Siudej Baby Easter Day

The planet is long and wide, and people live on it. Thus, various habits and rituals, which are the consequence of the astonishing creativity of man, yet turn into traditions cultivated by generations.


Sometimes the many different customs are frequently around all kinds of holidays. Easter, like Christmas or fresh Year, is absolutely not left behind in this matter. Such an first holiday, celebrated in Lednica Górna and Wieliczka in Małopolska, is the feast of Siudej Baby.

W Monday Easter 1 of the young men dress up as a somewhat unusual looking woman. He paints the body with plantings, puts on a chestnut, potato or wood necklace. He wears colorful skirts, a blouse and a handkerchief, and so dressed in the company of his household he walks from home to house. On each farm he receives various donations and delicacies, and whom Siuda Baba puts on black, preferably on his face, he will be fortunate all year long. Unmarried girls have a make-up like this foreshadows fast marriage.

Hanging Judas does not sound friendly or funny, but it is simply a reasonably profoundly rooted tradition symbolizing the punishment of the traitor who delivered Christ to death. A puppet made of straw and dressed in torn clothes is hung on a church tower or pole. It is then thrown down, put sticks on it, to begin the full settlement. At the end of “Judas”, he is set on fire and thrown into the river. The full organization starts on large Thursday late at night or even at night and ends the next day.

It is besides worth mentioning an equally interesting custom, especially celebrated in the Kujawy Mountains, with the grateful name “bury of the bilge and herring”. After Lent, to say goodbye to monotonous, barren food, mostly devoid of meat, dairy, or sweets, a symbolic burial of what was eaten during that time.

Because the burrow and herring was the most common food, on Good Friday or Saturday a immense pot filled with mud and ash was thrown into a large pit that was then buried. On the another hand, mediocre herring, most frequently cut from paper or wood, was hung on a tree.

After this rite, it was possible to sit down to a set table with a clean conscience and savor other, delicious dishes, which we do with large desire today.