Festivals in Belarus

Jazz Nights at Minsk Town Hall

Interesting festivals and celebrations are held all over Belarus all the year round. Among them are music and theatrical forums, festivals of folk culture, traditional crafts and national cuisine, splendid balls, knights tournaments and medieval re-enactment shows, unusual environmental festivals…

While travelling in Belarus, make some time to visit these festivals. Our guide will tell you about traditional cultural and tourist events. To learn more about the dates and the forthcoming events, please visit our regularly updated calendar Belarus.by.

Winter festivals in Belarus

Parade of Fathers Frost and Snow Maidens

December

• Minsk International Christmas Opera Forum (Minsk)
• Sollertinsky International Festival (Vitebsk)
• Dunin-Martsinkevich National Drama Festival (Bobruisk)
• International theater festival Slavonic Theater Meetings (Gomel)
• Parade of Fathers Frost and Snow Maidens (Minsk, oblast capitals, Belovezhskaya Pushcha)

January

• International classic music festival January Music Nights (Brest)
• Minsk international digital art festival Terra Nova (Minsk)
• Christmas balls in Mir Castle
• Big New Year's Eve Ball in the Bolshoi Theater of Belarus (Minsk)

February

• International Orthodox church music festival Kolozha Chime (Grodno)
• International festival of magicians MAGIC SHOW (Grodno)
• International winter motor festival Zavirukha (Radoshkovichi, Molodechno District, Minsk Oblast)
• Forum of Experimental Plastic Theaters PlaStforma (Minsk)

Spring festivals in Belarus

International VIVA, Bike carnival-parade in Minsk

March

• International Festival of Ancient and Modern Chamber Music (St. Sophia Cathedral, Polotsk)
• International youth theater forum M@rt-contact (Mogilev)
• Minsk Spring Tango Festival (Minsk)

April

• Festival of modern art and vanguard fashion Mamont (Minsk)
• International festival of marketing and advertising White Square (Minsk)
• International festival of instrumental music Guitar Renaissance (Gomel)
• International Rock and Bike Festival (Grodno)

May

• International puppetry festival Puppets over the Neman (Grodno)
• Belarusian International Festival of Puppet Theaters (Minsk)
• Minsk Forum of Street Theaters (Minsk)
• Belarusian Fashion Week
• Art festival Nesvizh Muses (Nesvizh, Minsk Oblast)
• International festival of chamber music Belarusian Fanfares (Baranovichi)
• International festival of children’s art Golden Bee (Klimovichi, Mogilev Oblast, May-June)
• Festival of medieval culture Rubon (Polotsk, Vitebsk Oblast)
• Night of Museums in Belarus
• Festival of medieval culture Golshany Castle (agro-town of Golshany, Oshmyany District, Grodno Oblast)
• International show of vintage cars Retro Minsk (Minsk)
• Folk art festival Augustow Canal Invites Friends
• Landscape Architecture and Design Festival
• Historical re-enactment festival Era of Knighthood
• International VIVA, Bike carnival-parade in Minsk

Summer festivals in Belarus

Cherry Festival

June

• Festival of National Cultures (Grodno, once in two years)
• International church music festival God Almighty (Mogilev)
• National festival of Belarusian songs and poetry Molodechno (Chist, Molodechno, Minsk Oblast)
• Festival of opera and ballet art Bolshoi Theater Evenings in the Radziwill Castle (Nesvizh Castle, Minsk Oblast)
• Music Nights in Mir Castle (Mir Castle, Grodno Oblast)
• International music and singing festival Dnieper Voices in Dubrovno (Dubrovno, Vitebsk Oblast)
• Ballet Summer in Bolshoi project (Minsk)
• National festival of folk arts Beraginya (Oktyabrsky, Gomel Oblast)
• International festival of culture Braslav Lightings (Vitebsk)
• International folk music festival Dulcimer and Accordion are Playing (Postavy, Vitebsk Oblast)
• International history festival The Legacy of Centuries (Mir Castle, Grodno Oblast)
• Knight festival The Sword of Lida Castle (Lida Castle, Grodno Oblast)
• Ruzhany Brama Festival (Ruzhany Castle, Ruzhany, Brest Oblast)
• Kamenets Vezha Festival (Kamenets Tower) (Kamenets, Minsk Oblast)
• Cheese Festival near Minsk (Belarusian State Vernacular Architecture and Ethnic Heritage Museum)
• Rural tourism festival Zaborski Fest (Rossony, Vitebsk Oblast)

July

• The International Festival of Arts Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk (Vitebsk)
• International folk festival The Wreath of Friendship (Bobruisk, Mogilev Oblast)
• Budslav Fest (Budslav, Minsk Oblast)
• Volnaye Pavetra Open-Air-Festival (Shabli, Volozhin District, Minsk Oblast)
• Kupala Night Festival Alexandria Gathers Friends (Alexandria agrotown, Shklov District, Mogilev Oblast)
• International festival of medieval culture and music Our Grunwald (Dudutki Ethnographic Museum, Minsk Oblast)
• Knights’ Festival. Mstislavl (Mstislavl, Mogilev Oblast)
• Cherry Festival (Glubokoye, Vitebsk Oblast)
• Street art festival On Seven Winds (Vitebsk)
• Summer festival FSP - Freaky Summer Party (Minsk, once in two years)
• International music and sport festival Bard Music & Fishing Festival (the village of Grudichino, Bykhov District, Mogilev Oblast) (July-August)
• Classics at the Town Hall
• Jazz Nights at Minsk Town Hall
• International project Mirum Music Festival 2017

August

• Festival of ethnic and cultural traditions Zov Polesia (The Call of Polesye) (Pripyatsky National Park, every two years)
• International Culinary Festival Motalskiya Prysmaki (Motal Delicacies) (Motal agrotown, Ivanovo District, Brest Oblast)
• Festival of arts and crafts Dribinskie Torzhki (Dribin Fair) (Dribin, Mogilev Oblast)
• Cucumber Festival in Shklov (Shklov, Mogilev Oblast)
• Flower Festival (Zheludok, Shchuchin District, Grodno Oblast)
• Kreva Castle Festival (Kreva, Smorgon District, Grodno Oblast)
• Annensky Kirmash (St. Anna Fair) (Zelva, Grodno Oblast)
• Belarusian amateur comedy festival in Avtyuki (villages Bolshie and Malye Avtyuki, Kalinkovichi District, Gomel Oblast)
• National Scything Championship (national biological reserve Sporovsky, Brest Oblast)
• International ceramics plein air Art Zhyzhal (Bobruisk, Mogilev Oblast)
• Augustow Canal in the Culture of the Three Peoples Festival
• International orthodox youth festival Hodegetria
• International festival Lepel Tsmok Welcomes
• Ethnic festival Visiting the Radimichis
• International festival Way of the Vikings (interactive history park and museum Sula, Minsk Oblast)
• Vulica Brasil urban art festival (Minsk)

Autumn festivals in Belarus

Minsk international film festival Listapad

September

• Belarusian Written Language Day
• International Theater Festival Belaya Vezha (White Tower) (Brest)
• International theater forum TEART (Minsk)
• International student theater festival The Theater Chest (Minsk)
• Music festival in memory of Nikolai Nabokov (Mir Castle, Lyubcha, Grodno)
• Classical music festival TyzenHouse (Grodno)
• International animated film festival Animayevka (Mogilev)
• International choreographic festival Sozhski Karagod (Gomel, every two years)
• National ecological festival Cranes and Cranberries of Miory Land (Miory, Vitebsk Oblast)
• National running festival Yazyl Dozen (Starye Dorogi, Minsk Oblast)
• Biathlon Legends' Race in Raubichi
• Minsk Half Marathon
• Kvass Festival (Lida, Grodno Oblast)
• Sugar Fest (Ivenets, Volozhin District, Minsk Oblast)
• Potato Fest in Silichi (Silichi ski center, Minsk District)
• Folk culture festival September Colors (Novopolotsk, Vitebsk Oblast)
• International fire festival MIFF (Minsk)
• International bikers’ festival H.O.G. Rally Minsk (Minsk)

October

• Yuri Bashmet International Festival (Minsk)
• International music festival Golden Hit (Mogilev)
• Folk festival Songs of My Land (Minsk Oblast)

November

• Minsk international film festival Listapad (Minsk)
• International festival of arts Belarusian Music Autumn (Minsk)
• International Festival of Organ music St. Sophia's Bells (St. Sophia Cathedral, Polotsk) (November-December)
• Music Nights in Bolshoi Theater (Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theater of Belarus, Minsk)
• Minsk Oblast Welcomes Jazz festival (Chist village, Molodechno District, Minsk Oblast)
• International festival JAZZinMINSK (Minsk)
• International modern choreography festival IFMC (Vitebsk)
• International theater festival Panarama (Minsk)
• Ecology and tourism festival Secrets of the Bug Polesie (Bug Polesie Biosphere Reserve, Brest Oblast)

Belarusian Holidays and Rites

Every year Belarusian towns and villages and ethnography museums host numerous ancient folk festivals and amusements.

In winter the residence of Father Frost in Belovezhskaya Pushcha will host New Year and Christmas celebrations, conduct interesting caroling rituals which still exist in Belarus. Some rites have survived only in individual communities. They are:

• Rite of the Kalyady Tsars (the village of Semezhevo, Kopyl District, Minsk Oblast)
• Pulling the Kolyada Up the Oak (the village of Noviny, Berezino District, Minsk Oblast)
• Tereshka’s Wedding (the village of Anoshki, Lepel District, Vitebsk Oblast)

In spring Belarusians celebrate Maslenitsa (Pancake Week) and an unusual holiday Gukanne Vyasny (Calling of Spring). The main celebrations will take place at:

• ethnography museums and agrotourism complexes;
• residence of Father Frost in Belovezhskaya Pushcha;
• ski resorts Silichi, Logoisk, Solnechnaya Dolina;
• Central Botanical Garden in Minsk;
• Rumyantsevs-Paskeviches Palace in Gomel.

One of the most popular folk festivals Kupalye (Kupala Night) is celebrated in numerous towns and villages, ethnography museums in summer. The biggest festivals are:

• National festival Alexandria Gathers Friends (the agrotown of Alexandria, Shklov District, Mogilev Oblast)
• Sontsavarot (Solstice) and Kupala Night folk festivals (Belarusian State Vernacular Architecture and Ethnic Heritage Museum)
• Open-air festival Kupalye (Dudutki Museum)
• Kupalye and Rusalia
• Kupala Night at the residence of Father Frost

Apart from that, an original rite Rusalye can be seen in Lyuban District of Minsk Oblast and Khoiniki District of Gomel Oblast in June.

In autumn Belarus hosts the traditional harvest festival Dazhynki. Celebrations take place in every district. The main Dazhynki festival is held in one of Belarus’ district capitals.

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