Month: August 2011

Summer Garden, Pljaban’ 2011.  Плябань 2011 год.

Churches of Belarus VI:  Orthodox church of the Birth of the Mother of God, Lyskava 2011.  Цэрквы Беларусі (частка VI):  царква Нараджэньня Божай Маці, Лыскава 2011 год. The Orthodox church in Lyskava (1933) is a rare example in Belarus of the Zakopane style of wooden churches created by the Polish architect Stanislaw Witkiewicz.

Apple-Blessing Festival (part II), Azdamichy 2010/Яблычны Спас (частка II), Аздамічы 2010 год. Apple-Blessing, observed on August 19, Transfiguration Day in the Orthodox calendar, is an early harvest festival and falls during the middle of the Dormition fast.  In memory of children who have died young, women traditionally must not eat new apples or other newly-ripe… Continue reading Photo of the Day for August 19, 2011: Apple-Blessing Festival II / Яблычны Спас II

Apple-Blessing Festival (part I), Azdamichy 2010/Яблычны Спас (частка I), Аздамічы 2010 год. Apple-Blessing, observed on August 19, Transfiguration Day in the Orthodox calendar, is an early harvest festival and falls during the middle of the Orthodox Dormition fast.  In memory of children who have died young, women traditionally must not eat new apples or other… Continue reading Photo of the Day for August 18, 2011: Apple-Blessing Festival I / Яблычны Спас І

Apple Tree, Jatsyny 2011.  Яблыня, Яцыны 2011 год.

Belarus in Faces I.  Беларусь у тварах (частка І). Tsjerablichy 2011.  Цераблічы 2011 год.

To mark the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  З нагоды Унебаўзяцьця. The Roman Catholic mass for the Feast of the Assumption traditionally includes the blessing of a bouquet or basket of flowers, not only in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary but also in hope of a bountiful harvest.  The spicy fragrance of late… Continue reading Photo of the Day for August 15, 2011: Feast of the Assumption / Унебаўзяцьця

August 14 is one of the clearest examples of syncretism, the overlapping or fusion of different traditions, in the Belarusian cycle of the year. From pre-Christian times, Belarusians have traditionally seen August 14 as marking the transition from the summer to the autumn cultivation cycle.  Rain on August 14 is taken as a sign that… Continue reading Photos of the Day for August 14, 2011: Feast of Honey-Blessing and Maccabees / Мядовы Спас і Макаўе

Landscapes of Belarus XX.  Краявіды Беларусі ХХ. Luzhki 2011.  Лужкі 2011 год.

Mats’vjejka’s Christening III, Azdamichy 2011.  Хрышчэньне Мацьвейка (частка ІІІ), Аздамічы 2011 год. Here Father Aljaksandr clips strands of hair from four places (representing the four points of the cross) on Mats’vejka’s head.  The hair will be placed in a paper cone to be fastened to the back of an icon which Mats’vjejka’s Godparents purchase to… Continue reading Photo of the Day for August 12, 2011: Mats’vjej’s Christening III / Хрышчэньне Мацьвейка ІІІ