Kita’iescha

From: The Poles in the seventeenth century By Henryk Krasiński 1843 There are on the Carpathians, individuals, who are born, and who die without ever going down to the plains. Some engage in smuggling Hungarian wines, and at times shew themselves in great numbers in the fairs to purchase salt and gunpowder, and to vend [...]

The Poles in the seventeenth century By Henryk Krasiński 1843

They have over them chiefs, resembling the chiefs of clans, to whom they render an imperfect obedience. These chiefs sometimes wear an eagle’s plume on their hat, and round their necks a cord, decorated with pieces of gold. The ordinary costume of the Mountaineers is composed of a short tunic of grey cloth, confined at [...]

Knives from Zakopane region

“From Peasant Art in Austria and Hungary” 1914 A picture of some knives from the Zakopane region on the Poland, Slovak border.

Stara Basn

Stara Basn…When the Sun was God. Pretty nifty film. Definitely did not win any major awards nor should it have but still fun to watch for self styled warrior types who swing axes around:)  Set in pre-christian times in the land that would become Poland…Stara Basn tells a familiar tale of greed and betrayal in [...]

Zbojnicki Dance

  The Dances of Podhale (Poland) Joseph Needham Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, Vol. 3, No. 2 (Dec., 1937), pp. 117-119  

Zbójnicki- Na szkle Malowane

 A Polish dance troupe dancing the Zbojnicki…a bandit dance.  

Mary Barton: An Historical Tale of Poland 1846

Mary Barton: An Historical Tale of Poland By Henry Krasinski Published by A.K. Newman and Co., 1846   One of the Colonel’s coachmen, a Carpathian mountaineer proposed to exhibit a performance common in his country. He was a man exceedingly tall and broad-chested, but appeared to possess singular activity. His brown hair, hanging down upon his back was curled at [...]

Universal Geography: Or A Description of All Parts of the World 1829

Universal Geography: Or A Description of All Parts of the World, on a New Plan, According to the Great Natural Divisions of the Globe; Accompanied with Analytical, Synoptical, and Elementary Tables By Conrad Malte-Brun Published by A. Finley., 1829 The lowlanders of past times let no opportunity escape of harassing the mountaineers, who, irritated or [...]

The Encyclopædia of Geography 1837

The Gorales are a fierce, highland race, constantly armed with the axe, with which they can strike an object at the distance of forty yards; and they brandish this weapon even at their dances and festivals. Till repressed by the vigorous measures of the Austrian government, they were accustomed to make most formidable raids upon [...]

A nice description of the Tanec Sokyra

On the High Uplands Sagas, Songs, Tales and Legends of the Carpathians by Stanislaw Vincenz Dance description pg 43 What did they dance? The depicted their ancestors history and past adventures. They swung their axes at one another, erect and squatting, as though repulsing an enemy; they threw their axes from one to another, as [...]