About the Day of Belarusian Written Language, which will be held in Ivatsevichi, Brest region, on 1 September 2024

Day of Belarusian Written Language

Day of Belarusian Written Language is an annual holiday that is celebrated on the first Sunday of September.
Following the tradition, Day of Belarusian Written Language is celebrated in the cities which are considered cultural, scientific and literature centers of the country.

Day of Belarusian Written Language was first celebrated in the ancient city of Polotsk in 1994.

Later on, the celebrations were held in the country’s historically significant cultural centers such as Turov, Novogrudok, Nesvizh, Orsha, Pinsk, Zaslavl, Mstislavl, Mir, Kamenets, Postavy, Shklov, Borisov, Smorgon, Khoiniki, Gantsevichi, Glubokoe, Bykhov, Zaslavl, Shchuchin, Rogachev, Ivanovo, Slonim, Belynichi, Kopyl, Dobrush, Gorodok.

Ivatsevichi city in the Minsk region was designated as the capital of this holiday in 2024.

The main idea of the holiday is the careful preservation and development of the spiritual heritage of Belarus, promotion of national cultural traditions, showing their relationship with Slavic origins and with the present day, demonstration of the state's constant concern for the spiritual and moral development of society in the context of support for reading, national literature and book publishing.

Every year thousands of guests from all over Belarus and abroad gather for the holiday.

One of the key events of the Day of Belarusian Written Language is the Republican scientific and educational expedition “The Road to the Holy Places with the Holy Fire from the Holy Sepulchre”. The expedition passes through the cities and villages of several regions of the country and finishes its work in the capital of the holiday.

The festival program includes an international round table with the participation of foreign writers, the final of the Republican contest of young readers “Living classics”, a scientific and practical conference dedicated to the history of the city which is the capital of the holiday, entertaining quizzes, quests, and a Festival of books and press.

In addition, at various city sites, the visitors and participants of the Day of Belarusian Written Language will see expositions of museums and libraries, masters of folk art, artists, etc.
On the opening day of the festival, the “National literary award” ceremony will be held on the main stage.

ABOUT IVATSEVICHI DISTRICT

Administrative division
Administratively, the district is divided into 1 city and 10 rural councils. The district includes 107 rural settlements, the urban settlement of Telekhany, the cities of Ivatsevichi and Kossovo.
In accordance with the State Program for Rural Revival and Development for 2005-2010. 15 rural settlements of the region have been developed into agricultural towns.

Geography
The city of Ivatsevichi is located on the right bank of the Grivda River, 136 km northeast of Brest and 206 km from Minsk. Ivatsevichi district is one of the largest districts of the Brest region. Its area is 2998 sq. km or 9% of the region's territory. The length of the region's borders exceeds 250 kilometers. It has a length from west to east of 83 km, and from north to south — 66 km.

Ivatsevichi district borders in the west with the Berezovsky district, in the southwest — with Ivanovsky, in the south — with Pinsk, in the east — with Baranovichi, Lyakhovichi and Gantsevichi districts, in the north — with Slonim district of the Grodno region and in the north-west — with Pruzhansky area.

The northern part of the region is occupied by the slopes of the Slonim Upland, the northeastern part by the Baranovichi Plain, and the southern part by Pripyat Polesie. The predominant heights are 150-170 m above sea level, maximum — 203 m (near the village of Zhemoydaki), minimum — 141 m (water edge of Lake Goshcha). Minerals: peat, clay, chalk, construction sands, sapropel reserves.

The district is dominated by peat-bog and bog soils, occupying 52% of the total land use area, 45.8% of the district's territory is forests. The district's forests are predominantly mixed, occupying an area of 148.6 thousand hectares or 49.6% of the district's area. 55 thousand hectares have been reclaimed.

On the territory of the Ivatsevichi district there are 8 ponds, 5 reservoirs and 10 lakes with a total area of 4608 hectares, the Oginsky Canal, 12 medium and small rivers flow, the total length of which within the district is more than 248 kilometers. In the northeast of the region flows the Shchara River with its tributaries Myshanka and Grivda, in the southwest — the Zhigulyanka River (a tributary of the Yaselda). The largest lakes are Vygonoshchanskoye and Bobrovichskoye.

Lake Bobrovichi is located 40 km from the city of Ivatsevichi, near the village of Bobrovichi. Area 9.47 sq. km, length 4.9 km.

Lake Vygonoshchanskoe is the largest lake in the Brest region. Located 17 km north of the town of Telekhany on the watershed of the Shchara and Yaselda rivers, on the territory of the branch of the State Public Institution “Belovezhskaya Pushcha”, the Vygonoshchanskoye forestry and hunting estate. Located at an altitude of 153.1 m above sea level. Area 26 sq. km. Length 7 km, maximum width 4.8 km, maximum depth 2.3 m, average 1.2 m, coastline length 21 km. The drainage area is 87.1 km2. This is the third largest natural reservoir in Polesie, second in size only to Lake Chyrvonoye and Lake Svityazskoye (Ukraine). The lake lies in the natural watershed of the Shchara and Yaselda rivers, so it is not surprising that it was used to create a waterway from the Pripyat basin to the Neman basin. The Oginsky Canal passed through it, connecting the rivers Shchara and Yaselda.

Lake Sominskoye is located in the basin of the Oginsky Canal. Area 0.41 sq. km. Depth 33.5 m. This is the deepest lake in the Brest region. Length 900 m, width — 650 m. The bottom is sandy to a depth of 10 meters.

The Oginsky Canal has become a brand of the Ivatsevichi district. This is the oldest Belarusian channel. Built in 1767-1783 on the initiative and at the expense of M.K. Oginsky, it connected the Black and Baltic seas through a system of rivers and lakes. Length 54 km including Vygonoshchanskoye and Vulkovskoye lakes. Most of the canal is located within the Ivatsevichi district. This canal was navigable throughout the 19th and 20th centuries until the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. One lock has been preserved at the confluence of the Shchara River canal. Part of the canal from Lake Vygonoshchanskoye to the village of Vygonoshchi has been reconstructed — 5 km. On the bank of the canal there is a comfortable hunter's house with 14 beds.

The largest swamp in Belarus, Vygonoshchanskoye, is located on the territory of the region. Almost the entire northern half of the drainage area is occupied by the vast Pahonia swamp, extending to the southwestern tip of Lake Vygonoshchanskoye. The watershed between lakes Bobrovichskoye and Vygonoshchanskoye passes through this swamp. It is covered with a network of reclamation canals that drain into both lakes. In the northern part of Berezov Bay, the Ninth Canal originates, through which Bobrovichskoye is connected to Grivda.

The majority (more than 70%) of the landscape reserve of republican significance “Vygonoshchanskoe” is located on the territory of the district. This reserve is the largest (area 43 thousand hectares) among the hydrological specially protected natural areas of the country. It was created in 1968 with the aim of preserving the largest swamp massif in Europe on the watershed strip of the rivers of the Black Sea and Baltic basins and is the largest continuous massif of undisturbed swamps in Belarus.

There are 3 botanical natural monuments of republican significance in the area: plantations of Karelian birch in the Ivatsevichi and Telekhansky forestry enterprises, and Chistaya oak grove in the Ivatsevichisky forestry enterprise. 23 species of plants are listed in the Red Book of Belarus (including the common centipede, tuberous cathode, reviving moonflower, blueberry willow, flax-leaved rank, common ivy, scepter-shaped myringue, Sarmatian censer, broad-leaved bellflower, steppe aster, small caulinia, large naiad, curly lily, bear's onion, lady's slipper, green-flowered lily) and 39 species of animals (including pond bat, lesser noctule, speckled ground squirrel.

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