Background
The region of Spisz
in Poland covers a rather small area
in the borderland
of the
Carpathian
mountains, in the Tatry Range, just
north of Slovakia.
The shepherd tradition is very vibrant here,
where knowledge of this honorable occupation
and its traditions has been passed from
generation to generation. As early as the 15th
century
Wallachian shepherds – a nomadic group
of peoples who moved into the Carpathians from
the south
– arrived in the Carpathians. Their specific
culture has been characterized by seasonal
migrations of herds to mountain pastures
as well as by distinctive customs, costumes
and
vocabulary, the vestiges of which have
survived to our times. The “Bear” dance is
taken from
these shepherd traditions.
The Spisz region has for many hundreds of
years reflected Polish-Hungarian relations.
In the early 15th century the Spisz castle
at Niedzica, only a few miles from Kacwin,
was the designated place where money lent by
the Polish king to the Hungarian king Sigismund
was returned following an agreement signed
in 1412. Once the loan was paid back, the Polish
king returned the 16 Spisz towns given to him
by Sigismund as collateral. For centuries the
castle was a border-post with Hungary. At the
time of the Turkish invasion five hundred years
ago, a deal was struck at Niedzica to make
it a Polish protectorate.
Most of today’s settlements in the Spisz territory
were founded in the 16th and 17th
centuries. In the period 1589-1624 these territories
were hotly contested by Hungarian
magnates
and the landholders of Nowy Targ in Poland.
In the latter part of the 17th century
the Białka river, which runs right through
the
area of Spisz where the village of Jurgów
lies, formed the boundary between Hungary and
Poland.
As a result of territorial division in
the early part of the 20th century most of
the
Spisz towns and villages became (Czecho-)
Slovakian, while fourteen villages, including
Jurgów and
Trybsz, found themselves within Poland's
borders. Within these 14 villages there are
three separate
sub-areas, each with a distinctive dress
and its own particular customs. The music,
typically
expressed in 2/4 time, and traditional
lyrics for songs are known throughout this
area.
The historically strong Austro-Hungarian influence
distinguishes this region in both music and
style of dance. Therefore, the dances of this
area – and as presented by Łowiczanie – are
filled with czardasz melodies directly inherited
from the roots of Hungarian national music
with Slovak influences. These were adapted
by the Spisz peoples of the border areas.
The Polish highland character of the people
is seen not only by their language and overall
customs and practices, but also in their dances
such as the “mazur” for men and boys (as in
a man of the “Mazury region – not the Polish
national dance of the same name) known also
as “niedzwiedz,” or the “Bear.” This dance,
which takes its roots directly from the shepherds,
demonstrates virility and agility (the same
derivation as the men’s dances in Łowiczanie’s
2005 EDF entry: “Żywiec”). All of the music
and dance from Polish Spisz has been stamped
with a specific styling found even on the immediate
Slovak side of the border, and distinctive
from the other ethnographic and/or geographic
close-neighbors: Polish Górale from Podhale,
Tatry Slovakians and the trans-Ruthenian Łemko
peoples.
The Costume
The region is rich in traditional folklore
practices with folklore artists who excel in
painting on glass, wood-carving, and fabrication
of traditional folklore garments including
embroidered woolen pants with elaborate “parzenice”
decorations, leather-crafting of boots, decorative
belts, and hammered metal shirt pins. All the
costumes worn by the Łowiczanie men have been
crafted by artisans in Poland, while those
worn by the women have been created here to
the specifications of Łowiczanie’s Master Choreographer
from Spisz, Maria Pietraszek-Wnęk.
Łowiczanie performs in the authentic costumes
from the Spisz territory where regional traditions
intersect – in Trybsz. There the women may
wear the red dress (it is the ONLY color known
for this costume) associated with the villages
of Jurgów, Czarny Góry, and Rzepiska but favor
a short, puffy-sleeved blouse instead of the
long-sleeved version from Jurgów, while the
men more often use the costume associated not
with Jurgów, but with east-lying Kacwin. In
regard to the costume, the noteworthy points
of intersection are the typical leather moccasins
(Kierpce) which can worn by either or both
men and woman, vs. a choice of distinctive
black boots decorated with red tops – these
derived from the influences of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire, and associated with a person’s greater
financial standing in the community.
In the Jurgów district, men wear a costume
that closely resembles that of the “Górale”
from the close-by Podhale region, including
pants of heavy white wool felt, elaborately
embroidered (the front designs are called “parzenice”)
tight pants, and hand-made hard soled moccasins
(kierpce) with lacing up the lower leg. A mountaineer
hat with flat hard brim and red band trimmed
with small shells is worn on the head.
This costume is different outside of the Jurgów
area, and the men in Łowiczanie display the
version of dress from the Trybsz and Kacwin
areas. There the pants are similar but decorated
with cording designs for the parzenice, the
belt is narrower and black, and black boots
are worn. The man’s vest is a deep leaf-green
color enlivened with embroidery of red and
yellow cross-and-chain-stitch, and sports nearly
75 small buttons. The date of the garment’s
creation (some say of the wearer’s birth) is
embroidered onto the back. The hat from this
part of Spisz has a tall, turned upright brim
– almost resembling a crown – with red dangling
ribbons at the back. A white linen or cotton
shirt, often with a hand-made, incised metal
pin at the chest, is worn. The metal pin, originally
served as a means of "buttoning" the
front of the man’s shirt. The incised symbols
had an early religious significance; a dangling
lower decorative attachment had another use
- as a pipe cleaner.
The Łowiczanie Suite – “Songs
and Dance from the Spisz Region of Poland”
Opening song: (women) “Duje Wiater”
Girls sing of their sadness that they have
almost no expectation of a happy life as
their poverty excluded them from hope of
being joined to their Beloved.
Next songs and dances are “Pogniywol się
Kuba” and “Nie Bedym jo kasy jadła” – girls
dances that are upbeat and joyful.
The men join the stage with a “Klaskamy,”
a traditional form of clapping and body-boot-slapping
derived from Austro-Hungarian influences. The
Spisz melody used is, “Pod Mostym,” a perennial
favorite from throughout the region. Men and
women join together on a czardasz from the
village of Jurgów, and then flow into the circle
dance “Tulalo się Tulalo,” moving from that
into two czardaszes “Młody Pon” and “Pracnom
chopcy.”
Men’s dance “The Bear” (from the shepherd
tradition) follows; the men show off their
prowess, mostly for one another! The final
fast and then faster czardasz “Nie daleko mylan”
finishes the suite of dances from this dynamic
region of southern Poland.
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