Poland comes out of winter slowly, especially in its northern parts. It wouldn’t be a huge surprise if snow decided to fall in April. Luckily, the Poles have a method to prevent this sort of incident. In a ritual that reaches far back to the pagan times of Slavic gods and goddesses, an effigy that represents Marzanna, the Slavic goddess of winter and death, is built out of straw, cloth and ribbons, then thrust into a lake and drowned. Often, it is also set on fire, and then drowned, just to be double sure it doesn’t come back to life. Marzanna is dead, winter is dead; bring on the spring.
Brrrrr!! I love the tradition of killing winter this way, but I can't jump into cold water, even with hat and gloves! Walruses and cormorants... you have helped me envision this lively beach well! Thank you for a fascinating story!
Fantastic, what a great story! And so many sketches! Thank you for sharing with us.
Great story, thanks. And nicely illustrated. I love that idea of drowning winter to show "that's it, enough, we're fed up, lets move on to Spring!"
I love your storytelling as much as your delightful sketches! Well done
I really enjoyed these drawings (especially when you combined colors) - there are some delightful details
Brrrrr!! I love the tradition of killing winter this way, but I can't jump into cold water, even with hat and gloves! Walruses and cormorants... you have helped me envision this lively beach well! Thank you for a fascinating story!
Wonderful paintings. I like to think about walruses and the shedding of winter. Spring has arrived. Take care, fellow Substacker Linda Berlin