BELARUS. 2014. Pogost.

Villagers celebrating Kolyadki, a pagan rite where villagers dress up in costumes and sing songs in houses around the villages, and feast at home. The rites are celebrated at the same time as Orthodox Christmas, making for a unique local blend of Christian and pagan customs.

The village is located on the banks of the Pripyat river.

Here, on the 6th of January, the day before orthodox christmas, preparations for the Christmas day Kolyadkis are taking place at the small house of Babushka Katya Alekseyevna Panchenya (72y). She is a mainstay of local traditions in her village, and the natural gathering point for Kolyadkis. The young people in modern clothes seen in the pictures are studnts from Minsk who came to experience traditional celebrations. Baba Katya had six children, only of whom one survives to this day.