warmly and sincerely about important human values and shared a recipe for peace.
Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasised the importance of preserving the original Belarusian traditions, 

“Without national dignity, there is not and cannot be freedom, sovereignty, respect and security... Looking at the scale of this celebration, I always think: our festival is the embodiment of everything that we proudly consider our ancient heritage. This is the greatest value of human relations based on friendship, mutual respect and hospitality. It’s all here. This is the value of the family, which is preserved thanks to strong family traditions, care for parents, love for children.”

Andrei Sazonov

The President spoke about the special role of the small homeland in the life and destiny of every person, “You know that my heart belongs to this corner of Belarus. Here is my place of power. This land, the people who live in it, taught me to love my country and my people. And I will not tire of thanking my small homeland for the happy years of my childhood and my youth spent here. For the energy that this land feeds me today. And I’m ready to share it with all of you... And, of course, thanks to everyone who makes this festival — organisers, directors, artists, craftsmen. Everyone who creates this special atmosphere of friendship and warmth of communication, our dear guests.”
The Head of State added, “If we behave like this everywhere, on every metre of our Belarus, greet our relatives, friends and even those who made a mistake (but comes to us with good intentions) in a hospitable and prudent way, in our country there will be peace. 

As soon as we begin to crumble and break, as soon as we start resting on our laurels and we think that there are second-rate peoples, a war will begin. So take care of what we have. Appreciate what we have. And we will always live in peace and harmony. Not only with our neighbours (they are from God, they are not chosen), but also with all the peoples of our planet.”

The President sincerely wished everyone peace, goodness and happiness.
The guests at the Kupala Night festival included the leaders of five Russian regions at once — Bryansk, Kursk, Smolensk, Penza and even Irkutsk. To get to Alexandria, for example, Governor Igor Kobzev covered a distance of six thousand kilometres.
...The night sky of Alexandria was lit up by magical fireworks. The Head of State was walking towards the exit, but the guests of the holiday did not want to let him go. They said ‘thank you’, wanted to hug, asked for a photo as a keepsake. It was a celebration of bright and positive emotions!

Based on materials of sb.by and belta.by