Jan Czeczot

Jan Czeczot of Ostoja (Belarusian: Ян Чачот, Jan Čačot, 1796–1847) was a Polish romantic poet and ethnographer. Fascinated by folklore and traditional folk songs of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania, confederal part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, he recollected hundreds of them in his works. Inspired by them, he also wrote several poems in what could be considered a pre-modern Belarusian language. As such, he is often cited as one of the first Polish ethnographers and one of the predecessors of the Belarusian national revival.

Jan Czeczot was born on 24 July 1796 in a noble family that was part of the Clan of Ostoja family of Tadeusz Czeczot in Małuszyce (Malušyčy, now in Hrodna Voblast) near Navahrudak. He graduated from a Dominican school in Navahrudak and then joined the Vilna Academy in 1816. There, he made friends with many of the predecessors of Polish romanticism, among them Adam Mickiewicz, who is said to support Czeczot's early poetic writings. Their friendship was immortalized in the dedication to Mickiewicz's III part of Dziady. Also, Czeczot became the secretary of the Philomatic Society and a friend of Ignacy Domejko, with whom he shared passion for the folk lore. After the society was discovered by the Russian secret police in 1823, Czeczot was arrested and sent to Siberia. After his sentence was completed, he relocated to central Russia and in 1833 settled in Lepiel.

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