The brain ring "Weddings of the peoples of the World" was held as part of the festival of international students

As part of the festival of international students, the traditional brain ring "Weddings of the Peoples of the World" was held at Brest State A.S.Pushkin University on February 25. It was organized by Associate Professor of the Department of General and Special Pedagogy Maria Stepanovna Kovalevich. The event was attended by Belarusian and Chinese students. He was also joined by Angela Evgenievna Saidzi, director of the Confucius Institute from the Belarusian side, and Yang Yang, a teacher.

The Dean of the Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology, Nadezhda Alexandrovna Leonyuk, greeted the audience. She noted that this event is a unique opportunity to strengthen cooperation between Brest State A.S.Pushkin University and the People's Republic of China.

The presentation message "Weddings of the peoples of the world" was presented by Maria Stepanovna. Maria Stepanovna invited the participants of the event to go on a journey through the wedding ceremonies of European and Asian countries and evaluate folk wedding traditions and customs from the point of view of today and from the perspective of the past.

Special attention was paid to Chinese wedding ceremonies. A wedding in China is an ancient ritual of reuniting the souls of newlyweds in heaven, worshipping all the gods in the spirit of pagan traditions. A wedding in China is a peculiar, colorful spectacle, a sacred sacrament with its own traditions, beliefs and signs. For example, the white color in the newlyweds' outfit symbolizes mourning and unhappiness, while the red color symbolizes a happy family life. The bride price consisted of a certain amount of money, wedding cakes, sweets, wine, chicken, and traditional Dragon and Phoenix tea. The mythical creatures dragon and phoenix represent masculinity and femininity. The engagement of two young people could take place even in the childhood of the future married couple, that is, one or two years before the young people came of age.

Nowadays, marriage in China is not so strict. The modern Chinese wedding has changed a little: in addition to the traditional red color, the newlyweds' outfits and accessories of the celebration feature the white color familiar to Europeans.

Students of the Faculty of Foreign Languages Anastasia Andrusevich, Yulia Lugovskaya and Anastasia Bekenova made an interesting presentation on "Gift giving at Chinese weddings: the oldest tradition." Ksenia Grinkevich, a student at the Faculty of Philology, presented a project on wedding traditions from different countries. Russian Russians were particularly interested in a presentation by Lyudmila Vasilyevna Skibitskaya, head of the Department of Belarusian and Russian Literary Studies and Journalism, dedicated to the traditions of the Russian wedding. In the Russian tradition, a wedding is a transition from one status to another. Russian weddings have always been called sincere and generous. Lyudmila Vasilyevna explained the sacred meaning of wedding ceremonies and listed wedding prohibitions, including matchmaking on Monday, trying on the bride's outfit by someone, and others. The speaker suggested that the participants consolidate their knowledge through a quiz. The peculiarities of the modern Belarusian wedding were studied thanks to the wedding photographs of Darya Mychko, a student of the Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology.

The participants of the brain ring noticed that there are similar features in the wedding ceremonies of different countries, and national elements give the celebrations a special unique flavor. "The revival of the best humanistic traditions of folk pedagogy and their creative use in the practice of education will allow each nation to enrich modern culture and preserve its identity. Without historical memory there are no traditions, without traditions there is no culture, without culture there is no upbringing, without education there is no spirituality, without spirituality there is no personality, and without personality there is no people," Maria Stepanovna summed up the brain ring. As a sign of fruitful cooperation between Belarus and the People's Republic of China, she presented a Belarusian loaf to Angela Evgenievna Saidzi, Director of the Confucius Institute from the Belarusian side.

Maria Stepanovna Kovalevich,
Associate Professor of the Department of General and Special Pedagogy,
and Yulia Vovk