Belarusian Customs and Traditions

The roots of Belarusian culture come from the pre-Christian times and have a lot in common with traditions of other European cultures Traditional rites (ритуалы), music and art elements are widely used in cultural life at present, and they illustrate the connection between the old and young Belarusian culture.

Like other countries Belarus has its own holidays. They are divided into traditional, religious and national.

In Belarus people widely celebrate such popular Christian holidays as Christmas - both Catholic and Orthodox, and Easter. On these days believers go to churches and temples, gather together with their families and eat traditional dishes like pudding made of barley (ячмень), pancakes, Easter Cakes and goose stuffed with apples. Traditionally dinner table should be first covered with hay and then with a table cloth and the food, after having meals family takes straw out and decides who has the longest and the strongest one - this person will be lucky during the year. 

On Christmas people living in villages also go from home to home dressed as animals or other fairy characters, sing songs and dance that is called - Koliada.

One of the most important holidays in Belarusian culture is Kupalle - a holiday of nature with its roots deep in ancient times and connected with the solstice (солнцестояние). Many people take part in this holiday demonstrating a special repertoire of music and dance, spectacular rites. The celebration goes through the whole night, when people jump over the bonfire and try to find a fern flower (цветок папоротника) - a mysterious flower, which is seen only once a year only on Kupalle. People believe that the person who finds this flower will become wealthy This custom shows the importance of traditions in today`s culture.

In Belarus people celebrate such national holidays as the New Year, the 8th of March - women’s day, the 1st of May - labor’s day and the 9th of May - the Victory day, also the 3d of July - the Independence day, the 7th of November - the day of October Revolution and the day of the city, which is celebrated in a different day in each city, traditionally it is a day when a city or a town was first mentioned in the history. 

As you see people in Belarus have a lot of traditions and customs connected with celebration of holidays, also Belarusians are fond of holidays as they bring fun and excitement and help families to spend more time together, share wonderful moments and become closer.

Tourism and Traveling

Заканчивается очередной учебный год, и хочется поразмышлять о наступающем лете, а также о путешествиях и туризме, которые раскрашивают нашу жизнь яркими красками, не давая увязнуть в рутине повседневности. Давайте сделаем над собой усилие и серьезно поразмышляем на тему "Tourism and Traveling".

Tourism and Traveling

The scientific and technological progress of the 20^th century has allowed people to overcome time and distance, to cover in the twinkling of an eye (в мгновение ока) the vast space of our planet. The whole world is open now. The limits and frontiers of the previous period have stopped to exist. We can choose any place on the planet and go there on business or on holiday.

Tourism is travel away from a person’s usual place of residence for a period longer than twenty-four hours, primarily for pleasure or recreation (развлечение, восстановление сил), and frequently to multiple (разнообразный) destinations. It may be a resort, but it may also be a large city.

Usually people travel for entirely different purposes. Ones – for the purpose of recreation or pleasure; they are those on holiday. Others travel for reasons of health. Some travel to visit their friends or relatives, a reason that has become more important because of increasing mobility throughout the world. Still others travel in order to educate themselves because travel is mind broadening. All of them are generally considered tourists since the primary reason for their trips is recreation.

There are several ways of traveling. Some people travel by car, some – by bus or by train, another think that the best way of traveling is on feet with a backpack on their shoulders, the most luxurious way of traveling is considered a ship, having a romantic cruise, but the most comfortable and popular transport still remains a plane. Anyway all this means of transportation have their advantages and disadvantages and each person makes his choice according to plans and resources.

As for me there is no matter which transport I choose but a good company and positive spirit plays the main role in my tour. This people and mood can make each event a real adventure. Of course the main aim of traveling is to distract from everyday life, meet new people, get acquainted with culture, architecture, cuisine and history, and all this things make our life richer and more adventurous. But there is one more sufficient thing that tourism does – it helps us to learn something new about ourselves. When we see magnificent sites of Machu Picchu, or the landscapes of New Zeeland, architecture of Prague or ancient Greece, frescoes (фрески) on the walls of the Vatican we start to realize ourselves as leaving intelligent creatures with consciousness (сознание) and a lot of complicated things in our mind that gives us an opportunity to be called human beings.

So, to sum everything up I should say that tourism and traveling are important for our well-being, they stimulate our imagination, train our senses, broaden our minds and give us unforgettable experience that is better to share with someone.

Хороших каникул и незабываемых путешествий!

Venice

Poznan

Vienna

Berlin, inside Berliner Dom

                   

Our trip to Budapest 2015

полезный сайт с аудиоприложениями к учебникам по английскому языуку

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British National Cuisine

Британская национальная кухня... Что Вы представляете? Жаренные яйца с беконом? Рыбу в панировке?
На самом деле традиционная британская кухня не ограничивается этим. Трудно представить англичанина, который не пьет чай в пять часов и не лакомится йоркширским пудингом или мафинами, а в выходные не собирает свою семью за столом, чтобы отведать воскресное жаркое с картофелем и вареными овощами.

Для того, чтоб немного развеять стереотипы, сложившиеся у учащихся о традиционных блюдах Британии, рекомендую прочитать тему, приведенную ниже. В ней есть вся необходимая информация о ежедневном меню среднестатистического британца, а также о самых традиционных блюдах их национальной кухни. В конце темы можно найти рецепт настоящего йоркширского пуддинга с травами. И, кто знает, возможно, кто-то решится не только прочитать, но и попробовать кусочек Британии.

 

Удачи.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

National cuisine in Britain has remarkably changed in recent decades. It is caused by the fact that people come there from all over the world and bring with them their culinary secrets, their new recipes, their food and sauces.

British cuisine has traditionally been limited in its international recognition to the full breakfast, fish and chips, and the Christmas dinner. English light breakfast consists of toasts with marmalade, tea or coffee, plus scrambled eggs with beacon, sausages, porridge or cereals with orange juice and tea.

 

Next meal is between 12 and 14 o’clock. It’s time for a substantial meal – lunch. At this time they have a cup of tea and some tasty cookies which are sold in on London streets in small kiosks. As a rule lunch consists of sandwiches. That’s why at this time of the day the British go to fast-food restaurants where they have hot-dogs or fish in chips (fish filet in bread crumbles with sauce), and French fries and pickles as a garnish. Between 15.00 and 18.00 they have tea, which is an English tradition. They drink Traditional English tea in offices, at home, in cafe confectioner’s shops, and they always drink it with scones and muffins. Scones are small round biscuits that are usually cut in halves and eaten with butter or cream.

For dinner the British prefer to have something like chicken soup with onion, soup with mutton with vegetables or soup with meat. For a garnish the British have traditional Yorkshire pudding. All Englishmen consider Yorkshire cuisine the best in the country and are really proud of it.

Other famous British dishes include the Sunday roast, steak and kidney pie, shepherd's pie, and bangers and mash. British cuisine has many regional varieties within the broader categories of English, Scottish and Welsh cuisine. Each have developed their own regional or local dishes, many of which are geographically indicated foods such as Cornish pasties, the Yorkshire pudding, Cumberland Sausage and Welsh cakes.

The Sunday roast is a traditional British and Irish main meal that is served on Sundays but can be eaten on any day of the week, consisting of roasted meat, roast potato or mashed potato, with accompaniments such as Yorkshire pudding, stuffing, vegetables and gravy.

 

 

The Yorkshire pudding is an English side dish made from batter consisting of eggs, flour, and milk. The dish is always served with beef, but may also be served as a dessert. To make the Yorkshire pudding you need 3 eggs 1,5 cup of milk and the same amount of flour, 3 tablespoons of fresh mixed herbs, salt, pepper and half full cup of melted butter. Preheat the oven to 230 degrees С and place a baking dish in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, beat the eggs until foamy and light. Whisk in the milk until combined. Add the flour, herbs, a big pinch of salt, and some pepper, beat just until the batter is smooth. Place it all into the oven for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 175 degrees C and continue baking for 15 to 20 minutes until the pudding is puffy and brown.