107/365: Palm Sunday in Lipnica Murowana

107/365: Palm Sunday in Lipnica Murowana, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

Remember how last Saturday I posted really quickly and didn't write much? It was because I was at my grandparents' place, with only cell-phone internet, and the visit was a stop on the way South to a little mountain village called Lipnica Murowana.

What's so great about Lipnica Murowana, you ask?

Well, every year, on Palm Sunday, they make these:

See, we don't have palm trees in Poland, so for Palm Sunday we have to improvise.

The palms are yet another tradition borrowed from pagan culture (and Lipnica even has a church built in the 12th century in a pagan Holy Grove, with the altar set on a pillar carved with a pagan god's likeness...serious history there:

...and of course that means it's colourful, joyful, and very creative.

But the very special thing about Lipnica Murowana is that the village holds a yearly contest for the tallest handmade 'palm'. And it gets VERY competitive.

Above, the second-tallest palm is raised, with great care and caution. Because there are rules that make this contest exciting. No nails or other metal elements can be used in making the palms- only wood, willow, reeds, green branches and paper flowers are allowed.

Wires, ropes and lines from synthetic materials are also forbidden. In order to qualify in the contest, the palm has to stand upright without breaking, it has to be raised with no help from machines (hence the men in the trees guiding the lines, and those on the ground, pushing with special long forks), and the author must be able to wrap his hands around the trunk.

The palm in the photo above is the first prize winner, at 36.4 metres- that's almost 120 feet! I heard someone say the whole thing weighed about 600 lbs. It took about a dozen men half an hour to get it upright.

Here are some of the shorter palms, arranged around the statue of St. Szymon:

And this is me with the palms I bought. They were made by local schoolchildren:

...and Marta who went with me, chasing off a bee:

Here's the whole set on flickr. I took tons of photos. :

Palm Sunday in Lipnica Murowana

80/365: The Marzanna

80/365: The Marzanna, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

March 21st

About to be burned and drowned in the Ner river. Goodbye, Winter!

Marzanna is the ancient pagan Slavic goddess of Winter. On the vernal equinox, we make an effigy of her, set it on fire and then drown it in the river so that Spring will come.

Although Christianity in Poland has worked hard to assimilate and conceal the multitude of wonderful pagan traditions within its Catholic celebrations, the drowning of the Marzanna persists despite many attempts to eradicate it. In fact it's traditional for pre-school children to make the effigy in class and then have a little field trip to drown her. The burning of Judas which was meant to replace it somehow never really caught on...and I am glad. Marzanna must die as the Winter cedes to Spring, but she will return next season to live again. Her burning is a symbol of the natural order, while tormenting a straw effigy of Judas only serves to translate guilt into angry righteousness.

I suppose the Church has to be content with the fact that we no longer greet Jaryła, the god of Spring, with dances and orgies...

So. I haven't done this in a while, for lack of good company, but this year I found two friends who thought it was a great idea. We made our Marzanna from wood, rags and hay, so she should decompose well. The Ner river is pretty dirty already, but there was no need to contribute to the pollution.