Ethno-Cultural Processes in Belarusian Podvinje (Vitebsk region) in the Past and Present. Minsk, 2017. 628 p.

Abstract

This review examines the latest volume of a comprehensive Belarusian study of the ethno-cultural processes that took place over centuries in the territory of modern-day Belarus. This volume is devoted to Belarusian Podvinje, a region in the Northern part of the Republic of Belarus. The fourth volume (out of a planned six) of large-scale cultural research, based on extensive archival and expeditionary materials collected by scientists from the Center for Belarusian Culture, Language and Literature Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus over many years, has been published. Our previous peer-reviewed analysis of the published volumes of this project allows us to state that the main problem for the authors is a confessional-cultural problem, because Belarus contains the border between Slavia Orthodoxa and Slavia Romana. The border position of Belarusian Podvinje (Vitebsk region) and its location in the area of centuries-old active Baltic-East Slavic interaction determined the ethnic diversity of the local population. Historically, together with the Belarusians, there has always been a significant Russian population, and additionally, before World War II, Jews. The rather large local Catholic population cannot be attributed solely to ethnic Poles. The majority are in fact descendants of the old Belarusian Orthodox population, which fell into the sphere of Catholic expansion in the early Middle Ages. That said the Belarusian Orthodox population now predominates. The Vitebsk region has a rich cultural landscape and is one of the most historically significant regions of Belarus. It is the birthplace of the famous Orthodox holy princess Euphrosyne of Polotsk, the Belarusian humanist and physician Francysk Skaryna, the Orthodox monk-poet Simeon of Polotsk and many others.