Interference of politics in celebrating "dożynki" : the festival of harvest in Poland in 1950s
author:
Gierek Bożena
editor:
Barna Gábor, Povedák István
book title:
Politics, feasts, festivals : yearbook of the SIEF Working Group on the Ritual Year
date of publication
:
2014
place of publication : name of publisher:
Szeged : University of Szeged. Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology
pages:
171-192
ISBN:
978-963-306-254-8
series:
Szegedi Vallási Néprajzi Könyvtár, ISSN 1419-1288; 36
A Vallási Kultúrakutatás Könyvei, ISSN 2064-4825; 4
The Yearbook of the SIEF Working Group on The Ritual Year, ISSN 2228-1347; 9
language:
English
book language:
English
abstract in English:
Dożynki, the harvest festival, is celebrated throughout Poland when all crops are taken from the field, usually at the end of August or the beginning of September. In Poland this celebration is linked to the Catholic Church nowadays, but it was not always like this, at least not on every level of social life. In this article I concentrate on the period of the strong communist government, the 1950s. Analyzing articles published in 1950-1959, mostly in the nationwide daily newspaper Trybuna Ludu ("Tribune of Folk") I present the way the Polish communist government adjusted the festival of dożynki to the new reality. By giving detailed descriptions of preparations and especially the rituals performed during the festival, as displayed in the articles in Trybuna Ludu, I show what kind of politics, and to what extent, influenced the celebration of dożynki at those times.