On Maslenitsa in Dudutki
A small group of Club representatives, not wanting to miss out on the last winter entertainment, went to the Dudutki museum complex on 26.02.2017 to celebrate Maslenitsa. The Dudutki museum complex is probably the most famous ethnographic museum landscape in Belarus. Created and operated on a private initiative, the complex offers visitors not only permanent attractions and exhibits but also regularly holds themed events that are inspired by ancient customs and everyday life in the Middle Ages. These events include the summer festival of knights "Our Grunwald" and " Maslenitsa", a winter send-off party.
The last days of the year brought good weather: it snowed for the last time and there was ice on the roads - a suitable framework for saying farewell to winter. In addition, "Dudutki" itself seems to be quite a popular place for Minsk residents - the event attracted a lot of visitors to the complex.
We saw, during the 2.5-hour tour around the workshops and other attractions of the complex, that the complex is worth visiting anyway. During the tour, visitors learned a lot about the everyday life of our ancestors from the pre-industrial past and were able to experience their daily struggles. Not least because of the opportunity to see with their own eyes how things were produced in a blacksmith's, pottery, or weaver's workshop and to touch the making of everyday items. These objects and some of their own labor (a very topical issue in Belarus) could be taken away as souvenirs. The entertaining tour was enlivened by tastings of organic products - bread, butter, cheese, sauerkraut, lard, and moonshine - that added a special atmosphere to this somewhat different visit to the museum.
A short ride on a horse-drawn carriage showed us the advantages of modern means of transport, especially in winter.
It ended with a traditional round dance around a lit Maslenitsa straw figure.
The only fly in the ointment, as it often happens at public events in Belarus, was rather an inert service in the complex - visitors had to be patient enough to get something to eat and drink. But in the end, we overcame this difficulty, and the quality of the barbeque rewarded us for the previous wait.
Taking these pleasant winter experiences with us, we decided to return to Dudutki again in the summer, better for the Knights' Festival, and best of all, in the company of numerous Club members.
The last days of the year brought good weather: it snowed for the last time and there was ice on the roads - a suitable framework for saying farewell to winter. In addition, "Dudutki" itself seems to be quite a popular place for Minsk residents - the event attracted a lot of visitors to the complex.
We saw, during the 2.5-hour tour around the workshops and other attractions of the complex, that the complex is worth visiting anyway. During the tour, visitors learned a lot about the everyday life of our ancestors from the pre-industrial past and were able to experience their daily struggles. Not least because of the opportunity to see with their own eyes how things were produced in a blacksmith's, pottery, or weaver's workshop and to touch the making of everyday items. These objects and some of their own labor (a very topical issue in Belarus) could be taken away as souvenirs. The entertaining tour was enlivened by tastings of organic products - bread, butter, cheese, sauerkraut, lard, and moonshine - that added a special atmosphere to this somewhat different visit to the museum.
A short ride on a horse-drawn carriage showed us the advantages of modern means of transport, especially in winter.
It ended with a traditional round dance around a lit Maslenitsa straw figure.
The only fly in the ointment, as it often happens at public events in Belarus, was rather an inert service in the complex - visitors had to be patient enough to get something to eat and drink. But in the end, we overcame this difficulty, and the quality of the barbeque rewarded us for the previous wait.
Taking these pleasant winter experiences with us, we decided to return to Dudutki again in the summer, better for the Knights' Festival, and best of all, in the company of numerous Club members.