1 Rouble Kalyady

Kalyady is the Belarusian name for the winter solstice festival predating Christianity in the region, later syncretized with Orthodox Christmas observances. The National Bank of Belarus launched an extensive series of collector roubles in the early 2000s documenting traditional folk calendar holidays — Kalyady among the first — as part of a broader state effort to rehabilitate Belarusian cultural identity following decades of Soviet suppression of national traditions. The oxidized copper-nickel finish was a deliberate production choice across the series, lending an antiqued appearance without the cost of precious metal.