Pahonia ()ÃÂ is a Belarusian patriotic song based on the eponymous poem by Maksim BahdanoviÃÂ.
The poem Pahonia by Maksim BahdanoviÃÂ was written in 1916 in Minsk. It was later translated into English by Vera Rich.
During the interwar period, the youth of Western Belarus (at the time part of the Second Polish Republic) sang this poem to the tune of the French Marseillaise.
The music was written by Belarusian composer and immigrant activist Mikalay Shchahlou-Kulikovich, who in the 1950s and 1960s released five musical albums in the United States which included his own compositions, covers of ethnic Belarusian songs, and songs to the works of various Belarusian poets. The song was originally meant to be sung a capella. Mikola Ravienski, and Vladimir Mulyavin also made covers of this song as well as other Belarusian musicians and bands. In the early 1990s, Shchahlou-KulikovichâÂÂs version was considered as one of the options for the national anthem of the Republic of Belarus. In 2020, under the patronage of Anton Miaà ¾a a choral performance of the anthem was recorded with an orchestra accompaniment.
In 2020, the anthem resurged in popularity as one of the symbols of the 2020 Belarusian protests against the Lukashenko regime, along with the white-red-white flag. The anthem was spontaneously performed in several public places: near the Belarusian State Philharmonic, in malls, in the Minsk subway, at the Minsk , and at the Minsk railway station.
The poem âÂÂPahoniaâ was written by Maksim Bahdanoviàin the middle of WWI in 1916 in front-line wartime Minsk. It was first published in the Belarusian newspaper âÂÂâ (âÂÂâÂÂ) on 30 November 1917.
The poem alludes to the history of the mighty medieval state, Grand Duchy of Lithuania (of which Belarus was part), its coat of arms âÂÂPahoniaâ and the Gate of Dawn in Vilnius, which was the capital of that medieval state. Through the image and motif of the ancient Lithuanian Pahonia, the poet considers the contradictory present and the uncertain future of Belarus during World War I. âÂÂThis is a poem-reflection, which is characterised by journalistic elements: the lyrical hero's appeals to âÂÂPahoniaâÂÂ, to Belarus, the Motherland, many interrogative and exclamatory intonations.âÂÂ
When it is performed as an anthem, the last stanza is usually not sung, but the last lines of the second, fourth, and sixth stanza are sung twice.