We arrive with the familiar bump in the year 1250. According to Grisha’s Ipad, we have landed in what is today known as the Polatsk region. When opening the door we see a big crowd of party people dressed in beautiful traditional Belarusian clothes. They are laughing, dancing, and singing. In the middle of this celebrating crowd stands a beautiful bride with a very happy husband by her side.
This is a wedding! “I always wanted to be part of a traditional wedding, let’s go and celebrate Masha”, Marta says enthusiastically. We hear a group of people singing beautiful songs, and bringing bread and salt to the newlywed couple. This must be an old tradition. We dance and drink along and we seem to fit in perfectly, no weird glances, no questions . . . This is great for a change.
Suddenly the partying stops. The guests become a bit nervous. Talking in a low voice. Masha asks, “Is it us? Did they discover that we weren’t invited guests and from another time. Should we run for it?” But then we hear someone talking about a dragon. What? A dragon? This must be some sort of a joke? How curious?
The newlywed couple walk away and we follow them without attracting too much attention to ourselves. The couple stop near a lake and start throwing food and some sort of special homemade alcoholic drink, possibly some sort of vodka moonshine. They then loudly and clearly ask the lake whether they could have a happy family life? Is this a normal tradition? Asking a lake for a happy life? Seems a bit strange, doesn’t it? All of a sudden huge dragon appears from the lake. He is so big and scary that we don’t know where to hide. This thing will find us anywhere! But then we see that this big scary dragon gives this brave couple a nod. And the couple kisses and thanks the dragon.
Ok this is the weirdest thing we have ever seen, but the dragon does seem friendly and he doesn’t appear to want to eat them. He even pulls a friendly face!
The couple walk back to the party with a big smile on their faces. When they see our bewildered and shocked faces they explain to us that this is part of a pagan tradition; to make the dragon, who is called Smog, happy and ask for permission for a happy life. This is an old marriage tradition that we must respect and obey! We nod, but we can’t seem to stop shaking after what we just saw. The couple laughs and pushed us towards the party, ‘Lets go and get you both something to recover from this experience’, so we just nod again.
We return a bit tipsy and still a bit shaky to our Grisha. It's time to leave this place Grisha! Before closing the door, we see Smog fly off shooting fire from his nose. This has been an interesting turn of events. Arriving at a wedding that took place almost a thousand year ago and then meeting a huge dragon called Smog who surprisingly turned out to be a friendly dragon. Boy, Belarusian history is filled with surprises, and we can’t wait for our next one!
Read more about Belarus on our newest platform HiFive Belarus!
This is a wedding! “I always wanted to be part of a traditional wedding, let’s go and celebrate Masha”, Marta says enthusiastically. We hear a group of people singing beautiful songs, and bringing bread and salt to the newlywed couple. This must be an old tradition. We dance and drink along and we seem to fit in perfectly, no weird glances, no questions . . . This is great for a change.
Suddenly the partying stops. The guests become a bit nervous. Talking in a low voice. Masha asks, “Is it us? Did they discover that we weren’t invited guests and from another time. Should we run for it?” But then we hear someone talking about a dragon. What? A dragon? This must be some sort of a joke? How curious?
The newlywed couple walk away and we follow them without attracting too much attention to ourselves. The couple stop near a lake and start throwing food and some sort of special homemade alcoholic drink, possibly some sort of vodka moonshine. They then loudly and clearly ask the lake whether they could have a happy family life? Is this a normal tradition? Asking a lake for a happy life? Seems a bit strange, doesn’t it? All of a sudden huge dragon appears from the lake. He is so big and scary that we don’t know where to hide. This thing will find us anywhere! But then we see that this big scary dragon gives this brave couple a nod. And the couple kisses and thanks the dragon.
Ok this is the weirdest thing we have ever seen, but the dragon does seem friendly and he doesn’t appear to want to eat them. He even pulls a friendly face!
The couple walk back to the party with a big smile on their faces. When they see our bewildered and shocked faces they explain to us that this is part of a pagan tradition; to make the dragon, who is called Smog, happy and ask for permission for a happy life. This is an old marriage tradition that we must respect and obey! We nod, but we can’t seem to stop shaking after what we just saw. The couple laughs and pushed us towards the party, ‘Lets go and get you both something to recover from this experience’, so we just nod again.
We return a bit tipsy and still a bit shaky to our Grisha. It's time to leave this place Grisha! Before closing the door, we see Smog fly off shooting fire from his nose. This has been an interesting turn of events. Arriving at a wedding that took place almost a thousand year ago and then meeting a huge dragon called Smog who surprisingly turned out to be a friendly dragon. Boy, Belarusian history is filled with surprises, and we can’t wait for our next one!
Read more about Belarus on our newest platform HiFive Belarus!
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