That is why the Belarusians used to cover every thing inside the house: buckets, barrels, all sorts of cookware, etc. Of course, it was strongly believed that the house itself ought to be “covered”: if someone covered a house with a roof, his accommodation was ready for living in. It’s not surprising the villagers took much care about endurance of the roof. Some Belarusian prejudices were connected with this matter. People believed that the roof of a house couldn’t be made of the straw beveled on Boris and Gleb’s Day (6th August). Otherwise, the straw roof might be blown away by strong winds or might be burned by a lightning. There were special rituals to protect the roof from such disasters. For example, on [Pakrovy] (14th October) people used to cook a so called ‘holly pie’. This pie was later attached to the roof of the house and to all the outbuildings in order to protect them from damaging by strong winds that usually occurred after this holiday.

According to the believes of Belarusian people, exactly the attic, the ‘heaven sphere’ of the house above the ceiling, was considered  a shelter for the souls of dead ancestries. Some Belarusian rituals pointed to this fact as they presented the ceiling of the house as one of the ritual objects. For example, in order to cure an ill person among the residents of the house, a sorceress knocked at the ceiling with a broom to call for help one of the souls that was regarded as the defender of the family. Another example is the rite of cooking the wedding round loaf – [karavai]: after kneading the dough for the loaf a triple knock at the ceiling was done to call the dead ancestries’ souls for help. The same action was done before taking the wedding [karavai] out of the stove. Besides, during the engagement party the drops of ‘garelka’ left in the glass were splashed out up to the ceiling to treat the souls of dead ancestries. By the way, till the beginning of the XX century the Belarusians didn’t settle in the attics and didn’t make mezzanines there (although they were made in Russia at those times). This fact is another evidence of ancient belief in a special role of the attic in lives of Belarusian people.

In past times the Belarusians as well believed that under the roof, in the attic a good spirit called ‘damavik’ might be living. People said everyone even  could see that spirit  during Ester week if they did some special rites. For that, on Clean Thursday [Chisty Chatsver] a person should go to the church and light a candle during the evening service. Then come back home with the lightened candle, go upstairs to the attic holding the candle in front of him. If all this done correctly, then this person could see ‘damavic’ in the image of a naked man. His naked body must be covered with any shirt and as a result of his gratitude ‘damavic’ would fulfill the cherished desire.

People believed that the attic could be the living space for another very good spirit which name was Khoot. This spirit supplied home owners with different wealth: gold, wheat, etc. But to please Khoot people had to feed it well, especially with omelette that Khoot liked most of all. The mistress of the house used to bring the dishes to the attic and cried: “ Khoot, Khoot, come here, I’ll give you some omelette!” After the treats the good spirit was ready to please its master.

Some special rituals dedicated to the roof and to the abnormal residents living in the attic were hold by the Belarusians on certain religious holidays. Thus, on Clean Thursday Eve people used to put a loaf of bread, some salt and a piece of soap under the roof. They thought all these things could absorb some  magic from good spirits living in the attic and used them after that in many folk rituals. On the next day (Clean Thursday) people washed with the ‘magic’ soap in the bathhouse in order to improve their health for the whole year. Bread was hidden carefully and taken out only at Yuri’s Day to accompany the cattle in their first day in the fields. People thought it would improve the cattle health and protect it from predators and dashing forces. ‘Magic’ salt was used as a cure for evil eyes.

Moreover, the Belarusians used in some rituals of fortune-telling the straw the roof of the house was made of. For instance, on Christmas or on [Shchodry Vechar] (Generous Evening) young girls used to pull a straw from the roof with teeth. Then they predicted the nearest future according to the length of the straw: 1) the girl who had pulled the longest straw was going to get married first of the girls; 2) the girl whose straw had the ear with grains was achieved to get married to a rich man, while the ear without grains meant the opposite – a poor man; 3) if the straw had no ear at all that meant that the girl would become a spinster or get married to a widower. Another sort of fortune-telling was done by the Belarusians on Foma’s Sunday (the first Sunday after Easter): people threw the Easter egg over the roof of the house. If the egg broke into pieces the death of one of the house residents was achieved that year.

The roof and the floor are the opposite boundaries of the human house. They outline the house at upper and lower levels. In past times Belarusian villagers used to make roofs of the straw almost everywhere. As a rule the straw was laid on the roof in the form of an uncool or tied sheaf.  [Vilchak] - the junction of two roof slopes – was usually poured with loam and jammed with special construction of poles called [kozly] (sawhorse). A well done straw roof had to survive for at least sixty years.