Belarus Independence Day is celebrated every year on July 3. The day is a federal holiday in Belarus and commemorates the country’s break away from the Soviet Union. Belarus is just one of two countries to leave the Soviet Union before its collapse.
Belarusians have social events and public activities to celebrate their culture and identity as Belarusians. The day is marked primarily by military parades and ceremonies headed by the President of Belarus. There are several festivities throughout the day, which end with firework displays.
Over several centuries years, Belarus has been controlled by many different powers. The early Slavs who occupied the region were Baltic tribes. Over time, the Balts were absorbed into Slavic culture peacefully.
The vast East Slavic state called Kievan Rus (principally around modern Ukraine) followed. After the Kievan Rus, the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Russian Empire under Catherine the Great captured the Belarusian territories, and the Russian oppressed local culture.
During World War II, the Nazis invaded Belarus and devastated the population. Soon after liberation from the Nazis, Belarus became one of the founding members of the United Nations. Eventually, Belarus declared itself a sovereign state through a Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. Belarus declared its independence from the Soviet Union in August 1991.
Today, Belarus is officially known as the Republic of Belarus. It is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe that used to be a part of the Soviet Union. Today Belarus shares borders with Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia. Before independence in 1991, it was the smallest of the three Slavic republics making up the Soviet Union; the larger two being Ukraine and Russia, its most dominant neighbor. Since independence, Belarus has retained close ties to the latter.