Wood Tar Seller’s Cart with Accessories
Inventory No. MNS KW , EI/
Material: wood, cloth
Dimensions: length
Dating: inter-war period
Place of origin: Łosie near Gorlice (Nowy Sącz Poviat, Małopolska Province) (pow. nowosądecki, woj. małpolskie)
As were most residents of Lemko villages, the Jewusiak family – the last owners of the cottage from Łosie – were engaged in wood tar trading. Wood tar (maź, smoła drzewna) is a product of dry distillation, i.e., the ‘smelting’ of pine chips in an earthen mound. This archaic and primitive method has been known in our lands since the early Middle Ages. The thick tar was smeared on axles of wooden carts and used for wood impregnation. Between the mid-19th century and WWII, Łosie residents became specialists in its production and extensive trade. However, the profitability of the process was determined by the trade in petroleum-derivative products. The people from Łosie sourced petroleum locally. Petroleum springs existed in the so-called Perekopy a meadow in the forest in Równie, next to the road leading to neighbouring Bielanka. In the course of time, the assortment was extended to products from refineries set up in the neighbourhood from the end of the 1880s, among others in Glinik Mariampolski, Gorlice and Ropa. In the 1930s, approx. 300 carts with wood tar would set off from Łosie, a village with approx. 280 households where almost 230 people were engaged in door-to-door sales. The routes of the wood tar sellers from Łosie led to the areas of today's Slovakia and Hungary. The carts were also driven to Ukraine and even to Lithuania and Latvia. After 1947, Łosie wood tar traders still travelled to Śląsk, where they were called ‘smyrkosz.’ The trade in wood tar and lubricants contributed to the affluence of the village, which was manifested in the construction of new houses and their interior design. Commercial contacts also influenced the choice of items in the houses, e.g., an 18th century hand-coloured steel engraving, decorated with ornaments of beads and ‘relics’ of saints hung in the kitchen of a cottage of a resident of Łosie attests to the wood tar journey of the village salesmen.. The wood tar traders set off on their journey in early spring and returned in the autumn. Teenage boys were taught the profession when riding as helpers with their father or elder brothers and learning ’how to behave among people.’ Some were sent as apprentices to unknown but more experienced wood tar traders. The apprenticeship usually lasted 3 or 4 years. If after such period the boy could afford to purchase his own cart, he could start trading on his own. The poorer ones forever remained ‘kocisze’, helpers. Further journeys were made in special merchant carts, usually hitched to a pair of strong horses. Adequately massive and solid, the carts were fit for long routes and significant loads. They could accommodate from 8 to 12 barrels. Oil and lubricant was transported in one-hundred or even two-hundred litre oak barrels; pine barrels were used for wood tar. Goods from petroleum depots were stored in metal wood tar barrels with a capacity of one hundred or fifty litres. Metal measures of one litre, half a litre and a quarter of a litre, funnels for distributing liquids and wooden cans for tar were also the necessary equipment of the cart. A cart was covered by tarpaulin spread on hazel bars, which protected the travellers from sun and rain. If necessary, the travellers could sleep in their cart. At the back and at the front, there were cradle-like baskets with openwork structure. The front one, on springs, was used as a seat. Fodder for the horses was loaded on the larger back one. This was also the space for the luggage of the tar merchant and his helper. The men packed a wooden trunk full of personal items such as shaving accessories, a cloth towel, a spare shirt, a sewing kit, a spoon or a knife, as well as a hammer and caulkins for horse shoes, a currycomb and brushes for grooming the horses. During a journey that lasted for a few months, they also needed a portable stove and basic items to prepare and eat meals.
Rack for Tar Oil
Nr ew. materiał aranżacyjny
Material: wood, leather
Apart from wood tar traders from Łosie, as well as adjacent Bielanka, engaged in extensive door-to-door sale, there were many other peddlers travelling on foot through the villages in this part of Galicia. They usually came from poorer families or were less effective and could not have afforded to purchase a costly cart and a horse. Young people, too – even from rich homes – started their career as wood tar traders engaged in seasonal door-to-door sale, learning the secrets of the profession and earning money for personal expenses. Such peddlers travelling on foot were called ‘diehtiar’, because along with wood tar, they also sold tar oil (‘dziegieć’). The residents of Bielanka specialised mainly in its production. The process of smelting wood tar and tar oil was the same, but dziegieć was distilled for shorter time. The best one was birch tar oil, but the distillate was also procured from pine chips. The thick brown liquid with an intense smell was a mixture of wood tar and turpentine. It was a well-known medication for skin diseases that afflicted people and animals. Shoemakers and saddle makers used it to impregnate leather. Balls which were a mixture of herbs and tar oil were sold as medication. Many itinerant sellers were additionally engaged in the treatment of people and animals. Some were believed to know magic. Merchants expert in their trade were able to convince village residents that the tar oil was an excellent magic potion, driving away any bad powers. During breaks in rural inns, the sellers entertained people with magic tricks. They were also engaged in fortune telling. Pedestrian traders carried their goods on their backs, on wooden racks with leather or webbing suspenders to which vessels with liquid products were attached. Wood tar and tar oil was poured into wooden jugs, barrels and metal containers. Metal measures, suspended on the rack, were used to portion the liquid. Also measures made of cow horns were used. Apart from the goods in the rack, the merchants could also carry additional canisters in their hands. They were usually able to carry approx. 30 L of the liquid at a time. Some sellers made their work easier by using a two-wheel manual cart called ‘kolaska’, pulled by one or two persons, that made it possible to transport as much as 100 L of wood tar. Commercial travels on foot lasted no longer than 3-4 weeks.
Chromolithographic Print ‘Procession to Calvary’
Inventory No. MNS KW 14019, EI/2356
Material: paper, colour print
Dimensions in frame: 56.4 x 43.8 cm, without frame: 49.5 x 36.7 cm
Dating: early 20th century
Place of origin: Nowy Sącz
In the Lemko section of the Sącz museum, the visitors can see a cottage of middle-income peasants from Łosie near Gorlice, set up in the fashion of wood tar sellers. This village in the valley of the Ropa River was known for the production of various lubricants and greases, initially manufactured in the process of dry wood distillation and later from petroleum from the deposits in the area of Gorlice. When trading their products, the residents of Łosie traversed the lands of Poland and the neighbouring countries in characteristic carts, similar to what merchants would use.. Given their affluence and worldliness, they were an elite in Lemko society and brought back numerous tokens from their trips that were rarely seen in villages of such poor regions as that of the Lemkos. One such interesting item in the cottage from Łosie is the chromolithographic print on the wall in the bedchamber. The painting presents a procession leaving the square in front of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska (Bazylika Matki Boskiej Anielskiej). The head of the procession is in the foreground; men in traditional attire (brown coats, red shirts and jerkins, blue trousers and ‘karbiaki’ type boots) carry the procession cross and banners with images of the Virgin Mary. Behind them is a group of priests in surplices with laces and stoles: one of them is wearing a golden cape over the surplice, clasped at the neck. The priests are carrying a chalice, a book and an incense holder. They are followed by women in traditional attire and girls in white dresses with blue sashes. Behind them, being carried under the canopy, is a reclining figure of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The procession scene shown on the print took place during the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary service known as the ‘funeral’, held every year in the church in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska as a part of the indulgence related to the 15 August feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary who in the folk tradition is known as the Divine Mother of Herbs. The miraculous painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary was brought to Kalwaria in 1641, and in the 18th century, the church fairs during the feast of the Assumption were attended by more people than during the Holy Week indulgence. The sanctuary developed rapidly during the times of the Galician autonomy. Located in the Russian partition, Częstochowa was difficult for pilgrims to get to, so Kalwaria Zebrzydowska became the main Marian sanctuary not only for the residents of Galicia, but for other Polish lands, too. To celebrate the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, pilgrims arrived from all areas of Poland, even from Pomorze, as well as from Orava and Moravia. When looking at the chromolithographic print in the alcove in the cottage from Łosie, it is important to take note of one interesting detail. There is an inscription in Cyrillic at the bottom of the painting: ‘ПогронъПресвятоіДівиМaрііКальварийскоі’ (Funeral of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Kalwaria). At first sight, it seems quite a peculiar juxtaposition: the Kalwaria sanctuary is closely related to the Roman Catholic rite and located in Western Małopolska, far away from any regions inhabited by Orthodox Christians; the painting was located in the house of Ruthenian mountaineers and carried an inscription in their native language. However, this incongruity is only apparent. Roman Catholic churches were also visited by Eastern rite Christians - Greek Catholics, and some of the paintings sold there, with inscriptions in their native language, were intended for them. The ancestors of the Lemko people who settled in the Western Beskids (Beskidy Zachodnie) were Orthodox Christians, yet the Lemko areas on the northern side of the Carpathian Mountains belonged to the First Polish Republic and, in 1596, fell under the scope of the Union of Brest that legitimated the Uniate order (Greek Catholic) within the Polish borders. The newly-established Greek Catholic Church was subordinate to the pope and adopted the basic dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church; however, it retained the Orthodox liturgy, tradition, and separate hierarchy. In the course of the following centuries, Latin influences grew more pronounced, as architecture and Greek Catholic art gradually incorporated more and more elements of western European traditions that were foreign to the Eastern Christian canon.
One should note how the Marian feast of 15 August and the doctrines of faith and iconography related to it are celebrated in eastern and western traditions. The end of Mary’s life on earth began to be celebrated in the east in the 5th century as the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which in the course of time became popular in the entire Church. Hence, it is a major Marian feast, while in the Orthodox tradition, it belongs to one of twelve great feasts. In the Polish folk tradition, the feast of 15 August is known as Our Lady of the Herbs. On that day, bouquets made of herbs, flowers and medicinal plants are blessed, while Virgin Mary is believed to be the patron of land and plants. In the course of time, differences in understanding this feast appeared in the east and west, along with theological issues related to it. In the western tradition, a view was adopted that after the end of her earthly life, Virgin Mary was taken to heaven with her body and soul, therefore the feast started to be known as the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Roman Catholic Church. It was eventually confirmed as dogma by Pope Pius XII in 1950, even though the sole issue of Mary's death was not dogmatically settled and it has not been ultimately decided whether Mary died and was taken to heaven after resurrection or taken there without dying. On the other hand, in the tradition of Orthodox Churches, three facts were adopted: the death of Virgin Mary known as the Dormition, her resurrection, and her assumption. The icon of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary was already present in the Byzantine tradition in the 9th century. It depicts Mary lying on a bed and Christ, who came assisted by angels, holding the soul of Virgin Mary in his hand, symbolically shown in the form of a child. These main characters are surrounded by the Apostles. Western art adopted this outline and introduced changes in the course of time, combining it with the scene of the Assumption and later the Crowning. The best-known depiction of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Polish tradition is the Gothic altar of Veit Stoss in St. Mary’s Church (Kościół Mariacki) in Kraków.
