Siuda Baba

Siuda Baba is an old Polish folk custom, celebrated on Easter Monday and surviving today in only a handful of villages surrounding Kraków. The character of Siuda Baba is performed by a local man who dresses up as a shabbily clothed woman whose face is blackened with soot. Siuda Baba walks from house to house, accompanied by other characters – a Gypsy and Krakowiacy (men dressed in traditional outfits). The group visits houses, collecting donations and smearing girls' faces with soot.

The tradition calls upon Slavic spring rites of banishing winter. Legend tells of a pagan temple that once was active near Lednica Górna. The temple stood near a stream in the holy grove on a hill named Kopcowa Góra. Once a year, in early spring, the priestess protecting the holy fire left the temple walls to search for a successor. The girl she chose could not buy herself out; girls would therefore hide wherever they could. Siuda Baba symbolises the priestess; soot is used to blacken Siuda Baba's face, as the priestess was not allowed to wash or leave the temple. Another interpretation suggests the new priestess' face had been blackened to mark her as the successor.

The inhabitants of Lednica Górna name different locations for the holy spring and temple: most frequently the sources of the Leda stream. The springs, located in the village, are shrouded in mystery and rarely shown to strangers.

The custom survived only in villages and towns surrounding Kraków. Christian elements have later been added to the legend, and as a result the Siuda Baba enactment is presented on Easter Monday in Lednica Górna and in the nearby city of Wieliczka.

The role of Siuda Baba is performed by a local man who dresses up in rags and blackens his face. He also wears a necklace made of chestnuts or potatoes and a large basket on his back. The same character in Wieliczka carries a large cross in one hand and a soot-dipped whip in the other, and is alone.

Siuda Baba walks from house to house accompanied by another man, dressed up as a Gypsy, and four young men wearing traditional Krakowiak costumes, although this requirement is not always met. Siuda Baba (in Wieliczka) or one of the men (in Lednica Górna) is equipped with a cart and collects donations. The group chases passers-by, blackens their faces with soot and sometimes douse them with water.

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Wikipedia