Date
Time
Location
New Year and Christmas are perhaps the most anticipated dates in the world calendar. Despite the fact that for half of the population of our planet these holidays fall on the cold season, it is difficult to imagine a warmer and cosier atmosphere in homes and streets.
But for Belarusians, the end and the beginning of the year are not just dates. This is two weeks of joy and fun, the name of which is Koliada. In ancient times during this period Belarusians had time to say goodbye to the burdens of the old year, set the table three kolivas, visit an Orthodox or a Catholic church, to congratulate neighbours personally and wish them all the best, read fortune for the next year. All two weeks people tried to be cheerful, friendly, perky, and sometimes silly, just like the Koliadas themselves - small spirits, which visit people at this time of the year.
The book exhibition "Christmas Star" tells us about these traditions. It consists of several sections. The first – "Christmas in the World" – tells us about the traditions of celebrating the most anticipated time in different countries. There is also a real traditional German crib scene – Weihnachtskrippe.
In the section "Koliada in Belarus", special emphasis is made on our tradition of celebrating the New Year: publications from the academic book series "Belarusian Folk Art", works by Tattsiana Kukharenak, Ales Lozka, Aksana Katovich and others are presented. Kitchen amateurs will be interested in the recipes of traditional cuisine from the books of Belarusian chefs Ales Bely and Alena Mikulchyk.
The classic Christmas tales of Charles Dickens, Hans Christian Andersen and Washington Irving will help while away the long winter evenings. For the little ones, the library staff has selected funny stories by Sven Nordqvist and Yui Wislander about the winter adventures of Findus the Cat and Mama Mu's cow. They are presented in the section "Warm Evenings".
We invite you to the exhibition "Christmas Star" to share the warm atmosphere of the holiday.
Happy Koliada and New Year!
The exhibition is located on the 2nd floor of the circular corridor.
Gallery and Exhibition Department
