20 Roubles Kalyady

Kalyady is the Belarusian name for the winter solstice festival predating Christian influence in the region, later syncretized with Christmas under Soviet-era suppression and revived as a distinct cultural marker after independence in 1991. Belarus launched its folklore and traditions commemorative series in the early 2000s partly as a deliberate state project to reassert a pre-Soviet national identity through numismatic means. The oxidized finish is intentional — it reinforces the archaic aesthetic the series pursues across its issues.