Decapitation of death
The beheading of death (Polish Ścięcie Śmierci) - (or Jedlińsk Carnival Tuesday, Polish Jedlińskie Kusaki) is a popular custom that is celebrated annually in Jedlinsk on the last Tuesday before Lent .
The course of the rite
Based on a legendary story played on the Jedlińsk Market during Carnival: On Shrove Tuesday, the news of Kant, the church gatekeeper, that death got drunk at Carnival and his scythe in Toczne, spread across the town in front of the city, has lost and now sleeps by the burned dam. The residents of Jedlinńk, led by Kant, go to the suburban meadows, where they tie death tightly with ropes, and then lead him into the village in a triumphal procession. The mayor, who has been informed of the capture of death, waits with the jury for the procession to arrive in the market square. The trial begins. Death is being accused by the crowd. After hearing the allegations, the court pronounces the verdict and calls in the executioner. The court threatens to punish those who fail to act in accordance with the law. At the end of the speech the executioner beheads Death, ashes trickle from his head, and a black cat jumps out of the shirt of death - as a portrait for the soul. After he is beheaded, an angel appears on the scaffold warning everyone that death will continue to reap its harvest. The executioner lays the corpse of death on the sledge that is being dragged by children and adults. On the way through the village, they deliver the body to the mayor to certify the death certificate. Then the funeral is celebrated in an inn, with games and dancing until midnight.
From morning onwards, people in disguise, so-called Kusaks (carnival jesters) appear on the streets of Jedlińsk. All characters, including the female ones, are played by men. The most numerous group of disguises are the devils.
History and research
The first mention of the custom appeared on February 22, 1860 in the newspaper "Gazeta Codzienna" in Warsaw. It was a reprint of a letter from Father Jan Kloczkowski, the pastor in Jedlińsk at the time, describing the performance. However, the origins of this custom are much earlier. The decapitation of death is the rite that ends the carnival, but also the winter (some theories about the beginning of the drama can be looked for as early as the 16th or 17th century , when in different parts of Poland and Europe there are puppets representing winter embody, destroyed by beheading, burning or drowning).
However, some researchers are of the opinion that this spectacle should not be associated with the folk customs of winter expulsion, since it originated in the time when Jedlińsk was still a city.
Compared to most Polish carnival customs, the “decapitation of death” has the most scenic character with a clear separation between actors and audience. However, it is not a carnival performance on stage, but an element that has solidified itself over time in the form of a court hearing in front of an audience. Thus, the carnival in Jedlińsk is similar to many carnivals in the cities of Western Europe.
literature
- Wojciech Dudzik, Karnawały w kulturze , 83-88807-72-2
- http://www.folklore-europaea.org/select.php?name1=Jedlinsk&ausgabe=3&eg=1&suche=3&eingabe_e=1&suchbox=1&new=1&sort1=ortsname&resetv=10
Individual evidence
- ↑ Śmierć ścięta, czyli koniec karnawału, koniec zimy .
- ↑ Dziś Śmierć since głowę pod Topór. Jak co roku w Jedlińsku .
- ↑ Wojciech Dudzik: Karnawały w culture . 2005, ISBN 978-83-8880772-5 , Ścięcie śmierci, p. 142 .
- ↑ Justyna Laskowska - Otwinowska: Karnawał Król Europy . In: Etnografia Nowa . tape 2 . Państwowe Muzeum Etnograficzne w Warszawie, 2011, ISSN 2080-8747 , p. 252-259 .