The appearance of the spring Koledari, although repeated each year, causes anxiety and chaos. Instead of well-known faces, there are masks or at least soot. The disguise sometimes covers the entire figure as was the case for the straw couple of ‘dziady śmigustne’ from Dobre. In place of familiar gestures, there is chaotic rough and tumble. And, quite often, there is shouting, gibberish and murmuring in place of speech. What is known and doubtless gets to be questioned. Seriousness gets mixed with ridicule, wisdom with stupidity, life with death. The established rules are suspended. And, thanks to such a disclosure of the ambiguity of the world, it is possible to transform it. There is an insistent accompaniment of wooden knockers and clatters used by unusual guests. The success of the meeting gets confirmed with the exchange of gifts: in return for eggs or other goods, out-of-this-world guests make ritual gestures and utter greetings. With them, an auspicious future is named and guaranteed.
Spring Koledari, Ethnographic Museum
Beacon