My Belarusy - Anthem of The Republic of Belarus

Anthem of The Republic of Belarus

The only legal mention of the national anthem before 2002 is in the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus. Section One, Article 19 of the constitution states that "The symbols of the Republic of Belarus as a sovereign state shall be its national flag, national emblem and national anthem." While the constitution only mentioned the use of the flag, anthem and arms as national symbols, each symbol had to be defined by law. A law introducing an anthem was not enacted until Presidential Decree 350 took effect, on July 18, 2002, the day before Belarus's independence day. The decree's main objective was to establish lyrics for the anthem and introduce musical notation along with the new lyrics. Moreover, the decree designated when, where, and how the anthem was to be performed.

Before issuing the decree, President Alexander Lukashenko listened to five possible candidates for the national anthem. Three out of the five candidates, including the one ultimately chosen, used the music composed by Sakalouski and began their lyrics with the line My Belarusy. According to the newspaper Soviet Byelorussia, President Lukashenko decided on the anthem on June 12, 2002 and chose to have its first performance on July 3, Belarusian independence day, the anniversary of the date in 1944 when the Wehrmacht was driven away from Minsk by the Red Army. However, the first performance actually took place on July 2 at a concert organized by the government as part of the Belarusian independence festivities.

Belarus did not have an anthem before one was adopted in the Soviet-era. When Lukashenko issued his decree selecting a new national anthem, only slight changes were made to the Soviet-era hymn. While the references to Russia, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Vladimir Lenin were replaced; the overall theme of "friendship of peoples" and the original music composed by Sakalouski were preserved. The government decided to keep Sakalouski's music in order to maintain historical continuity, and also on account of its popularity and musical quality After the national anthem was adopted, the process of adopting national symbols was completed.