Celebration year in advanced Silesia

Thanks to the determination of Dr. Marcin Wądołowski (Local Heritage of LH), the work of Antoni Halor entitled "The ceremonial year in advanced Silesia" was resumed after almost 20 years.

I was at a promotional gathering at the Siemianowice Centre for the Culture of Castles in Siemianowice Śląski. The present at the gathering was the household of late Antonio Halor, without whom the book would not be resumed. The editor was a wife, an excellent writer Bogumiła Hrapkowicz-HalorAnthony's son, and Anita's grandson's cover. The granddaughter inherited her grandfather's artistic talent.

Sam Antoni Halor (1937-2011) was an extraordinary and very crucial figure for Silesia as well as Poland. movie and tv director, artist (drawing artist, graphic artist, book illustrator, 1 of the forerunners of the message art), literary scholar, journalist, promoter of the past and culture of advanced Silesia. He was the founder of the celebrated Discussion movie Club “Kino-Oko” in Katowice and co-founder of the Katowice group “Onejron”. Among another things, he was active in bringing his readers and viewers closer to crucial figures for the historical DNA code in advanced Silesia – Wojciech Korfanty, Gustav Morcinek or Wilhelm Szewczyk. Among the films he was manager is the “Man with a stick” which is simply a movie about the Silesian insurgent, General and the voivode Jerzy Zietku "Jorgu".

Back to the book. The first publication was published almost 20 years ago under the title “The ceremonial year on the erstwhile Bytom Land. Siemianowice and surroundings’. It was released in a tiny edition by the City Office in Siemianowice Śląski. present it's practically out of the market. The current edition is extended, more orderly and excellently edited. It came out as part of the task "Unobvious Village – Cultural Heritage of conventional Villages" and was co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

The book is simply a kind of cultural guide that allows us to research the fascinating planet of old Silesia. To a large extent, the planet has passed. any of the rites described survived in partial form, any are cultivated in caricature version, the remainder has already died out. The year is divided into 10 parts: The rites of the beginning of the calendar year, the patrons of the beginning of the calendar year, the rites of the carnage, or carnival, the rites of pre-spring and spring, the rites of the large week, the Easter rites, the rites of the green period, the rites of the end of the year, the rites of the mating period, the rites of the end of the calendar year. Rhythm is mainly marked by church holidays, although many of them have earlier pagan pedigree. It's all about Christmas. We find, among another things, the description of “The Charms of the 3 Kings, or Epiphany, that is, the Revelation of the Lord” by the promoter of Polishness Fr Antoni Stabik of 1846.

The peculiar value of this work is that the author utilized not only hard historical studies, but besides oral messages. This distinguished Antoni Halor from another publicists active in the ethnography of advanced Silesia. He could ask, listen, and put on paper what he heard in conversations with aged residents of the region. He had writing skills. period advanced Silesian so that it was understood to the inhabitants of another regions of Poland. It's all his fault.

During the promotional gathering after the introduction of Dr. Marcin Wądołowski, his wife told about Antoni Halora. Bogumiła Hrapkowicz-Halor And Antonio's son. They have drawn attention to texts that have not yet been released present and are crucial for the Silesian region. The gathering was completed by a screening of a 1989 superb movie directed by Antoni Halor entitled "The street I know a small about.” The movie is devoted to the passing everyday life of residents on the dug-up labour property "Richter" in Siemianowice Śląski. The movie confronts memories from the late 1940s with a image of the site in the 1980s.

Łukasz Jastrzębski

Think Poland, No. 1-2 (1-7.01.2024)