Bouncing around Poland, Lithuania and now Lviv of Ukraine, I’ve increasingly reflected on Identity. Being of Belorussian origin, I’ve always identified, to whatever extent possible (that extent at major stakes with my other identities), more with this Balto-Slavic region than Russia, despite a lifetime of speaking the imperial language.
Belarus .. Baltic? «Are you on illicit substances?», you must invariably ask?
‘Tis true, Belarus is an irredeemably landlocked plot of land. But the Lithuanian coined a term for the Belorussian. And that term is baltarusių (or baltarusiškas).
And however unprecedented, I’ve come to even imagine a trace of a barbarian connotation to an ethnic Belorussian in the Lithuanian territory for the centuries of close intermingling. Thus the land sits close enough to the Baltic for me to at least aspire to pseudo-Baltic.
Perhaps at a subconscious level, the sentiment grows out of the state of Russian-Ukrainian war. Russia, be it the Soviet or imperial, has likewise exerted heavy influence over this whole Baltic region as far as eastern Poland.
At that same (subconscious) level for which I desperately yearn to disavow all responsibility, my recent encounters with the Belorussian migrants in Poland and (predominantly) Lithuania have not passed devoid of certain sympathy.
And all considered, I exercise the Russian language and thus almost unceremoniously engage both the nationalist Ukrainians and Belorussians (the nationalist populace more likely to speak the indigenous language).
The far greater portion of my most adored Russian-speaking authors are Russian; Isaac Babel and Nikolai Gogol of notable exception. The same dichotomy applies to the composers and, I suspect, the fine artists. (Completely ignorant of popular music to make an inference.)
A severe majority of my present and past Russian speaking friends, acquaintances, associates are of Belarus and Ukraine. Which is surprising, since I’ve mostly interacted with the diaspora, and mostly in the States which equally well represents all said nations.
All my grandparents originate from Belarus and Ukraine, if not some formerly Polish territory. My parents often took me to the various Latvian/Lithuanian resorts as a child. I’ve virtually never visited Russia.
In spite of my ignorance, later life brought intel that modern Belarus pertained to the Duchy of Lithuania and the subsequent Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth (prior to the Russian empire) over many centuries. Should that not amplify the sense of solidarity? Wish I had an answer.
I get along perfectly well with ethnic Russians. And need not mention every extent to which the underlying (Russian) culture has imparted a substantial footprint on the Balto-Slavic piece of the potato pancake. It’s no wonder we encounter Kvas kiosks as far as both Lithuania and Ukraine.
But I still easier associate with the Polish-Belorussian-Lithuanian bard Mickiewicz (whose statue we even find here in Lviv) rather than Pushkin - whose verse I’ve otherwise read more than all other Russian and Balto-Slavic poets lumped together.
What do I know. This entire superficial stream of thought might result altogether ephemeral.
Questions, comments? Connect.