Polesie calls

Knight battles, water shows, museum of bread — the 7th International Festival ‘Call of Polesie’ was held in the agrotown of Lyaskovichi

The ‘Call of Polesie-2022’ international festival of ethnocultural traditions was held in the Petrikov District last weekend and gathered more than 1,500 participants.But this time, the festival was more personable than in previous years: 13 regions of the Pripyat Polesie presented their national traditions: 8 from the Gomel Region and 5 from the Brest Region.

The opening ceremony and the entire programme of the festival are united by the ‘In Search of the Heart of Polesie’ theme. ‘Call of Polesie’ Chief Director, Gomel Palace of Culture ‘Belitsky’ Director Aleksandr Bondarenko told, “The presentation of the farmsteads of the Pripyat Polesie regions, however, with an emphasis on the Year of Historical Memory, is a traditional part of the programme. Each owner presented his or her mono-product — for example, ‘bulbash’, the farmstead of a potter.”
The event on the water was a surprise of a rich and colourful programme. For this purpose, the Flying People team arrived from Nizhny Novgorod to Lyaskovichi with a flyboard show. The team gained worldwide fame, but it was their first performance of such a level in the Gomel Region. The water extravaganza consisted of a light and pyrotechnic programme.
In addition, knight battles took place for the first time at the ‘Call of Polesie’. They aroused great interest among the guests of the festival. 
The concert programme was also colossal — dozens of artists from Belarusian and Russian regions took part in the forum, said First Deputy Minister of Culture Valery Gromada, “The guests were pleased with the performances of folk and folklore groups, the Kupalinka folklore group, the Khoroshki choreographic ensemble and Honoured Artist of Belarus Irina Dorofeeva also took part in the ‘Call of Polesie’ during a large concert programme.”


‘The Honoured Polesian’ competition is the main intrigue of the international festival. This time, the honorary title was given to three well-known Belarusians who made a significant contribution to the development of Pripyat Polesie regions. Mozyrsalt General Director Vladimir Dvornik was the first to be invited to the stage, followed by honoured worker of culture of the Republic of Belarus Demyan Lemeshevsky. The top three was completed by ‘The Honoured Polesian’, Chairman of the Pinsk City Executive Committee Valery Rebkovets.
The beauty and grace contest ‘The Polesian Beauty’ was an intriguing part of the festival programme. Valeria Yarosh from Mozyr became the winner. The girl participated in the beauty contest for the first time, but Valeria actually performs on stage from the age of five. The girl is an artist of the honoured amateur group of the Republic of Belarus called Zhivitsa folk song ensemble.
“The site entitled ‘The Partisan Land’ described the history of the development of the partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War. The guests got acquainted with the life of partisans, models of weapons and participate in quests on military topics,” drew the attention Gomel Region Deputy Governor Vladimir Privalov.


A tasty element of the ‘Call of Polesie’ celebration is the opening of the museum of bread. Adults and children were able to participate in a master class on baking and decorating a loaf according to old recipes, got acquainted with the exposition of kitchen utensils used by our ancestors. In addition, the participants of the festival tried the most delicious Belarusian dishes — they could be treated to the hostesses of numerous trading platforms. Residents of Lyaskovichi are sure that such delicacies cannot be found in the restaurant either. 
The ‘Call of Polesie’ international festival of ethnocultural traditions is traditionally held every two years in the picturesque agrotown of Lyaskovichi. The event is aimed at preserving and popularising ethno-cultural traditions, studying and supporting the rich historical and cultural heritage of the region as well as strengthening the creative ties of the border regions.

From an obscure village to a brand of Belarusian culture. This is how the ‘Call of Polesie’ helped revive the homeland of the Polesie residents

‘Lyaskovichi — where is that?’ Fifteen years ago, even the inhabitants of the Gomel Region could hardly answer this question. The most ordinary village in the Petrikov District, of which there are hundreds and thousands, except perhaps Pripyat River at hand. It would seem that it would continue to live its former unhurried life, but everything began to change when in 1996 the Pripyat State Landscape-Hydrological Reserve was transferred to the Office of the President of the Republic of Belarus. Moreover, the next year, the Head of State came to the Gomel Region on a working visit. The meeting with the villagers in these territories became to some extent fateful. Then the problems of nature conservation areas, agriculture, and rural development were determined. Like a true peasant son, Aleksandr Lukashenko understood the situation, realised that Polesie is a unique place, given by God to us, Belarusians, and ‘assigned’ tasks for its revival — on March 29th, 2010, the ‘State Programme for Socio-Economic Development and Comprehensive use of natural resources of Pripyat Polesie for 2010-2015’ was adopted, “This is not only a socio-economic, but also an image project, by implementing which we can declare ourselves to the whole world. In the next five-year plan, we will definitely embellish Polesie, make it a true pearl. We must revive and renew this region so that it would be pleasant to live here for you and your children.”


These words of the President of the country have taken specific practical shape, and it’s almost impossible to list everything what has been done in 11 districts of the Brest and Gomel regions over the five years of the programme implementation, but we will still give you a few examples. So, billions of rubles of that time were invested in neighbourhoods of residential buildings, schools and kindergartens, new hospital buildings that adorned the Polesie regional centres — this is all because of it, the programme. Sixty-six dairy farms were built, and the same number were reconstructed, 19 grain drying complexes, 3 milking blocks, 3 vegetable stores, 6 potato stores were built, 3 pig farms, 4 potato stores were reconstructed, equipment for agricultural organisations was purchased. The largest projects for the development of industrial potential have been implemented: the construction of a technological line for the production of crushed stone at the Granit enterprise, Turov Dairy Industrial Complex, a small hydroelectric power station at the Stakhovo hydroelectric complex, technical re-equipment and reconstruction of the Zhitkovichi cannery, a workshop for processing rapeseed seeds at the Gomel fat-processing integrated works ‘Pripyat’ and much more. A lot has been done in the tourism direction: 27 infrastructure facilities have appeared, 10 tourist routes have been created. Therefore, it is not surprising that in the Mozyr Region, for example, milk production has doubled over the five years, and the number of tourists visiting Polesie is growing exponentially.
“As for the Petrikov District specifically, we set up the production of fuel chips, opened a feed mill, carried out maintenance of healthcare facilities, purchased medical equipment, reconstructed the city’s secondary school No. 1 and the House of Culture. In Lyaskovichi, 21 single-apartment houses were built for young professionals and residents. A separate block of the programme implementation was aimed at increasing th e tourism potential of the region. Eight farmsteads were opened, domestic and inbound tourism to the Pripyatsky National Park as well as to republican and local reserves were actively developed. Weekend tours and excursions were developed for all categories of the population, including citizens of the CIS and far abroad. Naturally, a major overhaul of hotels was carried out for the comfort of tourists, parking lots with rental of tourist and fishing equipment were created. And of course, today our Pripyat Polesie is already quite unimaginable without the bright and original ‘Call of Polesie’ festival in Lyaskovychi. This is a brand, a zest, which owes its appearance to the state programme. The first took place just in 2010, and this year we held the seventh,” said Svetlana Senko, Deputy Chairman of the District Executive Committee.
Arriving in Polesie, a modern person has all the chances and opportunities to get into the atmosphere of a real Belarusian fantasy, so alluring and attractive for guests, where nature, mythology and the art of folk craftsmen create a special world for tourists.

Based on materials of sb.by and belta.by
Photos by Ivan Yarivanovich, BELTA