Dating back to medieval times, the seasonal rite involved making a Marzanna effigy out of straw and sticks, which was then wrapped in linen and gussied up with ribbons and beads. On the afternoon of March 21st - the first day of spring - young children would play with/torture the idol, gleefully parading it around and dunking it in every trough and water barrel in the village. At dusk the villagers would gather at the riverbank, setting the effigy ablaze and tossing it into the water, cheering as the blazing wench drifted downstream.
before a good ol' burn and drown! Source: NAC |
Source: Institute Ethno/Cultural Anthropology, Adam Mickiewicz Uni |
Satisfied that the witch was vanquished, her saturated corpse would then be retrieved and again paraded back through the village, becoming the focal point of dancing as singing as children even went door to door collecting small donations for their contribution to the public good. Most often associated with the regions of southern Poland - namely Upper Silesia (Śląsk), Małopolska and Podhale, as well as other western Slavic regions like Moravia, Bohemia, Lusatia, Southern Germany and Slovakia, today this tradition still survives, particularly in villages and rural areas.
