Будзьма беларусамі!

At first, there was nothing; now there’s a lot of everything;
we have to thank God for that,
He created our world in the freestyle genre,
He said, «Budzma” (“So be it!”), and Our Land appeared.
Ichthyosauri and other dragons…
in the beginning, we lived in the ocean,
but then we left the bosom of the sea
and started to be called the Neuri.
From the earliest times,
the Neuri could turn into wolves –
that was a customary thing for them…
Žycień, Piarun, Dažboh, and Svaroh –
our ancestors believed in heathen gods,
but Christianity already knocked on the door.

Let’s know our roots! The Belarusans, the daring people!

In the year 862 of our era,
the city of Połacak was mentioned for the first time.
There, St. Sophia Cathedral was build
(there’re only three such churches in the world).
Local Kniaź Usiasłaŭ Čaradziej
was a cool personage; Listen what I say!
St. Euphrosyne lived in Połacak,
the memory of her is cherished down the ages.
The famous cross was made for her
(it wasn’t just super, it was marvelous),
but during WWII, it was lost,
and now it’s our own grail.

Let’s continue, let’s march ahead.
The time of Grand Duke Mindoŭh came,
and here we must remember that
Belarus was called Lithuania then,
or rather – the Grand Duchy of Lithuania;
its coat of arms was Pahonia (pursuit); it had a formidable army.
Our capital Vilnia was founded by
Grand Duke Hiedymin; the legend says
he had a dream about an iron wolf…
Wikipedia describes this event.

Let’s know our roots! The Belarusans, the daring people!

The year 1362.
The sword is drawn; flags flutter in the wind…
In the Battle of Blue Waters,
our army defeated three khans of the Golden Horde,
and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania suddenly
became the largest country in Europe.

Let’s continue, let’s march ahead.
Vitaŭt reigns in the Grand Duchy.
The Teutonic Order threatens us.
The Battle of Grunwald shows who’s right –
Vitaŭt and Jagiełło, King of Poland,
junked the crusaders like scrap metal.

Francysk Skaryna was a tough guy –
he went to study abroad.
He was the first who printed the Bible
in the Old Belarusan language in Prague.
Our warriors were tough men, too –
they defeated the Moscow Army near Orša
in the year 1514.
In the meantime, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
accepted its constitution –
the Lithuanian Statute.
In the Battle of Kircholm, we defeated the Swedish army,
Apparently, you didn’t know this fact before.

Let’s know our roots!

In the city of Mahiloŭ,
7,000 invaders were killed in the fight.
Who were these invaders? Well, these … from the East –
representatives of the brotherly Russian nation.
They were called Muscovites then.

And there’s already a new state –
the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
For some reason, it irritated all the neighbors.
The three partitions of this Commonwealth,
and we were divided between three states.
The biggest part was occupied by Russia.
It engendered discontent among the nobility,
and Tadevuš Kaściuška appears on the scene.
It’s necessary to remember this name because
he was a great revolutionary –
for liberty, equality and fraternity
he struggled even in the United States,
but the Russian Tsar cast him into prison.

Let’s know our roots! The Belarusans, the daring people!

During Napoleon’s war
the Belarusans fought with the Belarusans,
and in 1863
there was a new rebellion.
Kastuś Kalinoŭski, a patriot of Belarus,
and his peasant soldiers – “kosynierzy” –
struggled for independence,
but he was caught and hanged in Vilnia.

The world enters the 20th century.
It’s necessary to revive our culture!
Bahuševič, Bahdanovič, Kupała and Kołas,
Łastoŭski, Łuckievič… Many people!
Tens and tens of outstanding names…
but the Red Revolution is approaching fast.

Well, in the terror of the Revolution,
a new state with a beautiful name was born –
the Belarusan People’s Republic.
We still celebrate the day it was proclaimed.
But suddenly, out of the blue,
another Republic was installed here –
its name wasn’t romantic at all –
Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.
The 1920s. We remember that time.
Belarusanization is everywhere.
Writers publish their excellent works,
Viciebsk artists create their chefs-d’oeuvre…
This process was stopped
in the year 1937, when
the blood purge began.
After that, one more hell – WWII.
There were invaders, there were partisans,
the country was torn apart again…
The Belarusans fought with the Belarusans again,
shedding each other’s blood.

The war is over! No need to fight!
There’re cosmonauts flying in the sky.
Masherov, it’s time for you to speak!
Pesnyary, it’s time for you to sing!
Boris Kit, make your discoveries for NASA,
and we keep living in our country,
which name now is the Republic of Belarus.
We’ve got our ensign and national emblem,
we sing our songs and read our poems…
the year 1991…

Let’s know our roots! The Belarusans, the daring people!

We stop here, but now it’s your time –
All of you can write your own continuation…

Let’s know our roots! The Belarusans, the daring people!
Let’s know our roots! The Belarusans, the daring people!

Budzma vedac svoj rod! Belaruski narod, shaliony narod!