Holidays in Belarus - Printing Day

Belarus celebrates Press Day on May 5th. This is a holiday for everyone involved in the compilation, design and publication of newspapers and magazines. The date was fixed by Presidential Decree No. 156 of May 2, 1996. Like any other holiday, Printing Day has its own history of creation, and an ambiguous one. There are two versions of what date the holiday is dedicated to. Supporters of the first believe that by the publication of the first issue of Lenin's Pravda on May 5, 1912. Pravda was a daily newspaper for workers published by the Bolsheviks. The initiator of its creation was V.I. Lenin. The appearance of the Bolshevik newspaper is associated with a scandal: the Social Democrats have already used this name for their publication. They tried to seek support from the German socialists, but this did not help them. The Bolsheviks were victorious in this conflict, and their newspaper retained its name. The release of Pravda was associated with many difficulties: it was repeatedly banned, publishers had to change the name. An interesting fact: part of the circulation, which consisted of 40-60 thousand copies, was brought to Russia in barrels of herring. The newspaper still exists. Issued in printed and electronic versions. In Soviet times, Press Day was celebrated on May 5th. Belarus, as part of the former Soviet Union, retained the date of the holiday. Supporters of the second version believe that Printing Day is dedicated to another historical event. On May 5, 1581, the first “Chronology” calendar was released in the printing house of the city of Ostrog (modern Ukraine), founded by Ivan Fedorov. The text listed all the months from September to August (at that time the new year began in the fall), and briefly described the most important events related to them. The document contained short poems by Andrei Rymsha, written in the Old Belarusian dialect. Until this day, neither calendars nor poetic works were printed in Russia, Ukraine, or Belarus, so such an event deserves to be immortalized in history. Press Day is celebrated by employees of newspapers, magazines, publishing houses, and printing houses. On this day, winners of various competitions are awarded, seminars and conferences are held. Currently, more than a thousand periodicals are published in Belarus, whose employees happily celebrate their professional holiday.