Open Belarus. Open soul

Housewives must decorate the house and prepare festive dishes, initially lenten, because fasting lasts until Christmas night. Youth is preparing for the festivities: they make masks and costumes, learn Christmas songs and ancient carols. Cities hold Christmas fairs and festivals with concerts, contests and performances. On Christmas Day, festive services and liturgies are held in the temples. In the Catholic church it takes place on December 25, and in Orthodox churches on January 7. After visiting the church, people continue to celebrate at home and set the table. On the tablecloth or under it they put hay, as a symbol of the fact that Jesus was born in the manger, on the table should be a candle symbolizing the Star of Bethlehem. Traditionally there was a Kutya ( Belarusian dish of rice, honey and fruits) dish on the table.

1) Draniki - the most popular and famous dish in Belarus. These are kind of small fried pancakes made grated potatoes. The recipe is quite simple, you just need to grate potatoes, add eggs, salt and flour. You can also add onions to make pancakes more crunchy. Draniki are fried  to  golden brown and served with butter, herbs, mushrooms and sour cream. 2) Cutlets «The Fern Flower» are small soft cutlets made from minced chicken and grated cheese with greens filling. When fried the cheese melts down to produce delicious surprise for the guests. 3) Machanka (the name originated from the verb «to dip into») is a thick meat gravy with different types of pork products: ribs, homemade sausage, l ard and smoked meat; You can wet into it whatever you want, but most often people use pancakes. 4) Kutya - A traditional Christmas treat - very tasty, sweet and melting in your mouth kind of dish. For the preparation of this dish people use rice, raisins, honey and dried...