30 years of ‘Sierakowice’ State Folk Song And Dance Ensemble.
Kashubian culture preserved for posterity.
‘Płomyszk, co sę żoli w naji deszach, je tej samej notere, co gwiozde ‘
- written by Jan Zbrzyca in group’s chronicles on 10 th of April, 1992.
Establishment of ‘Sierakowice’ State Folk Song And Dance Ensemble was a great success. A success has
many fathers and in this particular case a key to the success was the hard work, stubbornness, sacrifice and
dedication of a few hundred members of the group. There may be many fathers, but there is only one
mother, our lovable Kashubian countryside. The role of midwives fulfilled the future sponsorrepresentatives of the cooperative movement ‘The Peasant Mutual Aid Association’ who were backed by
the authorities of the local commune and newly created branch 'Kashubian-Pomeranian Association'.
Reflection comes when we think about the time of the group's creation.
The Kashubian attachment to the countryside lasted for centuries, so why the need for popularizing the
culture of the region had not appeared earlier? The explanation turns out to be the ‘Sierakowice’ State Folk
Song and Dance Ensemble which performed in Warsaw in 1958. The group came into existence after the
thaw of 1956 and then we had to wait a long time until the next thaw in 1980 at the Festival of Solidarity
when they reformed.
Kashubia is a land without great masters, without famous conquests and similar facts being a fuel for
historians. Therefore the Kashubian people stayed almost invisible on their lands, unknown for many
researchers of history and culture. Thanks to that Kashubia, which was discovered in the late nineteenth
century, remained a fresh, rich and surprising countryside.
In the chronicles devoted to the group it is unnecessary to circle the Kashubia region, since Sierakowice
village lies in its centre. Here, like in the lens, all the advantages focus on the Kashubia landscape.
‘Kashubia Switzerland’ – a notion made by Aleksander Majkowski – encompasses the Kartuzy district.
Furthermore, the Kashubian language survived here without Polish words and German influences. Here in
the land of tradition had grown and worked writers, poets, composers and scientists. Among them we can
find the most excellent researcher of Kashubian local dialects and author of the monumental dictionary – the
priest Bernard Sychta. Another great Kashubian, the priest Bernard Łosiński organized a bank, farmers’
associations, folk reading rooms. A patriarchate survived here as the model of the family life, numerous
traditions, the attachment to this land, the religiousness and the diligence.
The Kashubian landscape is fascinating with the amazing shapes of the land formed by glaciers. The popular
legend about the creation of the world describes the beauty of Kashubia with the fact that God took pity at
the very last moment and decorated the barren land with the treasure of the nature. The inhabitants of this
land appreciate its beauty, they are proud of their surroundings. However, a daily life here required diligence
in the cultivation of the sandy soil, persistence in struggling with the difficult climate and determination of
fishermen who were trying to curb the rough sea on their rowing boats.
These determinants have shaped the distinctive character of Kashubians standing out with toughness,
regularity, a sense of responsibility, resistance to adversity, respecting the values handed over by their fathers
– both in the material, as well as cultural sphere.
Strong, large families and fishing clans in the North and ‘gburskie’ clans in the middle of Kashubia
1
guaranteed survival and even material prosperity. These families were overseen by the respected senior
citizens who were ensuring the proper upbringing of their descendants. It was rare for them to go out into
the outside world where some “queer fish” who had interest other than everyday work. As a matter of fact
secondary schools and universities located in remote areas were often hostile for Kashubian people, because
they were German. A peak of intellectual ambitions was to educate a son as a teacher, a priest and especially
as a doctor. There was only a few Kashubian families who could afford the cost of expensive education.
The extremely difficult conditions of farming and fishing required all the able-bodied hands.
Kashubians – undoubtedly Slavs –successfully have defended their values developed over the centuries.
They did not undergo the Germanization thanks to isolation from the progressive environment as well as by
attachment to Catholicism. Protestants, it means Germans, were unacceptable for Kashubians. The Catholic
Church allowed contact with the Polish language.
Inhabitants of Sierakowice are typical Kashubian. Beneficial location of the village (just over twenty
kilometers to Kartuzy, Lębork, Kościerzyna, Bytów and Wejherowo) resulted in its great development.
Some time ago it was a convenient place to stop, over time a trade, associated with it crafts, developed
here. Thanks to the well-known diligence, reliability and its potential Sierakowice beautifully flourished.
Kashubians lived the hard life, although they were able to enjoy themselves. The harder they worked the
more they celebrated it. A great example can be found in the first part of the group's first performance: ‘Pó
robóce tuńc’.
Since the time of the original community and tribal life , people have danced all over the world. Dance has
brought people together through their joys and sorrows. All rituals have developed and depended on the
place where people lived, where they worked and what they believed. Folk dance survived through the most
difficult times in history and at present is looking for new forms of expressing itself and exist. It is only
possible when the folk groups perform traditional dances preserved in the old archives and propose a new
choreography for new melodies.
Dance is an universal language of communication, therefore constitutes a major part of the performance of
local dancing groups. Stanisław Richert from Kartuzian ‘Kaszuby’ undertook the job as a choreographer and
used his first intuitive arrangements of dance and memory of dancers who danced in similar groups. The
base of the dance programme represents the most well-known, rooted in tradition folk dances:
a) ritual and among them the most characteristic are fishermen dances, because dancers use
numerous stage props depicting their work. These are mainly fishing nets. Men symbolically
throw fishing nets, strenuously pull them out and finally they dance with them just about their
heads or elaborately simulate making them. Women wear aprons made of fishing net and they use
colorful handkerchiefs to wave goodbye to the fishermen set sail. Another prop are paddles
illustrating the work to overcome the waves or the dance of joy with paddle tapping when the
dancers gallop in the circle with the paddles raised and directed towards one point.
‘Pint’ dance is one of the fishermen dances as well. After hard work and successful haul all the
fishermen deserved well-earned rest. Relaxation and the joy could be found in the pint of beer. In
this dance it is easy to observe fishermen loyalty when they clink each other glasses. The
explanation why this dance is so lively and spontaneous lies in the content of these pints. Women
play a small role in it as they are accompanied by their men but rather from the side. However,
they are controlling men so that delight does not go too far.
b) playful, where a goal was to have some fun by dancers. Simply, it is a presentation of the way of
life after work. Dancers sing types of proposal chants as Maruszca, Wiem jó wiem, Nasza kóza,
2
and provoking chants as Okrąc so wkół,
‘Krzewo polka’ – Kashubian people love to party and they like to express their joy of life.
‘Krzewo polka’ is the latest choreographic achievement of Jan Właśniewski from the repertoire
of the youth. It is a form of dance where singing and dancing appears together. It has got a
character of a popular image with some elements of grotesque. This is a typical dance of courting
girls and boys.
Cork’ dance brings to the stage extremely popular and widely used shoes without heels.
Moreover, wearing clogs caused difficulty in dancing and resulted in injuries. Therefore first part
of the dance is slow and bewitching thanks to its characteristic sound of thumping wooden clogs.
The second part shows lively dance while impatient youth removes their shoes and additional
drum instruments appear on the stage. Hence the second part danced in ‘żoki’ is impulsive and
entrances with a very distinct rhythm.
c) describing profession or work place. Dancers expressed the joy of hard work achieved amongst
shepherds, shoemakers, blacksmiths and men using flails.
‘Shepherd’ dance with the sheep auction, beautifully ran by Andrzej Lis, the group took over
from Bernard Sychta’s play ‘Hanka sę żeni’. This dance illustrates spring ritual of washing sheepshearing. Mutual affection and sympathy between shepherds and sheep is visible in this
harmonious and cheerful dance. The shepherds show their appreciation by kneeling down in front
of the sheep because they give them jobs to do. After an auction of the most fine-looking sheep a
cheerful dance in the rhythm of lively polka takes place.
‘Shoemaker’ dance; There is a legend in the aforementioned Bernard Sychta’s play and according
to which the king Sobieski danced in the wedding when he finished the planting the famous
linden avenue in Rzucewo. The shoemaker complains about his monotonous work consisting the
entire day for hammering nails in the soles. Pair of dancers stand in the circle and use gestures to
illustrate this work like using the strong shoe tread. After a slow motion in the first part dancers
start moving into a more lively tempo, according to the principle that after hard work everybody
deserve a rest.
‘Blacksmith’ dance; A Blacksmith with some gestures demonstrates his hammering into an anvil.
It must be a heavy hammer, because his movements are much slower than shoemaker’s. Next, in
the second part the blacksmith dances freely with the hope that his wife will appreciate his hard
work and will cool down his sweaty forehead. Blacksmiths are so strong and have so much
energy that they squatting around their partners.
d) ‘Spectacular dances’, which developed from ritual dances in terms of technique, artistic
expression and movement, are the richest forms of dance.
Dzek, Kóseder, Wołtok, Diabli tuńc
‘Dzek’ dance survived to our times in several versions. ‘Wild dance’ derives from privateer
dances and comes from the north of the region. The melody is played quickly, and dance consists
some complicated jumps: jumps with dancers legs apart in the position front-back, jumps with
crossing the legs, jumps on one leg, and high jumps revolutions while hitting the uppers with a
hand, jumps revolutions while squatting. Originally it was a dance of men, but later it became
common that girls who dance and perform some uncomplicated steps in a semicircle are a
background for men.
‘Koseder’ dance was originally a ritual dance associated with the family and profession feasts. In
Kashubia ‘Koseder’ performed a role of ceremonial first dance. ‘Chodzony’ is an old, slow Polish
folk dance where dancers walk with slight jumps. With time ‘Poleczka’ steps were added to the
basic steps in order to revive the dance. The main figures of the dance are pairs in the circle,
3
singles in the circle, a basket and a cross. In the end of the dance, dancers form rows, the band
plays faster music and the effective kneeling of the dancers finishes with an enthusiastic applause.
Choreographers of ‘Sierakowice’ group relied on the descriptions contained in the four duplicator notebooks
‘Kashubian dances’ written by Paweł Szafka. He as a member of the musicians family, ethnographer, tireless
collector, educator of future teachers in high school in Wejherowo, deserves the name of ' Kashubian
Kolberg'. Oscar Kolberg in his immortal work barely touched Kashubia and because of this we have stayed
as unknown land for ethnographers for a very long time. For them Kashubia was not recognised by the
authority, Oscar Kolberg, at this time.
It was happening very often that the judges of various competitions differed significantly in their verdicts,
which certainly resulted from misinformation. The group with bitterness recalls the competition in
Kazimierz nad Wisłą, where they disqualified the Kashubian folk band for the virtuoso of bandoniia Leon
Puzdrowski (June 1984), although the spectators were enraptured.
Jan Wiśniewski, friend of Paweł Szefka, became a great expert of Kashubian dances, whom was luckily
rectruited to ‘Sierakowice’ in 1983.
Thanks to his knowledge and his demands, all the steps, gestures and dances have gained nobility and
authenticity. Moreover, Jan Właśniewski thaught his dancers to be his future assistants. Together they
participated in numerous workshops and courses. Witold Kot Lenga and Piotr Zengarski were well
prepared to lead the Kashubian folk groups, however, to train Irena Warmowska turned out to be the most
effective and fruitful. At present, Irena is commonly known as Laura and she is a choreographer of
‘Sierakowice’ and ‘Tuchlińskie Skrzaty’. She is also an instructor and a consultant for several other local
folk groups. In the summer workshops, organized every year in Lublin, she teaches the Polish community
living abroad the basics of Kashubian dances.
Kashubian dance music characteristics are primarily two-fold. One typical dance is divided into two parts,
the first part of ritual dances or profession dances present slow tempo and the second part presents sharp
polkas. Melody lines are diversified and they appear rarely in minor keys. Hence, the polyphonic and duets
voices are not used so much.
Musicians are indispensable for dancers. To dance primitive, simple and joyful dances it was enough to
have simple instruments such as shepherds pipes, sticks knocking the floor or just any boxes with a
resonance. With time these simple instruments underwent transformations. The emergence of bazuny –
huge wooden tubes, and later clarinets, which could play different melodies with a support of Devil violin –
an instrument with a few strings and a percussion sound, many buzzers and clattering instruments. At
present the most popular is burczybas – a typical Kashubian instrument for Kashubians only. Other, a more
precious string instrument was is the rzępiel (basetla).
Firstly, Kashubian folk bands played hand-made instruments only, dominated by string, wind and
woodwinds instruments or membranophone instruments like burczybas. Hieronim Derdowski in his ‘Pan
Czorlinuczi’ from 1880 writes that ‘clarinets, base, and violins will play by themselves’. ‘Sierakowice’ used
clarinet, violin, and double bass instead basetla. There was the ‘Devil violin’, which after World War II
have lost their string character, becoming a typical percussion instrument. Mascaron, devil’s head, metal hat
with clattering sounds, small, resonance wooden box and a wooden stick enabled the artist to extract various
sounds of nature.
In ‘Sierakowice’ group appeared a manual aerophone, an unusual instrument – Bandoneón called
bandonion. It is an instrument with a very specific button-type keyboard on both sides. It is a type of
concertina which was invented in England in 1829. Mastering this instrument is extremely difficult.
Bandoneonists must stand out in a great musicianship. Bandoneón became particularly popular in Argentina.
The constructor of this instrument was Heinrich Band, a German instrument dealer, (about 1850) and
4
therefore the ethnographers accused ‘Sierakowice’ of using German instruments. A younger instrument, the
French accordion ( built about 1910) , easier to learn, was accepted more graciously.
Bandonions generated genuine interest to those who were interested in music and the Devil violin and
burczybasy, uknown to concert halls, evoked the enthusiasm of spectators, particularly when musicians
allowed them personally to use these instruments during the performances.
Polish and foreign groups visiting Kashubia have expressed the wish to possess ‘the devil’. Its production is
not too difficult and Zenon Pepliński, later Andrzej Olszewski, undertook this profession. Another great
idea was to make miniatures of Devil violin and burczybas as original souvenirs from Kashubia. Zenek, a
very gifted sculptor, undertook the project and dealt with it in his spare time.
A child of ‘Sierakowice’ that is a group ‘Tuchlińskie Skrzaty’ is using an interesting idiophone. It has been
built in Kashubia and it is a traditional ryńczyk- that is an arched frame with buzzing metal plates supporting
the band rhythm.
To complete the original sound of the instruments in the band a trumpeter Paweł Gruba with Sławomir
Kwidziński’s help constructed two bazunas – (two huge wooden pipes).Together with his brother Kazimierz
they have played this instrument many times as the duet at concerts. But the bazuna master is Paweł who
won 2nd prize in the category of soloists in the fortieth festival in Kazimierz (2006) and 1st prize in
‘Sabałowe Bajanie’ in Bukowina Tatrzańska (2007).
Some dances require accessories which support their expression and content. For example, the fishing suite
would not be understood well if it lacked a fishing net and paddles. Lyrics of songs and chants explain who
is dancing, why they’re behaving in a certain way, however for everyone who does not understand the local
dialect it is easier to get the message with basic staging and different attributes. A fisherman dance called
‘Pint dance’ describes a feast after the great haul. Cork dance reminds us that Kashubian’s commonly used
these type of shoes ( wooden sole, leather noses, no heels) and therefore many dances have a slow tempo
and walking pace so that dancers do not lose the corks. Removing shoes resulted in a lively second part of
the dance. The group had to wear corks.
The sweet harvesters song about wooden rakes carried by them made the spectators aware of the content the end of the day in the fields. Harvester carried a scythe and the shepherd had a knotty stick with a
sheepskin coat on his back.
The group members crafted hand-made props, together with the craftsmen, using the right materials and
equipment.
‘Sierakowice’, at the beginning, gathered three generations of enthusiasts of the Kashubian culture. The
oldest people have talked about traditions, for example: Zygmunt Wenta has described taking snuff. Stasia
Jankowska has estimated how many people can fit on one bike. Stefan Kolka has explained the role of a
night watchman. These stories were interludes during the perfomances between the songs and dances that
younger and poorly trained artists could catch their breath. Spectators of the performances responded lively
with spontaneous applause, visitors understood the interludes when it was presented in slower speech. All
the gathered spectators were pleased when Zygmunt Wenta offered them snuff. Wena Zejert and Jola
Jankowska joined a storytellers band. All of our storyteller members have won prizes in competitions and
storyteller presentations. A singing constituted the main part of the first programs of the group. Classic songs
from the song books were arranged by Władysław Kirstein and Leon Roppel, Jan Trepczyk, Antoni
Pepliński, Aleksander Tomaczkowski. Reading the texts was necessary learning lesson of Kashubian, which
was known in speech, but in writing was ‘terra incognita’. It has often been necessary to refer to
dictionaries. Some grammatical archaisms and single words evoked linguistic disputes.
Jubilees and minor deals resulted in the desire of creating new words and melodies. During long journeys by
coach a number of folk chants and couplets arose – because they were accurate and easy to remember. There
were written occasional poems and notes in Polish and Kashubian, inside and outside the group.
5
Minor pieces of music, which worked for some time in ‘Sierakowice’ created, among others : Barbara
Klawikowska, Maria Kolka, Józef Klasa, Stefan Kolka and Stefan Kwiecień. Current music composer
Witold Treder has created many pieces of music referring to the tradition and today’s realities, for example,
the favourite group music piece ‘Młodzi ledze’.
The main distinguishing feature of the regional groups is the costume of their members. These are not
everyday clothing, but festive, used after work on the occasion of various ceremonies. There have not been
preserved any information in literature and iconography about the elements of Kashubian festive clothing.
Therefore, at the beginning of the nineteenth century a proposal of Franciszka Majkowska, sister of
Aleksander Majkowski, the creator of the Kashubian epic ‘Żece and przigode Remusa’ was adopted as
Kashubian festive clothing. This reconstructed outfit was adapted by the groups operating in a rural
community centers, so it is called świetlicowy. Until today, there are disputes and arrangements how the
men’s trousers look like, caftan ornaments, finishings of blouses and waistcoats and even colours of skirts.
Undoubtedly, decorated are only white aprons and sleeves of blouses, bonnets and waistcoats. Kashubian
embroidery reigns here, it was developed in the female convents in Żukowo and Żarnowiec, based on the
old furniture ornaments, mainly glory boxes. Embroidered with gold and silver bonnets are well-preserved
in the original. As very expensive they have been passed by the mothers to the next generations of the
women.
In the central Kashubia the main patterns of embroidery come from Żukowo – elegant which contain the
majority of three shades of colours : blue, yellow, green and a little red and black. Characteristic themes
include: tulip, rosette, leaf, bell, bud, cornflower, forget-me-not, cherry, peacock eye. Sleeves of women’s
blouses, lower parts of aprons, men’s collars are being decorated proportionately with these elements.
Bonnets and waistcoats are decorated with a bonnet stumpwork which is an upstanding style of raised
embroidery from the surface.
Fishmen outfits characterized different style. In the first part of fishing suite, dancers of ‘Sierakowice’ were
dressed in yellow oilskins, women wore their aprons made of fishnet and instead of waistcoats they carried
light scarves which they used as waving scarves or during the dance the scarves were put behind their skirts.
Recently, after numerous consultations with ethnographers and thanks to a Leader programme and a grant ,
the group was equipped with new fishmen of the lakes outfits. New outfits present a lot of authenticity.
First outfits of the group were very modest, because of the lack of materials on the market. Thanks to the
patronage of the Agricultural Cooperative the group managed to get appropriate fabrics and the outfits were
sewed on the spot, because the specialized workshops simply were too expensive. This method of preparing
the outfits took some time, so in the first competition in Kolbudy that the group won, dancers wore
borrowed outfits from ‘Karsino’.
More frequent performances required a second set of women’s blouses and men’s shirts. Most of them were
made by members of the group, families and friends, with a talent for sewing and embroidery. On this
occasion many people have learnt to compose patterns, sewing and specific techniques to do it. Thanks to
this, Kashubian embroidery became greatly popularized. ‘Sierakowice’ gradually gained International fame.
The group was delegated to International festivals, where they were supposed to represent not only
Kashubia, but the entire country of Poland. Therefore it was necessary to master the national dances. In 2002
thanks to the collaboration with ‘Boczki Chełmońskie’ Łowicz dances were prepared. In 2003 for the first
time Krakowiak was added to the repertoire of ‘Sierakowice’. In both of these regional dances the group
performs in appropriate outfits of Łowicz and Krakowiak, only the band stays Kashubian.
Thanks to his knowledge and his demands, all the steps, gestures and dances have gained nobility and
authenticity. Moreover, Jan Właśniewski thaught his dancers to be his future assistants. Together they
participated in numerous workshops and courses. Witold Kot Lenga and Piotr Zengarski were well
prepared to lead the Kashubian folk groups, however, to train Irena Warmowska turned out to be the most
6
effective and fruitful. At present, Irena is commonly known as Laura and she is a choreographer of
‘Sierakowice’ and ‘Tuchlińskie Skrzaty’. She is also an instructor and a consultant for several other local
folk groups. In the summer workshops, organized every year in Lublin, she teaches the Polish community
living abroad the basics of Kashubian dances.
Kashubian dance music characteristics are primarily two-fold. One typical dance is divided into two parts,
the first part of ritual dances or profession dances present slow tempo and the second part presents sharp
polkas. Melody lines are diversified and they appear rarely in minor keys. Hence, the polyphonic and duets
voices are not used so much.
Musicians are indispensable for dancers. To dance primitive, simple and joyful dances it was enough to
have simple instruments such as shepherds pipes, sticks knocking the floor or just any boxes with a
resonance. With time these simple instruments underwent transformations. The emergence of bazuny –
huge wooden tubes, and later clarinets, which could play different melodies with a support of Devil violin –
an instrument with a few strings and a percussion sound, many buzzers and clattering instruments. At
present the most popular is burczybas – a typical Kashubian instrument for Kashubians only. Other, a more
precious string instrument was is the rzępiel (basetla).
Firstly, Kashubian folk bands played hand-made instruments only, dominated by string, wind and
woodwinds instruments or membranophone instruments like burczybas. Hieronim Derdowski in his ‘Pan
Czorlinuczi’ from 1880 writes that ‘clarinets, base, and violins will play by themselves’. ‘Sierakowice’ used
clarinet, violin, and double bass instead basetla. There was the ‘Devil violin’, which after World War II
have lost their string character, becoming a typical percussion instrument. Mascaron, devil’s head, metal hat
with clattering sounds, small, resonance wooden box and a wooden stick enabled the artist to extract various
sounds of nature.
In ‘Sierakowice’ group appeared a manual aerophone, an unusual instrument – Bandoneón called
bandonion. It is an instrument with a very specific button-type keyboard on both sides. It is a type of
concertina which was invented in England in 1829. Mastering this instrument is extremely difficult.
Bandoneonists must stand out in a great musicianship. Bandoneón became particularly popular in Argentina.
The constructor of this instrument was Heinrich Band, a German instrument dealer, (about 1850) and
therefore the ethnographers accused ‘Sierakowice’ of using German instruments. A younger instrument, the
French accordion ( built about 1910) , easier to learn, was accepted more graciously.
Bandonions generated genuine interest to those who were interested in music and the Devil violin and
burczybasy, uknown to concert halls, evoked the enthusiasm of spectators, particularly when musicians
allowed them personally to use these instruments during the performances.
Polish and foreign groups visiting Kashubia have expressed the wish to possess ‘the devil’. Its production is
not too difficult and Zenon Pepliński, later Andrzej Olszewski, undertook this profession. Another great
idea was to make miniatures of Devil violin and burczybas as original souvenirs from Kashubia. Zenek, a
very gifted sculptor, undertook the project and dealt with it in his spare time.
A child of ‘Sierakowice’ that is a group ‘Tuchlińskie Skrzaty’ is using an interesting idiophone. It has been
built in Kashubia and it is a traditional ryńczyk- that is an arched frame with buzzing metal plates supporting
the band rhythm.
To complete the original sound of the instruments in the band a trumpeter Paweł Gruba with Sławomir
Kwidziński’s help constructed two bazunas – (two huge wooden pipes).Together with his brother Kazimierz
they have played this instrument many times as the duet at concerts. But the bazuna master is Paweł who
won 2nd prize in the category of soloists in the fortieth festival in Kazimierz (2006) and 1st prize in
‘Sabałowe Bajanie’ in Bukowina Tatrzańska (2007).
Some dances require accessories which support their expression and content. For example, the fishing suite
would not be understood well if it lacked a fishing net and paddles. Lyrics of songs and chants explain who
7
is dancing, why they’re behaving in a certain way, however for everyone who does not understand the local
dialect it is easier to get the message with basic staging and different attributes. A fisherman dance called
‘Pint dance’ describes a feast after the great haul. Cork dance reminds us that Kashubian’s commonly used
these type of shoes ( wooden sole, leather noses, no heels) and therefore many dances have a slow tempo
and walking pace so that dancers do not lose the corks. Removing shoes resulted in a lively second part of
the dance. The group had to wear corks.
The sweet harvesters song about wooden rakes carried by them made the spectators aware of the content the end of the day in the fields. Harvester carried a scythe and the shepherd had a knotty stick with a
sheepskin coat on his back.
The group members crafted hand-made props, together with the craftsmen, using the right materials and
equipment.
‘Sierakowice’, at the beginning, gathered three generations of enthusiasts of the Kashubian culture. The
oldest people have talked about traditions, for example: Zygmunt Wenta has described taking snuff. Stasia
Jankowska has estimated how many people can fit on one bike. Stefan Kolka has explained the role of a
night watchman. These stories were interludes during the perfomances between the songs and dances that
younger and poorly trained artists could catch their breath. Spectators of the performances responded lively
with spontaneous applause, visitors understood the interludes when it was presented in slower speech. All
the gathered spectators were pleased when Zygmunt Wenta offered them snuff. Wena Zejert and Jola
Jankowska joined a storytellers band. All of our storyteller members have won prizes in competitions and
storyteller presentations. A singing constituted the main part of the first programs of the group. Classic songs
from the song books were arranged by Władysław Kirstein and Leon Roppel, Jan Trepczyk, Antoni
Pepliński, Aleksander Tomaczkowski. Reading the texts was necessary learning lesson of Kashubian, which
was known in speech, but in writing was ‘terra incognita’. It has often been necessary to refer to
dictionaries. Some grammatical archaisms and single words evoked linguistic disputes.
Jubilees and minor deals resulted in the desire of creating new words and melodies. During long journeys by
coach a number of folk chants and couplets arose – because they were accurate and easy to remember. There
were written occasional poems and notes in Polish and Kashubian, inside and outside the group. Minor
pieces of music, which worked for some time in ‘Sierakowice’ created, among others : Barbara
Klawikowska, Maria Kolka, Józef Klasa, Stefan Kolka and Stefan Kwiecień. Current music composer
Witold Treder has created many pieces of music referring to the tradition and today’s realities, for example,
the favourite group music piece ‘Młodzi ledze’.
The main distinguishing feature of the regional groups is the costume of their members. These are not
everyday clothing, but festive, used after work on the occasion of various ceremonies. There have not been
preserved any information in literature and iconography about the elements of Kashubian festive clothing.
Therefore, at the beginning of the nineteenth century a proposal of Franciszka Majkowska, sister of
Aleksander Majkowski, the creator of the Kashubian epic ‘Żece and przigode Remusa’ was adopted as
Kashubian festive clothing. This reconstructed outfit was adapted by the groups operating in a rural
community centers, so it is called świetlicowy. Until today, there are disputes and arrangements how the
men’s trousers look like, caftan ornaments, finishings of blouses and waistcoats and even colours of skirts.
Undoubtedly, decorated are only white aprons and sleeves of blouses, bonnets and waistcoats. Kashubian
embroidery reigns here, it was developed in the female convents in Żukowo and Żarnowiec, based on the
old furniture ornaments, mainly glory boxes. Embroidered with gold and silver bonnets are well-preserved
in the original. As very expensive they have been passed by the mothers to the next generations of the
women.
In the central Kashubia the main patterns of embroidery come from Żukowo – elegant which contain the
majority of three shades of colours : blue, yellow, green and a little red and black. Characteristic themes
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include: tulip, rosette, leaf, bell, bud, cornflower, forget-me-not, cherry, peacock eye. Sleeves of women’s
blouses, lower parts of aprons, men’s collars are being decorated proportionately with these elements.
Bonnets and waistcoats are decorated with a bonnet stumpwork which is an upstanding style of raised
embroidery from the surface.
Fishmen outfits characterized different style. In the first part of fishing suite, dancers of ‘Sierakowice’ were
dressed in yellow oilskins, women wore their aprons made of fishnet and instead of waistcoats they carried
light scarves which they used as waving scarves or during the dance the scarves were put behind their skirts.
Recently, after numerous consultations with ethnographers and thanks to a Leader programme and a grant ,
the group was equipped with new fishmen of the lakes outfits. New outfits present a lot of authenticity.
First outfits of the group were very modest, because of the lack of materials on the market. Thanks to the
patronage of the Agricultural Cooperative the group managed to get appropriate fabrics and the outfits were
sewed on the spot, because the specialized workshops simply were too expensive. This method of preparing
the outfits took some time, so in the first competition in Kolbudy that the group won, dancers wore
borrowed outfits from ‘Karsino’.
More frequent performances required a second set of women’s blouses and men’s shirts. Most of them were
made by members of the group, families and friends, with a talent for sewing and embroidery. On this
occasion many people have learnt to compose patterns, sewing and specific techniques to do it. Thanks to
this, Kashubian embroidery became greatly popularized. ‘Sierakowice’ gradually gained International fame.
The group was delegated to International festivals, where they were supposed to represent not only
Kashubia, but the entire country of Poland. Therefore it was necessary to master the national dances. In 2002
thanks to the collaboration with ‘Boczki Chełmońskie’ Łowicz dances were prepared. In 2003 for the first
time Krakowiak was added to the repertoire of ‘Sierakowice’. In both of these regional dances the group
performs in appropriate outfits of Łowicz and Krakowiak, only the band stays Kashubian.
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