Photo survey of the heritage of Mahiljou and Homjel’ Regions 2017.
Фотавандроўка па спадчыне Магілёўскай і Гомельскай абласьцей 2017 г.
Street sign in Russian “Hora kommunarov”, Mazyr.
A street sign illustrating the profound difference between the Belarusian and Russian languages and spirit. That Mazyr and most other Belarusian cities choose to maintain street names in the language of Russo-Soviet imperial occupation and ideology raises basic questions, but is a theme for another discussion. What is so revealing here is that the sign as written in Russian — Hora kommunarov, where “Hora” is pronounced “Ha-ra“, means Communards Hill, i.e., the hill of the Paris Communards. To a Belarusian speaker, however, where Belarusian orthography (here with the vowels a and o) fmatches pronunciation, there is a fundamental difference between ha-ra (гара — hill or mountain) and ho-ra (гора — misfortune, grief, sadness). Thus the sign as read by a Belarusian eye means “Misfortune Brought by the Paris Communards”.
„Гора коммунаров“, Мазыр 2017 г.
