People of belorussia

Have you ever given thought to Byelorussians, not as your parents, brothers and sisters, friends or fellow-villagers, but in general as people with a peculiar character, as people speaking one and the same tongue, having the same past, present and future?!

The population of Byelorussia is also made up of Russians, who live mainly in the cities, of Lithuanians, whose villages are found in the Astravets and Radun Districts, of Jews and Latvians, in places to the north-west of Vitebsk, and of Ukrainians, in some villages to the south of Gomel, and certain small townships in the Pinsk and Stolin neighbourhoods.

There are also Tartars in Byelorussia. They are descendants of those who were once taken prisoner in Batu's time,and; later during Vytautas' raids, and who lived in a special settlement in our country. Up until recent times they differed only in religions (now even this characteristic is gone) and sometimes in names and nicknames in which one could with difficulty catch a hint of their origin.

Have you ever thought what kind of person a Byelorussian is? What kind of a people are they? As a matter of fact, it is very difficult to give an answer to this question, for it is one that can hardly be answered at all.

Each one behaves according to his individual character, the wise reason in a wise and individual manner, but the fools — like elsewhere.

Consequently, generalizations are not necessary.

However, having travelled far and wide over the Republic, and having made the acquaintance of thousands of people, I make bold to name certain features that are rather typical of the Byelorussian character proper.

The northern Byelorussian is rather tall as a rule, some lanky fellows standing two metres high. In the south you can come across people of middle height, most of them stocky, and I repeat that this is by no means a general rule but merely a predominant feature, however the greater part of them are all thickset. Over the past decades there has been a noticeable trend towards an increase in the average height, like everywhere else.

Dark people among the Byelorussians are rather rare. More often than not you meet them in the Polesye, to the south of the Pripet and, for some reason or other, mainly among men, also in certain places around Grodno people are "rooks", they say. Some scientists regard this as evidence of vestiges of the ancient Yatsvegiari blood. Light auburn and even fair hair is prevalent with Byelorussians. Dark auburn and brown-haired people are rarer. Similarly the colour of the eyes is mostly grey, pale blue, or dark blue.

The general appearance is gentle, and the constitution may seem, at first glance, a little delicate, but this is deceptive. The show of outward strength that might impress you for a moment and soon vanish, is substituted here by endurance, wiriness, and staying power. Where another person might give up, the Byelorussian will stick it out. Otherwise in ancient times they would not have survived in the midst of these thick forests and boundless swamps, on this unprolific land. This hardening has become a permanent part of their character. Not for nothing were Byelorussians, even in old times, considered indispensable for such hard tasks as earth-clearing and timber-drifting. Later also it was turned to good account, for instance in unbearably difficult war situations, and in partisan warfare.

However, one can occasionally come across a real Hercules, who can bend horseshoes, and twist steel rods round your arm.

Our countryman is also possessed by a zeal for all kinds of work. It would be more correct to say, an ox-like perseverence in it. Construe this in the best possible sense. The unfertile land would not easily yield good harvests. To make a new field one was compelled, and occasionally is nowadays, to hew out a clearing. That means cutting down the trees, grubbing out the roots, clearing; away the stones, and heaping them up along the field boundaries.

The meagre land has long since made the Byelorussian peasant thrifty, husbanding his resources, putting every small, thing to good purpose, be it merely a small nail, a log of driftwood brought down by the river, and yet it would be a great mistake to call him a mean person.

Byelorussians are noted for their generosity, and their unfailing willingness to come to your aid when you're in trouble. Formerly, when a villager's house was destroyed by a fire, the whole community went to teal the landowner's timber, if. they had none of their own to spare, and in two days built a new house for the victim, and shared their grain with him. Each one measured out as much as he could afford from his granary, so that the man might hold out till spring, and do the sowing. Then everybody contributed a few things from his own household. One gave a mat, another a pillow, yet another a piece of linen or a few pots. They helped make the things that were generally made by the villager himself, such as shoes, spoons, buckets, etc. That was not because they were exceptionally kind, but simply because the community could not survive without it.

Formerly, in time of famine, people .from more prolific places used to come to Byelorussia for help. If our rye is damaged by rains there is a crop of potatoes on sandy soil, and oats; if there are no potatoes, we have mushrooms or fish, and if these are in short supply, game supplies the deficit. A real famine never broke out unless the country was devastated by war or everything was carried off by a wicked landowner or official, and even in this case people knew how to weather the storm, to put things by, to cut and contrive, for this, was exactly the situation in which the Byelorussian thrift stood them in good stead. I've never heard of a starving person who was allowed to leave a neighbour's house with his hands empty.

That is in time of need. But in ordinary circumstances too, all our visitors note our hospitality as one of our most salient features, which not infrequently may even grow burdensome for the guest. "A guest in the house is a God in the house" — and disgrace falls upon the home where everything possible is not done to please the visitor. "The Byelorussian is known for hospitality, a mood of gaiety and trust, although the latter is not always immediately gained. He will never harbour any rancour, and it leaps to the eye of anyone who comes in contact with him. In general, he has a gentle nature."

Many an enemy, for they have been numerous throughout our history, has often pinned his hopes on this "natural meekness". One of the members of the Nazi government wrote plainly that, as a people, the Byelorussians were inert and pliable, kind, weak-willed and quiet, should be subject to earliest liquidation or deportation and that this was expected to be a rather easy action because any more or less organized or sustained resistance was ruled out.

To return to the Byelorussian charact­er, its hospitality is that of one kind person towards another.

True, many ancient customs of hospit­ality are slowly going out of use. A city dweller is often not acquainted with the person living next door. However, even today you would hardly find a home where they would hesitate to give a guest an open-handed welcome. Sometimes the situation even grows ridiculous, and the Byelorussian makes his excessive hospit­ality the butt of his own derisive com­ment: "A guest is like a slave: he will keep quiet although you make him lie on a feather-bed", "I enjoyed my visit except that there was no compulsion" (they were not insistently prevailed upon, almost forced to eat and drink, although too shy). "The guest will sit where he is told, even in the corner, but the host, like a boil, will take his place where he pleases", "When entertaining a nice visitor, even the host will regale himself too", "Such a wonder­ful moonlight night — if I were a guest I'd be getting along", "The first week the guest is gold, the second — silver and the third — copper, although he's preparing to leave for home".

After all, these are only jokes. Visiting is visiting.

Generally speaking, Byelorussians are characterized by an innate respect or other peoples, and tolerance towards those who hold a different opinion. Naturally, there are deplorable exceptions but these are just exceptions, and nothing else.