Voditsa-tsarina, helper of the whole world: Belarusian prayers with recitation into Russian and translation into English

The publication includes texts of incantations – a distinctive and still living genre of Belarusian folklore. The vast majority of them are published for the first time. The reader is introduced to a rich world of traditional beliefs with its dense and organic intertwining of archaic mythological and Christian currents, as well as everyday human life, where people seek salvation from misfortunes and illnesses. These exceptionally vivid, poetic, and even entertaining texts were attributed with special power. The translation into English and the retelling of the plot in Russian expands the readership. The texts are illustrated with a distinctive type of Belarusian folk art – vytynanki (paper cuttings). The book is accompanied by audio or video recordings of individual texts, made by the compiler in various regions of Belarus and posted on a YouTube channel.