Sedia gestatoria an elaborate variation on the sedan chair. Two large fans ("flabella") made of white ostrich feathers —a relic of the ancient liturgical use of the "flabellum", mentioned in the "Constitutiones Apostolicae"— were carried at either side of the "sedia gestatoria". The ceremonial throne was mainly used to carry popes to and from papal ceremonies in the Basilica of St. John Lateran and St. Peter's Basilica. The "sedia" was used as part of papal ceremony for nearly a millennium. Its origins are sometimes thought to date back to the Byzantine Empire where Byzantine emperors were carried along in a similar manner,
Religion in Belarus Jewish organizations active in Belarus, half of which were country-wide. Muslims in Belarus are represented by small communities of ethnic Tatars. All of them are followers of Sunni Islam. Some of these Tatars are descendants of emigrants and prisoners of war who settled in Belarus, from the Volga Region, after the 11th century. In 1997 there were 23 Muslim communities, including 19 of those in the Western regions of Belarus. Paganism in Belarus is mostly represented by Rodnovery, the Slavic neopaganism. Uladzimir Sacevič is a Rodnover leader. Religion in Belarus Religion in Belarus has been traditionally Orthodox Christianity although there