Christmas traditions of Belarusian immigrants. In the Aromashevsky district in the village of Novoberezovka, the Christian winter holiday was celebrated according to ancient national customs.
With the onset of Christmas, for two weeks Christians begin a time of entertainment and caroling. In the village of Novoberezovka, Aromashevsky district, everyone, young and old, walks around the courtyards, where they are greeted good-naturedly by the owners.
On the square near the house of culture, a traditional nativity scene is set up - the birthplace of Jesus Christ and the Star of Bethlehem, which indicates the place of his birth, attracts the attention of holiday guests, where many take pictures, and then participate in folk festivities with treats and a concert.
After the festive street concert, village residents and guests go caroling around the courtyards of Novoberezovka. The symbolic Star of Bethlehem is carried through the streets and songs are sung.
Christmas carols in Novoberezovka differ from those usually sung by residents of Siberia. Many of these songs were recorded and included in their repertoire by Tyumen artists several years ago.
Usually carols last up to several weeks. During the Christmas holidays in the village of Novoberezovskoye you can not only plunge into the atmosphere of Belarusian customs, but also taste the famous lard throughout the region.
But it’s not only the church that makes the village beautiful. My village is located in a very picturesque area. It is surrounded by chamomile meadows, wheat fields, birch forests, and low mountains. The largest mountain is called Cortuz. On one of the slopes of this mountain there is a tourist base “Divnoe”. The forests are rich in mushrooms, berries, and medicinal herbs. There is a small river Karatuz. And what dawns and sunsets we have! And the air!
Novoberezovka, one might say, consists of one long street named after Lenin, which stretches for several kilometers. But what’s interesting: Lenin Street is the official name. Residents of the village to this day call its small segments and branches in the old way: Makshanka, Smolyanka, Kustanay, Salba, Gorka.
Only in our village can you be treated to porridge and soup, which are cooked in a Russian stove, white jelly, peas with vegetable oil, kvass made from real kvass. Like more than a hundred years ago, people celebrate Christmas, Easter, Trinity, and observe large and small fasts. Until now, peasants believe that Yegoriy, aka St. George the Victorious, the patron saint of livestock and the owner of forest animals, invisibly rides out on a white horse and grazes the cattle, protecting them from the animals over which he rules. Therefore, on Yegoryev’s Day, before driving out the livestock, the owners light a candle, cover the table with a clean tablecloth, put a round loaf, put out a salt shaker and pray, asking for the protection of their pets. Then they drive the cattle out into the street with willow branches, which were kept on the shrine for a whole year from Palm Sunday. My village is the cleanest and most beautiful in the area. The houses are well maintained, in the summer there is a lot of greenery and flowers.
It is villages like Novoberezovka that have always borne the brunt of the history of the people and the state. You can’t call it rich, but you can’t call it poor either - it feeds a person, endows him with beauty, and serves as a source of spiritual strength for him. And our land has been rich in talents since ancient times. In life, in the everyday life of the people who lived and live here, you so often come across the manifestation of the talent of folk craftsmen: weavers, lacemakers, stove makers, carpenters, accordionists. A wonderful and very talented person, Nikolai Fedorovich Letyagin, was born here and remained faithful to this native corner of the earth for the rest of his life. This person can be called a nugget. His uniqueness lies in the fact that he was an excellent artist, sculptor, teacher, local historian, and poet. In a word, Master. The regional museum of local lore is named after him. Nikolai Fedorovich dedicated most of his poems to his village, its people, and nature. Here is one of them:
Oh, dear Berezovka! How sweet you are!
Like a white birch tree by a holy stream.
And all around are blue mountains, curly forests and meadows.
Behind the village there is a field with grain and green grass.
The air is clean and transparent, there are clouds in the sky.
The breeze rustles from time to time, slightly refreshing the chest.
I would live forever in such freedom, where there is such beauty.
It's just a pity that human life is very, very short...
Education and culture
In the village of Novoberezovka there is a school with 390 seats, which became a second-degree diploma winner at the regional review of the competition for the best preparation of an educational institution for the new 2003-2004 academic year in the nomination “Best secondary schools located in rural areas”, a participant in the All-Russian competition of educational institutions introducing innovative program in 2006 and received a Presidential grant of 1 million rubles. The school is equipped with a computer lab, a language laboratory, a gym, interactive whiteboards, multimedia projectors, a library and a carpentry workshop.
The school has a local history museum that is over 40 years old. There is a place in the museum where ancient peasant utensils are concentrated. The museum carefully preserves photographs and letters from the front of three Heroes of the Soviet Union: Cossack Ivan Emelyanovich, Marchuk Pyotr Vasilyevich and Zenkovsky Arkady Ivanovich.
There is a corner in the museum dedicated to the local poet Vladimir Belov, a member of the Writers' Union of the Russian Federation. There is a club in the settlement.
There are two libraries on the territory: school and rural, with a total library fund of 11 thousand copies.
All religious holidays are celebrated in the village: Christmas, Easter, Holy Trinity and others. The Christmas holiday was recently returned to state status, but it has lived in our outback since the formation of the village. Every year, the director of the village House of Culture, Nikolai Vasilievich Salnikov, organizes a Christmas holiday for the villagers with the ritual of walking “under the star”.
They go out with the star on Christmas Day, when dusk falls on the village. They walk down the street singing funny songs; The procession is “overgrown” with more and more new participants. Entering the house, they greet the owners, install a star in the room, illuminate it, turn off the lights and sing Christmas carols, wish everyone health, and then playfully bargain for the owner's gifts.
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Evenings on a farm near Novoberezovka. None. An amazing ritual has been preserved in the Aromashevsky district. In December 2012, the days of Belarusian culture, dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the National Cultural Society “Autonomy Belarus,” were widely and brightly held in the Tyumen region. Over 15 years of work, warm friendly ties have been established with Belarusians in densely populated areas in the south of the region. These are mainly villages that were founded in 1886-1889 by Belarusian settlers, the so-called self-propelled people. More than a hundred years have passed, and the residents, cut off from their historical homeland, managed to preserve culture, traditions, rituals, songs, costumes, language, and of course, holidays. First of all, they are patronal, congress, uniting, inspiring and transforming people. Nikolai Salnikov, head of the rural house of culture in the village of Novoberezovka (Aromashevsky district), for many years in a row, just like his father once did, on the day of the glorification of Christ he brings out a Christmas star for his fellow villagers - a symbol of happiness and prosperity. It was only thanks to Nikolai Vasilyevich that this amazing ritual was preserved in his native village (and nowhere else in the region!). The star is made on a wooden base covered with multi-colored paper. On one side there is an ancient image of the calendar, on the other - the worship of shepherds. The entire circle is bordered with a fringe of yellow paper and surrounded by six paper rays. A lighted candle is placed in the hole between the images, the light from which makes the image and rays transparent. To the accompaniment of sacred songs, at exactly five in the evening, adults go out to carol with the star. They bring it into the room or stop under the window and sing: New joy has become, Like praise to heaven. Above the nativity scene the star shone with a clear light. The shepherdesses with the lamb fell to their knees before the little child, glorifying Christ... From the owners in return - a generous treat. Vladislav Tatarintsev, head of the Belarusian culture department of DNA “Builder”, who visited Novoberezovka that day, expressed his deep gratitude to all the carol participants. “It’s hard to even imagine how these people were able to exactly reproduce the melody of Belarusian songs, master polyphony, and a unique style of performance far from the homeland of their ancestors. What kind of love is needed for paternal shrines in order to so carefully convey them to the present day, without losing them, and pass them on to children...” Friendly faces, beautiful costumes, songs of different genres and carols in the Belarusian and Russian languages made the Christmas holiday in the Aromashevsky district unforgettable.
An amazing ritual has been preserved in the Aromashevsky district
In December 2012, the days of Belarusian culture, dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the National Cultural Society “Autonomy Belarus,” were widely and brightly held in the Tyumen region.Over 15 years of work, warm friendly ties have been established with Belarusians in densely populated areas in the south of the region. These are mainly villages that were founded in 1886-1889 by Belarusian settlers, the so-called self-propelled people. More than a hundred years have passed, and the residents, cut off from their historical homeland, managed to preserve culture, traditions, rituals, songs, costumes, language, and of course, holidays. First of all, they are patronal, congress, uniting, inspiring and transforming people.
Nikolai Salnikov, head of the rural house of culture in the village of Novoberezovka (Aromashevsky district), for many years in a row, just like his father once did, on the day of the glorification of Christ he brings out a Christmas star for his fellow villagers - a symbol of happiness and prosperity. It was only thanks to Nikolai Vasilyevich that this amazing ritual was preserved in his native village (and nowhere else in the region!).
The star is made on a wooden base covered with multi-colored paper. On one side there is an ancient image of the calendar, on the other - the worship of shepherds. The entire circle is bordered with a fringe of yellow paper and surrounded by six paper rays. A lighted candle is placed in the hole between the images, the light from which makes the image and rays transparent. To the accompaniment of sacred songs, at exactly five in the evening, adults go out to carol with the star. They bring it into the room or stop under the window and sing:
There is a new joy,
Thank heavens.
Above the nativity scene the star is clear
It shone with light.
Shepherdesses with lamb
Before a small child
They fell to their knees,
Christ was glorified...
In return, the owners give you a generous treat.
Vladislav Tatarintsev, head of the Belarusian culture department of DNA “Builder”, who visited Novoberezovka that day, expressed his deep gratitude to all the carol participants. “It’s hard to even imagine how these people were able to exactly reproduce the melody of Belarusian songs, master polyphony, and a unique style of performance far from the homeland of their ancestors. What kind of love is needed for one’s father’s shrines in order to so carefully bring them to the present day, without losing them, and pass them on to the children...”
There is a village in the Aromashevo district whose residents treat their small homeland in a special way, lovingly and reverently. You should have heard with what reverence the teacher of the local secondary school, Olga Grigorievna Grigoruk, talks about Novoberezovka, she is also the head of the school museum and the chairman of the trade union committee!
Describes the green banks of three rivers, at the intersection of which streets with strong estates stretch freely; creeks with white geese and ducks, beautiful bridges - all the picturesque corners of this very original village, vibrant in its culture, traditions and customs. A village founded by self-propelled people from Belarus, Western Ukraine and Poland back in the nineteenth century.
In 2010, Novoberezovka turned 115 years old. “And all these years, from generation to generation, in our village, as a tradition, a sense of pride has been passed on for the most beautiful place on earth, for the best school, which has given the world many talented and famous graduates. And for our museum, which turned 50 years old and which became one of the best in the regional competition of school museums,” said Olga Grigorievna. I recalled how in May the whole village solemnly celebrated these anniversaries, as well as the 65th anniversary of the Great Victory, combining them into one documentary-art trilogy “To Our Origins.” And I heard her inspirational story during the round table “Experience. Continuity. Mentoring" (it was organized as part of the forum of teachers of the Tyumen region, when the results of the Year of the Teacher in Russia were summed up).
The founding date of the Novoberezovsk school is officially considered to be 1933, when it became a seven-year school, although the primary school was founded here back in 1917. In 1964 it received medium status. And in 1992 she moved to a new beautiful building. The exhibitions of the school museum tell about all this. Another notable milestone: in 2006, this educational institution won a presidential grant of one million rubles and is now equipped with the latest technical facilities. Now the school is fully staffed, rural boys and girls receive high-quality knowledge there, emerge as gold and silver medalists, and enter universities every year. “Our students are the best, we always believe in this,” Grigoruk shared with her colleagues. – We have such a tradition at school: we must pass on what we have been brought up in us to our children. And we’re doing pretty well so far.”
Evidence that this is indeed the case is the attitude of the villagers towards their native school. There is not a single meeting evening that does not bring together more than fifty graduates. By the way, 80% of the teachers at the Novoberezovsk school are her pupils. Today, seven Novoberezovka students are studying at pedagogical universities in the region, and there is a chance that they will return to their home school. The key to this is the high professionalism of local teachers. And another thing is that the mentoring system works seriously here. Its founders are rightfully considered to be the Shtykovs - Maria Semyonovna, a mathematics teacher, and Pyotr Pavlovich, a Trudovik, who began their professional career in the late forties. Their three children also became teachers. The son works at Tyumen State University, at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, the daughter works in Krasnoyarsk, teaches at the Agricultural Academy. But the third, Tamara Petrovna Nichiporuk, a person with a big, broad soul, went through the full teaching path. She, a teacher-geographer at the Novoberezovsk secondary school, also ran the school museum for 28 years, collecting exhibits bit by bit. It is in the museum that the most interesting information about the village and the school, its famous, “winged” graduates is concentrated. About a single family of teachers and students.
The Novoberezovskaya school in the Aromashevsky district is just one of many examples. In most rural schools, teachers are former students who returned to their home school in a new capacity. Life shows: in those teams where they take care of their roots, the people of the older generation who laid the foundation for today’s achievements, where they preserve the best traditions, filling them with new content, successful development continues.
