On 29th March, at 12 p.m., at the gallery “Rakurs” (2nd floor), the presentation of the book by A. Kotovich and I. Kruk “Беларускае вяселле ў прасторы традыцыйнай культуры” / “The Belarusian Wedding in the Context of Traditional Culture” will be held.
It is the first fundamental study of the Belarusian wedding traditions which has ever been made in the history of researches of traditional ceremonial practices. The wedding is one of the most complex ritual and ceremonial customs which accompanies the important patrimonial event – creation of a family.
The authors considered a set of scientific tasks: examination of the history of festively-ceremonial customs, analysis of the chronology of events beginning from the three-week pre-wedding period, the infinitely varied stage of the wedding itself, and, at last, the after-wedding period within the first year of matrimonial life.
Each stage of the wedding ceremony, each ceremonial ritual, attribute, all the instructions, wishes, interdictions and restrictions are considered against the background of traditional culture of our people that allows to understand better the semantics of ceremonial actions, the symbolism of the material world and the contents of numerous folk songs.
The book is designed not only for scientists, but also for young people and their parents wishing to held the family celebrations according to primordial Belarusian traditions. For this reason the authors consider the wedding against the background of cosmic cycles and rhythms, as well as the system of socio-cultural regulations. The book will teach how to choose the wedding ring, what should be the clothes of the groom and the bride, how to decorate the wedding train, who from the relatives can became the wedding witnesses and matchmakers, how to define the way of the wedding train, how to prepare dishes for the celebratory table and many other.
The book presentation ceremony will be accompanied with a rich video series, and fragments of video films will be shown. The audience will be able to take part in numerous ritual situations. Students and professors of the Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts will perform traditional wedding songs. Also it will be possible to buy the book autographed by the authors.
Call for further information: (+375 17) 293 27 67.
Е-mail: pr@nlb.by
