Press releases

The 12^th edition of the Festival of National Cultures will take place in Grodno on 1-2 June. The festival will start with a traditional procession across the city center in the evening of 1 June. Taking part in the event will be representatives of 35 nationalities.

“For the first time the festival will welcome Tamils and Chinese, as well as Cubans who will represent Latin America. Grodno will also celebrate those nationalities who have not taken part in the festival for a long time – Latvians, Bulgarians and Mordvins. We are often asked what will be the highlight of the festival. There will be as many highlights as the participating nationalities,” Olga Bogdanovich said. She underlined that the festival will be centered around national booths that will introduce visitors to national culture and traditions of participating nationalities. Nineteen booths will be installed in the city center; two of them will be multi-national and will be symbolically called West and East.

“The Festival of National Cultures is a perfect occasion to take a promenade, therefore the entire second day of the forum will be dedicated to national booths. The major theme of the festival will be traditional amusements, fairs and open-air merrymaking. The Grand Prix of the festival will be awarded for the best presentation of national culture,” Olga Bogdanovich said. A Belarusian booth will be presented at the festival for the first time. Artists from all regions of the country were invited to participate. One of the themes will be the Year of Native Land. The most remarkable and striking traditions and rites of various parts of Belarus will be celebrated in the form of exhibitions and master classes.

Visitors to the Belarusian booth will be invited to take part in a flash mob and embrace Belarus by joining a huge multi-national circle dance. “The participants of the festival are people of various nationalities, but we all live in this country. Therefore, the second day of the festival will open with showing appreciation for Belarus that has become a second homeland for many,” Olga Bogdanovich noted.

The festival will offer a great number of entertainments and educational activities. The city center will turn into a huge pedestrian area. A number of new facilities, including tourist attractions, will be unveiled during the festival.

For the first time this year the festival will cross the borders of Grodno. The third day of the celebrations will be held on the Augustow Canal. The program includes a theatrical procession and presentations of booths, tastings of national cuisine, as well as traditional games.

The Festival of National Cultures was held in Belarus in 1996 for the first time and is now organized every two years. The capital of the festival is Grodno.