At the mythology festival in Lepel, you will be able to ride a wooden boat
The multi-genre mythology festival "Visiting the Lepel Dragon" will expand its format this year and offer guests a special attraction - a ride on a 30-seat wooden boat, Violetta Grudskaya, director of RaidoTour LLC and a representative of one of the organizers, told a BELTA correspondent.
This unusual festival was first held last year. At that time, Belarusian musical groups using authentic culture and folklore participated: "Rokash", "Rekha", "Yavaryna". This year they will come to the celebration again, which is scheduled for August 8.
Professional and amateur groups from different countries are also invited to participate, performing in their national languages and using authentic mythological reconstructions-stylizations, music, songs and dances, heroes of fairy tales and legends.
Concerts, interactive events, an open-air exhibition for young artists, creative workshops, and fairs with Belarusian souvenirs will be held on open stages and platforms. The historical and local lore game "Visiting the Dragon", a scientific and practical conference on the popularization of mythology, and presentations of agro-ecotourism estates are planned.
A pleasant surprise for everyone will be the opportunity to ride on Lake Lepel on a real 30-seat wooden boat. It was built by a craftsman from Postavy.
Guests of the festival will include tourists vacationing in agro-ecotourism estates, sanatoriums, and boarding houses in the Lepel district. Among the foreign participants of the festival, neighbors from Lithuania are expected in particular. A meeting between representatives of the tourism industry of this country and colleagues from the Vitebsk region was recently held in Vitebsk. Having heard about the festival, they showed great interest in it. This is largely due to the fact that Lithuania and Lepel are connected by the name of Lev Sapega, a famous politician, diplomat, and patron of the arts in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
"But the main unifying factor, or rather, image, is the Zmoke. This mythical serpent-like creature is present in all world cultures as one of the iconic symbols guarding natural wealth. Depending on ethnic characteristics, each nation endowed this creature with its own inherent traits.
The dragon was most often fire-breathing and associated with the cult of water bodies. It could cause drought or, conversely, become a patron of agriculture. It could bestow treasures upon the poor but generous, and leave the greedy penniless. For Belarusians, it is the Zmoke; for Lithuanians, the Aitvaras; for Poles, the Wawel Dragon; for Latvians, the Pukis; for Russians, the Dragon (Zmey Gorynych).
"The only sculpture of a Zmoke in Belarus stands on the shore of Lake Lepel and is the tourist brand of the festival and the entire region," noted Violetta Grudskaya.
The festival organizers are the Department of Sports and Tourism of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, the Lepel District Executive Committee, Olga Makhonenko, coordinator of the green route "Land of Yellow Water Lilies and Grey Boulders," and the tour operator LLC "RaidoTour" (Vitebsk).
Ekaterina Knyazeva