REPORT about the birthday of the ancient, but eternally young in soul Polotsk

On a birthday, birthday people always try to surprise guests: they prepare delicious dishes, put the most beautiful dishes on the table, and choose funny contests to entertain an honest company. What should an ancient city do on its anniversary, which is well over a thousand years old, because the old man may not be able to organize such festivities? Yes, but he has so many children, grandchildren, great-great-great-grandchildren that he doesn’t even need to ask for help: they themselves will come and do everything in the best possible way. Craftsmen-culinary specialists will prepare dishes and pickles, craftsmen will put home-made kitchen utensils on the windows of shops and trade stalls, and artists from young to old will arrive for the amusement of the public. So it turns out that the more significant the date, the more assistants the city has. In addition, it is unlikely that anyone will turn their tongues to call Polotsk old and weak, despite the fact that that he was knocked as much as 1160 years! And this is how Polotsk residents and guests from all over Belarus and RUSSIA celebrate these days - from May 27 to May 29 - the round date of the city forever young at heart, BelTA correspondents observed.

"A guest in the hut - pies on the table!" - this is how they meet both relatives and little-known people who dropped in on the holiday to the hero of the occasion. There is no need to talk about what Polotsk tastes like: the city has its own famous brands, especially dairy products. But what did they regale with in the old days and what did the peasants and the nobility spoil the stomach with? On one of the sites, where the team of several schools of the city and the region presented the farmstead of the times of the Hanseatic League (and this one is the 13th century), you could try bread, drinks, pumpkin porridge (a popular dish even among wealthy people at that time) and game prepared according to an old recipe. on coals.

It turns out that in those distant times, homemade MEAT on the dinner table was a luxury even for the nobility. The exception was fish, which was abundant in reservoirs, and therefore it appeared very often in the menu of all classes. Small and large cattle, poultry were kept more for MILK and eggs, for natural replenishment of the economy with calves and chickens, and also as a food safety cushion. Domestic animals were slaughtered in case of exceptional hunger. Almost all the meat that was served in medieval families in the Polotsk region was game. From a successful hunt, black grouse, partridges, woodcocks, hares, roe deer and other prey were brought.

The game was cooked on coals suspended on a spit, which was slowly rotated so that the meat was cooked evenly. Fascinated by archeology, folklore and local history, the history teacher of the Polotov kindergarten - a basic school from the Polotsk region Sergey Kocheryagin (on the anniversary of the city he presented a "medieval" hare roasted on charcoal) said that at one time he collected recipes for ancient dishes from the villages. He was interested in everything - from cutting carcasses to ways to give meat special softness, because usually wild animals are quite sinewy, fried, and after cooking the meat can turn out to be tasty, but tough. It turns out that they didn’t pluck and cut the game immediately, letting it mature. For example, a shot capercaillie was hung by the neck and waited for it to fall. "In French cuisine, for example, there is still a custom to serve pike, to put it mildly, with a smell. It does not sound very pleasant, but the fish cooked in this way is soft, sweet. And most importantly, that there is no food poisoning, I checked it for myself, "the teacher shared.

In medieval taverns, the progenitors of today's public catering, meat was cooked on a spit in large braziers right in front of the visitors: almost like in some modern elite restaurants, with the only difference that today you have to pay extra for such a spectacle. So all the innovations of haute cuisine are well-forgotten times of the ancestors. But back to culinary delights. In the tavern, the visitor could, at his choice, order a shoulder blade, a back, a sirloin of game cooked on charcoal - as they say, whoever had time, he ate the most tasty morsel.

The range of drinks then was also very rich. Braga, mead, sbiten, full - this is only a small part of what gurgled in the circles of the villagers and the nobility. The story of saty is interesting (you need to read it with an emphasis on the last syllable). This is water sweetened with honey, or honey decoction. It was believed that to eat your fill, this is when the meal ended with this drink or a sweet dish prepared on its basis. Syta also belonged to the ritual cuisine, it was "treated" to the souls of the ancestors who had gone to another world. So the habit of many beekeepers to drink water sweetened with honey in the morning to strengthen immunity can be explained by ancient traditions, albeit transformed into a different direction.

So, out of curiosity, being interested in original folk recipes, you plunge headlong into an interesting history lesson from which you don’t want to return. It is not at all difficult to revive the spirit of antiquity in ancient Polotsk, here almost every stone is able to tell about the glorious past that goes back centuries.

At today's city holidays, you rarely come across dishes of medieval cuisine, especially those prepared according to authentic recipes, but on the Polotsk land, "apantans of the region" revive, carefully store and pass on old recipes to the younger generation. And they also say that in the 13th century, Polotsk, located at the intersection of trade routes, attracted merchants from all over the world like a magnet, because you could both sail to the city along the Western Dvina and get along well-worn roads. Spices, precious metals were brought here, and furs, honey, and pottery were taken to distant states.

To this day, Polotsk is famous for its craftsmen who weave, knit, weave from vines and straw, sew from linen fabrics, mold all kinds of clay products that amaze not only with their beauty, but also with the amazing energy invested in them by their creators. It is impossible to imagine an ancient city without creative and creative people.

As a person who is passionate about needlework, I always want to find something like that, individual, not repeated by anyone. I also like products made from natural materials. Fortunately, traditional crafts are well remembered in Polotsk, and therefore here, on the market stalls of folk craftsmen, one can quickly get lost in the choice, because hands are drawn to almost every handicraft.

Local master and craftsman Nina Stadolskaya is already retired. She works with leather, linen, birch bark. Paintings, dolls, amulets, key chains, magnets - each product is unique and made according to the canons. If the coat of arms of Polotsk, then up to the number of masts, the direction of flags and cannon holes on the ship, which flaunts on the main symbol of the ancient city. If a Slavic amulet for a happy and long marriage, then by all means a complete set - a lovebird couple and children for them, all made of linen, and certainly on a red thread, which symbolizes well-being and a reliable roof of a family home. And the bearded little houses always hold a spoon, which, according to the Slavs, the house spirit either knocked on the stove under which he lived, if the owners quarreled, or helped the skillful and kind keeper of the family hearth to cook. In every handicraft of the master - her soul, endless positivity and kindness. Nina Stadolskaya even prepares material for birch bark works herself, and takes it only from fallen trees in the forest, without touching the bark of living growing birch trees. Perhaps that is why the fragile material answers her with gratitude and inspires her to create beautiful paintings worthy of decorating the best houses in London and Paris.

Anyone can find something to their taste by walking along the shopping malls that occupy the entire central alley on Francysk Skaryna Avenue. Here are modern toys, manufactured goods, and exclusive from craftsmen.

No holiday is complete without entertainment. Nobody - from kids to people of golden age - does not bypass interactive sites, because they are fun and you can pick up impressions for the year ahead, and take a lot of memorable selfies. In Polotsk, the largest of them were organized by employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the UGAI. As people say, good toastmasters and their competitions are interesting. And at the same time through the game and a reminder of the rules of safety at home and on the roads.

Concentration of brutality and beauty - this is exactly what you can safely say about local bikers who traditionally take part in any city events. Moreover, masculinity comes in a powerful stream from bearded men in leather jackets, and beauty - from their steel two-wheeled stallions. Boys aged from two to sixty groan with delight when they see cool bikes, and line up - to be photographed on horseback, touch, ask the owners how much the horse consumes gasoline per 100 km and where to walk such a handsome man.

Another point of attraction for representatives of the strong half of the guests of the holiday was the OMON platform. Put on a bulletproof vest, feel the weight of a machine gun in your hands, "mom, take a picture, I'm a fighter" and other male fun. And those who wanted to measure themselves with strength could, in full gear and uniforms, go through a cross-fit organized by rescuers.

For beautiful ladies and their little princesses, the holiday also has a lot of attractive things. Beads, earrings, rings, dresses, blouses, handbags, hats, light scarves - an experienced female look snatches the necessary and desired from the diversity of the malls. Sweets, marshmallows, chocolates, handmade soap, face painting - girls need everything at once. "I want, buy!" - young and adult ladies make cute eyes and assure that they definitely need all this, and swear that they will wear, eat, play. Fortunately, in the city of craftsmen you can find goods of different price factors.

And the kids definitely want to frolic on the rides. Fearless little Polotsk people jump on a bungee, trampolines, ride a carousel and a leisurely train. It is here that Sergei, a resident of Polotsk, with his wife Yulia and son Andryusha, like to come. The railroad worker himself comes from Rosson, moved to the ancient Belarusian city about eight years ago with his wife. His family loves it here. "A quiet and peaceful place, everything around is very cozy, beautiful. And what else could you want? We often go for walks with our family. My favorite place in Polotsk is the city park, where my son is most drawn to because of the rides," Sergey said.

Dance flash mobs, songs, games, folk amusements, street musicians with impressive sonorous voices, reading author's poems in the open air, a solemn march and concert programs - Polotsk on its birthday lives in the rhythm of an almost round-the-clock holiday. The anniversary was a great success!

Alesya PUSHNYAKOVA,

photo by Alexander KHITROV,

BELTA.