In anticipation of most loved holidays: Christmas fairs, New Year lights and decorations are springing up across Belarus

The first December days brought truly winter-like weather. Snow-covered streets and frosty morning air heralded the coming of much-anticipated and most loved holidays of the year!

This means that everything around is enveloped in an atmosphere of magic. City streets and malls please the eye with their festive decorations, Christmas markets are opened, and on 2 December a New Year tree was mounted in the very heart of Minsk - on Oktyabrskaya Square. The New Year tree is 33 meters high, and its fluffy branches are decorated with 4,500 glitter balls and more than a kilometer of garlands, which will soon shine in the evening.

One of Minsk’s shopping centers surprised its visitors by recreating a piece of Belovezhskaya Pushcha, Europe’s oldest forest, under its roof. The snow cover under your feet, the soaring fir trees above your head and, of course, the forest animals and the famous bison… The exposition has turned out really magical! Meanwhile, everything is ready for New Year in the pushcha itself, the place of residence of the country’s Father Frost. The other day the Snow Maiden hosted a ceremony of lighting up the festive lights. On the way to the ancient forest, it is worth dropping by the Christmas fair in Brest and having a cup of tea from the country’s largest samovar.

Scroll down our report to see how Belarus is gearing up for the New Year and Christmas and get into the holiday mood.