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Ethnography
Living in the constantly changing world of today, we are struggling to maintain the culture and traditions that came from the wisdom and knowledge of our ancestors. Fortunately for Poland and the Malopolska Region, there are many places here where customs and habits of the past are still being practiced. On Palm Sunday (one week before Easter) a Palms Contest takes place in Lipnica Murowana where competitors display hand-made palms that can reach as high as 30 meters. Additionally, there is a "painted village" in Zalipie, a place to see traditional bread baking in Jastrzebia, and an exhibition of Gypsy culture and history in Tarnow.
Zalipie - Northwest of Tarnow, where the Dunajec and the Vistula rivers meet, resides one of the most interesting ethnographic microregions in Poland with the village of Zalipie at its center. Its fame has resulted from a region specific tradition that involves the painting of cottages. This custom of decorating both the exterior and the interior of houses originated at the end of the 19th century when old-fashioned furnaces were replaced with new furnaces with chimnies. In order to cover blackened walls, women and girls tried to brighten the interior of their dwellings by decorating the walls with brightly colored spots made of lime. Later these round spots were shaped into simple flowers and finally they evolved into the detailed flower bouquets still visible today.
Using flower compostions, the women put special emphasis on decorating the wide stoves. Also, they painted flower garlands under pictures and around windows and doors. At a later period they began to paint the exterior of their homes. Initially, the ornamentation was predominantly geometric with dots, curves, circles, zig-zags, and wavy lines etc. and the materials used were simply those that were most available like brown clay, soot, and lime. As an adhesive they used milk, sugar and egg whites or dumpling stock. Women painted with brushes composed of horse hair, leather, or human hair; some of these types of brushes were still used up until a several years ago.
This artform was not recognized until the year 1905 when a clerk from Krakow, Wladyslaw Hickel, was intrigued by the one-of-a-kind Zalipian cottages and became the first journalist to publish an article about them in "Lud," an ethnographic periodical. In the period before WWII ethnographic interest in the phenomenon caused the creation of the Zalipian display in the Ethnographic Museum in Krakow. After the war this form of folk art started to disappear, until through efforts of ethnographers it was reborn.
Contests in house-painting started in 1948 and occurred every few years until 1965 when it became an annual event. In addition to Zalipie, these special cottages can be found in a number of surrounding villages. Even so, Zalipie remains the most popular as a result of the incredible talent of a local painter, Felicja Curylo (1904-1974). Even today Zalipie is the village that maintains the largest amount of painted houses, numbering more than twenty. Single cottages can be found in Cwikow, Klyz, Kuzie, Niwki, Podlipie, and Samocice, however the paintings in these villages are much more simple and archaic than those in Zalipie.
The talents of local artists are not limited to wall paintings alone, as they create embroidered and painted furniture coverings, ornamented table clothes, aprons, china, and glass etc. Souvenirs are available for tourists in the "Dom Malarek" Cultural Centre. Unfortunately, it may be difficult for tourists to find the painted houses because the village is very spread out and the decorated structures are far from the main road. Additionally they are not museums but actual functioning households; the only painted cottage museum being that which was owned by Felicja Curylowa.
Not only homes, this folk art was practiced on the Zalipian church as well. This structure would appear as a common country church except for its exterior, which was decorated by the local women. Also, the local school and other public structures are traditionally painted. In order to celebrate and expand upon this unique folk art, the Tarnow Ethnographic Museum organizes an annual contest called, "The Painted Cottage," which is the best opportunity to see local artists at work. The contest takes place in the spring immediately after Corpus Christi holiday.
The Ethnographic Museum in Tarnow is located in a mansion that dates back to the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. This is the only museum in Europe that maintains a permanent exhibition of Gypsy history and culture.
Lipnica Murowana is a small village with a Medieval urban layout that is famous for its annual Easter Palms contest. The palms can reach as high as 30 meters into the air.
Bobowa is one of the oldest settlements in the Biala River Valley, famous for its rich folklore and extraordinary handicraft. The women of Bobowa practice the art of creating intricate lace designs for centuries; each year on the first week of October the International Lace Festival takes place here. However, no other place in Poland can match the extensive work of the women of Bobowa.
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