Five-day kaleidoscope of national cultures

7 июля 2014

International festival with folk overtones Wreath of Friendship finished in Bobruisk. This year's creative forum set a new geographical record: participants from 18 countries came to Belarus.


Before the forum every participant sent a video with their performance, then there was time for qualifying rounds. As a result, teams from 18 countries are here today, and each of them brought a fragment of their culture to Belarus.


The first wreath of friendship was woven by participants from 14 countries exactly 11 years ago.


National character and identity of each performance were the most important criteria during the competitive selection, which lasted six months. It is not a competition; everyone who came to the multi-day festival is already a winner.


Stig Helemark, head of Folk Dance Group Lund Studenters Folkdanslag, Sweden:


We really like it here, people take photos with us in the street, the atmosphere is lovely and it is very interesting to look at other groups, their costumes and performances.


Thousands of people every day plunge into the atmosphere of folk versatility. And not only in the Bobruisk Arena. A big youth festival and even a DJ battle were held in the city park. Participants of the festival came here to listen to young artists.


The 12th Wreath of Friendship became the champion in its geography. And this is not surprising, because, in fact, there is no rivalry here.


Dmitry Bonohov, chairman of the Bobruisk city executive committee, chairman of the organizing committee, Wreath of Friendship:


This is a wreath of friendship, there are no exact winners, everyone wins here, when giving each other their creativity.


Wreath of Friendship finished by traditional awarding of all participants at a gala concert.