Press releases

MINSK, 31 May (BelTA) – The nomination file on the spring rite of Jurauski Karahod practiced in the village of Pogost, Zhitkovichi District, Gomel Oblast will be examined by the UNESCO in 2019, Director of the Cultural Heritage and Modernity Fund Alla Stashkevich told BelTA.

The Belarusian element is included in the list of files that will be considered by the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage at the 14th session in November-December 2019. The list includes the candidates for inclusion in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding, the Register of Best Safeguarding Practices and requests for international aid worth more than $100,000. The list consisting of 51 elements has been published on the UNESCO website.

Jurauski Karahod has been submitted for the inclusion in the Urgent Safeguarding List. The rite dedicated to the spring holiday Yurya is practiced annually. It has been granted the status of intangible historical and cultural value in Belarus.

The Kolyady Tsars rite, which is performed only in the village of Semezhevo (Kopyl District, Minsk Oblast), was added to the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2009.

This year Belarus awaits the opinion of an international expert community on another element of intangible heritage: Celebration in Honor of the Budslau Icon of Our Lady (Budslau Fest) for inscription on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. In 2016 the committee referred the nomination file to Belarus having expressed several remarks. Belarus has worked on these remarks and resubmitted the file which will be reconsidered at the committee's session in November-December this year.