Glubokoye district's butter bun and rye bread recognized as intangible cultural heritage of Belarus
The traditional dishes of the Glubokoye district - butter ram and rye bread - have been recognized as intangible cultural heritage of Belarus, as reported to BelTA correspondent by Yekaterina Labuko, director of the Vitebsk Regional Methodological Center for Folk Art.
This decision was made recently at a meeting of the scientific and methodological council on historical and cultural heritage. The technology for preparing these two unique culinary creations is not only preserved, but its bearers willingly share it, thereby continuing the tradition.
Teresa Struy, a resident of the village of Matyukovo, along with her daughter Marina Khrol, has been preparing the butter ram for major holidays for many years. Using homemade butter, prepared in a wooden churn with salt, a ram with curled horns and curly wool is molded using a special form. According to Yekaterina Labuko, this sculpture in itself can become a decoration for any festive table, but in addition, the butter ram is tasty and keeps well: the butter does not become rancid. Besides the preparation technology, there is also a technology for eating this wonderful dish. It turns out, you should only eat the ram starting from the tail. The fame of the craftswomen from Matyukovo spread throughout the Glubokoye region, and now they receive orders for preparing the butter ram for weddings, christenings, and Easter from all over the district.
Another tradition is associated with baking rye bread. Stepanida Lupach from the village of Derkovshchina carefully preserves it. She bakes various types of rye bread: on maple leaves, with salo, quick-rising, and a special one for travel. The craftswoman gladly passes on her experience to students of the local art school and club members from the house of crafts.
According to Yekaterina Labuko, the Glubokoye authorities intend to use the traditional dishes as local attractions to draw tourists to the region. It is possible that by the beginning of the tourist season, a log hut with a stove will appear in the district, where they will bake their rye bread, mold the butter ram, and teach these actions to everyone who wishes.
Earlier in the Vitebsk region, the status of intangible cultural heritage was granted to the Christmas game "Tereshka's Wedding," which has been preserved in its original form only in the Lepel district. As the interviewee noted, the Vitebsk region is rich in cultural traditions. According to experts, more than a dozen rituals, crafts, and even culinary dishes can be included in the list of intangible cultural heritage. Currently, materials for four traditional intangible heritage sites are being prepared for presentation to the scientific and methodological council: openwork weaving, hat making, the technology of preparing a wedding horned loaf, and other national dishes.
Belarus was one of the first countries to sign the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, and it is a member of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Since 2005, a tremendous amount of work has been done in Belarus to identify the country's intangible cultural heritage. The first items on Belarus's intangible heritage list were "Kolyadnye Tsari" (Christmas Kings) – a ritual performed during the celebration of Christmas and New Year in the village of Semezhevo (Minsk region). Today, Belarus has a unified State List of Protection of Historical and Cultural Values for both tangible and intangible objects. The list already includes more than 60 elements of intangible cultural heritage.