Ekaterina Panchenya, 75, works on embroidery at her home in the village of Pogost, Belarus. "I do everything myself: feed the animals in the barn, the chickens in the yard, and I pickle and preserve all the vegetables. The river is nearby, the forest, mushrooms and berries in the summer. No, I'll never in my life move to town," she said. Panchenya is also skilled in local folk traditions such as floral embroidery, a cappella choral singing and ancient pagan ceremonies, which survived the ideological white-washing of the Soviet era. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Boys play in the river of Stviga on a hot summer day near the village of Pogost, Belarus. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Bride Tatyana Pashkovets stands at her home before her wedding ceremony in the village of David-Gorodok. Tatyana is waiting for the groom Alexander, with whom they will hold a wedding celebration in accordance with the traditions that have developed in this village - to walk through the village to the registry office, then to the church and back home. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Yulia Panchenya, 82, makes Easter cakes on the eve of Orthodox Easter in the village of Pogost. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Valentina Zhih, 77, hangs linen on the washing line at her house in the village of Danilovichi. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Villagers buy food at a local grocery store in the village of Pogost. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Oleg (L), Lada and Ulyana Skidan sit at their home before Oleg goes to classes on the first day of school in the village of Khrapkovo. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Pupils holding flowers walk to school on the first day of school in the village of Khrapkovo. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Vladimir Krivenchik, 41, and Nikolay Skidan slaughter a pig at their house in the village of Khrapkovo. "We're far from civilisation - and that's a good thing. I feel comfortable here," said Krivenchik, who is raising a young family in his native village of Khrapkovo, close to Belarus's southern border with Ukraine. "We survive thanks to this scrap of land. You go to Minsk for half a day and your head starts to hurt and you want to go home." Krivenchik supplements his income as a watchman at a granary by raising pigs for slaughter and hunting. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Weaving threads are seen in the house of 75-year-old Ekaterina Panchenya in the village of Pogost. "I do everything myself: feed the animals in the barn, the chickens in the yard, and I pickle and preserve all the vegetables. The river is nearby, the forest, mushrooms and berries in the summer. No, I'll never in my life move to town," she said. Panchenya is also skilled in local folk traditions such as floral embroidery, a cappella choral singing and ancient pagan ceremonies, which survived the ideological white-washing of the Soviet era. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Vladimir Krivenchik, 65, sows barley on a field in the village of Khrapkovo. Krivenchik is one of the few villagers who retained the skill of sowing by hand, when each stroke of the hand is coordinated with a certain step size. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Vladimir Krivenchik, 41, his wife Nina Skidan and his daughters are seen at their kitchen in the village of Khrapkovo. "We're far from civilisation - and that's a good thing. I feel comfortable here," said Krivenchik, who is raising a young family in his native village of Khrapkovo, close to Belarus's southern border with Ukraine. "We survive thanks to this scrap of land. You go to Minsk for half a day and your head starts to hurt and you want to go home." Krivenchik supplements his income as a watchman at a granary by raising pigs for slaughter and hunting. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

People take part in a May-time ritual in honour of the pagan god Yurya when villagers don national dress and make offerings out of colourful ribbons and paper in the hope of plentiful harvests in the future, in the village of Pogost. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Ekaterina Panchenya, 75, works on an old loom in her house in the village of Pogost. "I do everything myself: feed the animals in the barn, the chickens in the yard, and I pickle and preserve all the vegetables. The river is nearby, the forest, mushrooms and berries in the summer. No, I'll never in my life move to town," she said. Panchenya is also skilled in local folk traditions such as floral embroidery, a cappella choral singing and ancient pagan ceremonies, which survived the ideological white-washing of the Soviet era. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

People gather before a wedding ceremony in the village of David-Gorodok. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Women dance during a wedding party in the village of David-Gorodok. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Painting are seen over washbasins outside school cafeteria in the village of Sudkovo. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

An Orthodox priest conducts a wedding ceremony in the village of David-Gorodok. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

A boy waits at a bus stop in the village of Khrapkovo. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

An Orthodox priest conducts a wedding ceremony in the village of David-Gorodok. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Ekaterina Panchenya, 75, walks in the snow to her neighbour's house, in the village of Pogost. "I do everything myself: feed the animals in the barn, the chickens in the yard, and I pickle and preserve all the vegetables. The river is nearby, the forest, mushrooms and berries in the summer. No, I'll never in my life move to town," she said. Panchenya is also skilled in local folk traditions such as floral embroidery, a cappella choral singing and ancient pagan ceremonies, which survived the ideological white-washing of the Soviet era. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Pupils sit in class on the first day of school in the village of Sudkovo. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Children play in the village of Khrapkovo, Belarus. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

An Orthodox church is seen at night in the village of Khrapkovo. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Ekaterina, a granddaughter of 75-year old Ekaterina Panchenya, bathes her daughter Dasha in a basin on a hot summer day in the village of Pogost. For Ekaterina Panchenya, it was "cars, noise and dirt" and the sight of city-dwellers standing in line to buy groceries that dissuaded her from leaving her smallholding in the village of Pogost. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Anna Krivenchik, 71, sorts out potatoes before planting in the village of Kharkovo. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Ekaterina Panchenya, 75, visits her relatives' graves during Orthodox Easter in the village of Pogost. "I do everything myself: feed the animals in the barn, the chickens in the yard, and I pickle and preserve all the vegetables. The river is nearby, the forest, mushrooms and berries in the summer. No, I'll never in my life move to town," she said. Panchenya is also skilled in local folk traditions such as floral embroidery, a cappella choral singing and ancient pagan ceremonies, which survived the ideological white-washing of the Soviet era. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Mikhail, a grandson of 75-year-old Ekaterina Panchenya, fishes in the river of Stviga near the village of Pogost. For Ekaterina Panchenya, it was "cars, noise and dirt" and the sight of city-dwellers standing in line to buy groceries that dissuaded her from leaving her smallholding in the village of Pogost. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

A street nameplate is seen on a wall of an old house in the village of Pogost. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

An icon is seen in a house of 82-year-old Yulia Panchenya in the village of Pogost. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Women gather for a May-time ritual in honour of the pagan god Yurya when villagers don national dress and make offerings out of colourful ribbons and paper in the hope of plentiful harvests in the future, in the village of Pogost. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

People with their Easter cakes and other food gather at an Orthodox church yard on the eve of Orthodox Easter in the village of Turov. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Nikolay Skidan harrows the field after it was sown with barley in the village of Khrapkovo. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Vladimir Krivenchik (C), 65, smokes a cigarette as he takes a break with other villagers at a field in the village of Khrapkovo. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Family photos in wooden frames are seen at a house of 82-year-old Yulia Panchenya in the village of Pogost. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko