Budslau Fest listed as UNESCO intangible cultural heritage
During the Budslau Fest. Photo: Viktar Vedzen / catholic.by
The celebration in Honor of the Budslau Icon of Our Lady (Budslau Fest) has been aded to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, reports the press office fo Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The decision was taken by the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage on 28 November. The session of the committee was held in Port Louis, Mauritius.
During the Budslau Fest, held annually on the first Friday and Saturday of July, all Roman Catholic bishops form across Belarus as well as representatives of other religions come to Budslau to celebrate the Budslau Icon of Our Lady. Apart from priests, the fest attracts many piligrims from Belarus and other countries.
In 2009, the unique Belarusian rite of the Kaliady Tsars, which is performed only in the village of Siemiezava (Kopyl District, Minsk Region), was added to the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. In 2018 Belarus submitted another file for the inclusion in the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. That was the ancient rite Yurieuski Charavod (Yuriev Round Dance). The decision on this file is to be made in December 2019, reports state news agency BELTA.
