The values that folk art contributes to national culture as a whole, through its vitality and its still evolving character, must be assessed according to two kinds of criteria; one set of standards will apply to “living” folklore, transmitted by tradition in ever new variants — in other words, folklore that is still being created — while another will define its documentary sphere, that is, folklore preserved in a record. This double standard presents a considerable difficulty in folklore research, including the study of music, if our aim is indeed to establish the objective state of affairs. For folklore is something not entirely tangible, something elusive, something — in motion. There is undoubtedly a dialectical antinomy between musical folklore as it is preserved and as it develops in a particular direction: between, therefore, the form, the tendency and the crystallisation of the musical creations of the people. From another perspective, this relationship can be understood as an antinomy and, at the same time, as a bond linking folklore with folklore studies. Leaving a theoretical analysis of the relationship outlined above for another occasion, I wish merely to note that I am aware of these interdependencies, and that this reflection arose from direct encounters with folk artists and from confronting their world, including the world of their art, with my own.

Those fields of folk creativity which, like music, are transmitted orally and undergo continual change, thus moving away from their earlier models, are especially in need of ongoing documentation. Alongside musical folklore, folk literature essentially belongs here too; the mutual influences and the close union of these two fields in sung folklore are evident.

These needs, as I understood them, for the preservation of folk song together with its theoretical interpretation, as well as my particular personal interest in the region, were the reasons that led me

to undertake folklore collecting in the vicinity of Częstochowa and, subsequently, to analyse and describe the documented song material.

The Częstochowa region, understood as a distinct subregion, is a relatively recent formation; it does not correspond to the historical Polish administrative, territorial and tribal, or dialectal divisions. The town itself, first mentioned in 1220¹, was not yet at that time a central hub for the surrounding settlements or monastic establishments. Only its gradual development gave it this importance, which reached its height in the nineteenth century; it is then that one can speak of Częstochowa’s decisive influence on the character of its surroundings, and the nature and effectiveness of this influence allow the boundaries of the territory concerned to be defined more precisely — though still only approximately.

The elimination — or rather the relegation to the background — of historical and geographical criteria in delineating the region should not suggest that the boundaries established here are artificial or abstract. The distinctive qualities that make it possible to identify a particular territorial area may originate both in the distant past and in conditions that have developed recently or in the present, connected with economic differences, natural resources, the accentuation or levelling of cultural differences — and a further range of factors.

In fact, compared with such highly individual regions as Podhale, Śląsk or Kurpie, the Częstochowa region has only modest topographical, ethnic, customary and cultural distinctions; these are nevertheless sufficiently clear to confirm the existence of a distinct spatial formation, certainly deserving to be called a region with a particular character.

Following this line of thought, and bearing in mind the criteria defined above, we can agree that the boundaries of the Częstochowa region correspond approximately to the area of the newly established Częstochowa Voivodeship (in 1975); under the previous administrative division (of 1956), it would have included the whole of the Częstochowa and Kłobuck districts and parts of the districts of Pajęczno, Radomsko and Włoszczowa.

The field research I undertook in these areas spans a period of three years: the first song recordings date from 1970, and the last from 1972.

The choice of localities from which the source material comes was guided by the desire to document the subject as evenly as possible in geographical terms. Certain quantitative disparities in the recordings proved unavoidable, however, owing to the fact that in some areas the folklore tradition is cultivated more actively,

while in others it shows a weakening tendency — though this is less common.

Apart from five songs written down by hand directly from hearing them in Częstochowa-Zawodzie (a method dictated by circumstances at the time that were unfavourable to other forms of recording), the entire collection is documented on magnetic tape. The individual recordings, listed chronologically, are as follows:

August 1970 — Lipnik, former Częstochowa district:

Zofia Wrzesińska 1902 — 11 songs
Stanisława Lampa 1915 — 20

— Żuraw, former Częstochowa district:

Emilia Jakubczak 1954 — 1
Helena Jakubczak 1911 — 18
Zofia Jakubczak 1923 — 8
Wiktoria Knysak 1884 — 6

— Lusławice, former Częstochowa district:

Agnieszka Woszczyna 1915 — 19

August 1971 — Golce, former Kłobuck district:

Stanisława Lisiecka 1909 — 15
Marianna Machura 1888 — 14
Antoni Blukacz 1911 — 44

— Klepaczka, former Kłobuck district:

Bolesław Blukacz 1927 — 14
Janina Kardas 1940 — 5
Maria Lisiecka 1922 — 2
Kazimierz Matyja 1931 — 5
Anna Żerdzińska 1919 — 8

September — October 1972 — Częstochowa-Zawodzie:

Aniela Klimek 1901 — 5

— Szarlejka, former Częstochowa district:

Elżbieta Namysło 1936 — 8
Joanna Ogłaza 1906 — 17

— Kawodrza Dolna, former Częstochowa district:

Stefania Fajer 1904 — 18

— Częstochowa-Grabówka

Janina Chruścińska 1915 — 2.

I assembled the whole body of material, comprising 240 songs obtained from 20 informants, by means of a fieldwork method based on on-site interviewing. This also provided an opportunity for more general observations: in the course of fieldwork, during direct encounters with the rural population, I became convinced of my own role in encouraging the folk informants, within the broadly understood process of reviving traditions that were sometimes — not infrequently! — forgotten, but which reawakened on the occasion of an interview and recording. What seems most important here is the stimulus itself: finding an appropriate way to communicate with the informants and to reach their ways of thinking.

The scope of the collection and its study is defined by the exclusive focus of the research on unaccompanied monophonic songs; I did not capture ensemble music-making, a phenomenon that is not particularly common in the Częstochowa area.

Transcription, selection and organisation of the source material — although time-consuming and requiring a great deal of work — necessarily constitute only an intermediate stage, leading to the principal and concluding part: a broadly conceived analysis of the transcribed material over the widest possible range, with an awareness of, and due regard for, the many aspects of the questions it raises.

An attempt to summarise the results of this work as a whole, and then to define them and draw general conclusions, does not seem self-evident or, despite its apparent automaticity, unambiguous. The results of the research, which can be presented in concrete numerical terms, when suitably organised do indeed allow conclusions to be drawn with a high degree of probability. Yet, on the other hand, the collection of two hundred and forty songs analysed here, obtained in nine localities from twenty informants, remains too limited in quantity and scope, and in some respects even too fortuitous, to propose here — despite the use of comparative documentation — generalising propositions that define the character and distinctive features of the folklore of the Częstochowa region. Let this reservation stand in place of a commentary on the formulations below — without denying their validity, but allowing the subject to be treated in relative and open terms.

Thus, beginning with the general characteristics of the scales in Częstochowa songs, unquestionable precedence must be given to major and minor melodies, which comprise approximately 90 per cent of the collection. Of these, the major mode predominates, accounting for 3/4 of the tonal melodies. This does not, of course, mean that this precise proportion is constant and unvarying at all recording locations. For individual localities, depending on whether their situation is central

or peripheral, were permeated by new influences originating in working-class and suburban communities — or remained faithful to an indigenous rural tradition. This is sufficiently illustrated by recordings made in the suburban settlements of Szarlejka and Kawodrza near Częstochowa, which contain predominantly new songs whose subject matter relates to contemporary realities, not exclusively rural ones. By contrast, the songs collected in Lipnik and Żuraw near Przyrów, remote villages set amid forests, with poor transport connections to the town, have a markedly different character.

Taking this distinction further, one can identify certain repertoire preferences among individual performers — dependent on the informant’s environment and occupation, on personal tastes and, from another perspective, also on vocal capabilities. It must be emphasised, however, that it would be mistaken to attribute the origin of narrow-range melodies, whose ambitus does not exceed a fifth, to this last factor. Evidence refuting such a supposition comes from comparison with other songs performed by the same person, generally far more varied in their pitch organisation.

Archaic scales — from the tetrachord, pentatonic scales and heptatonic modal systems to mixed types — although they make up only a small part of the overall proportion (approximately 10 per cent), nonetheless attest to the survival of certain features of the musical culture of the people of the Częstochowa region, to their archaic colouring and to the endurance of early traditions, erased neither by turbulent historical events nor by the contemporary character and direction of social development in this region. The present picture of folk culture in the Częstochowa area, as shown in its musical aspect by the song collection under discussion, therefore places traditional strands, most readily found in ceremonial songs, in immediate proximity to new themes expressed in texts addressing the problems of the present. Further evidence for the second of these aspects is provided by newly created melodies or those borrowed from other regions of Poland, sometimes tracing their origins beyond the country’s borders.

It is significant — let us emphasise this once more — that archaisms are encountered almost exclusively in songs associated with ceremonies, which have provided an opportunity for “archetypal” features to survive here to the present day. Newer songs, by contrast, generally fall within the major-minor system, seldom departing from the general principle of formal organisation embodied in the musical period.

It should also be noted that the great majority of old ceremonial songs — such as the widely known Oj chmielu, chmielu — belong to nationwide culture, for they are encountered

equally in all regions of Poland; newer songs are different, since — connected in their subject matter with the contemporary realities of the Częstochowa region — they constitute, rather, a distinctive feature of this ethnic community, thus marking out its essential, characteristic, individual trait.

In what properties, then, do the distinctive underlying features of the musical folklore of the Częstochowa region find expression?

I obtained an answer in as much detail as possible elsewhere, through description and analysis; here, in generalising the results of the research so far, let us merely summarise the principal features of the musical language of the collected songs, including their relationship with the prosody and semantics of the text.

Thus, the results of the earlier interpretations can be set out in the following points, which will also serve as individual propositions of this study.

I. In the overall classification, the decisive factor in arranging the source material is adherence to an already developed model, whose premises were presented in detail by Jan Sadownik².

This method, based on the literary criterion of a song’s content and function, allows the collection to be arranged in the following order:

A group outside J. Sadownik’s classification model, which is adapted exclusively to studies of rural folklore, consists of prison songs (2.5 per cent), classified separately in the collection.

The further internal division of the groups already mentioned proceeds as follows: ceremonial songs are divided into family songs (81.1 per cent), represented here exclusively by wedding songs, in the absence of examples for christenings and funerals. Similarly, in the category of annual ceremonial songs the collection is represented only by harvest melodies and texts, with no Christmas carols or songs for Shrovetide, Easter or Midsummer.

The largest section — general songs — is subdivided into reflective (0.6 per cent), historical (1.2 per cent), patriotic (1.8 per cent), social — including ethnic songs, songs concerning class, orphan songs and songs of seasonal agricultural labourers (6 per cent), family songs — including lullabies and songs about parents and children and about married life (8 per cent), courtship (36.6 per cent), love (31.25 per cent), songs of bravado (0.6 per cent), drinking (0.6 per cent), comic (14.4 per cent), obscene (1.8 per cent) and religious songs (1.2 per cent). Courtship, love and comic songs thus predominate in this category, leaving the other thematic groups in the background.

Among occupational songs, the leading role belongs to soldiers’ songs (63 per cent), followed by brigand songs. Next come farming and agricultural, shepherds’ and hunting songs (each of these groups accounts for 7.4 per cent of the section).

Despite differences of detail and the absence of certain thematic strands, the numerical proportions between the groups classified in the collection under discussion correspond broadly to the proportions I have encountered in other collections; they also probably confirm the situation prevailing in this respect in Polish folklore generally.

II. A division such as that made above in terms of the content and function of songs does not, however, provide a picture of the literary genres that convey this content. Bringing form into focus requires a separate procedure; its result is the following proportion: epic songs make up 25 per cent of the whole collection. Their main body consists of texts on military themes, often drawing on older traditions (songs about uhlans), but also treating events of the last war:

Original Polish

W tysiąc dziewięćset czterdziestym roku
pożegnał swoją dziewczynę,
poszedł do lasu mścić się na wroga,
co wymordował rodzinę.

English translation

In the year nineteen hundred and forty
he said farewell to his girl,
he went to the forest to take revenge on the enemy
who had murdered his family.

(no. 229)*

Themes from love and family ballads have a smaller share in this group. The same is true of brigand ballads, among which I recorded the popular theme:

Original Polish

Cztery mile za Warszawą
hej, miałem ci ja siostrzyczkę wydaną...

English translation

Four miles beyond Warszawa,
hey, I had a little sister married off...

(no. 231)

The least numerous, however, are religious ballad themes, such as the song about the girl from Kraków³ (no. 203) or the ballad about a woman who killed her child:

Original Polish

A w niedzielę po obiedzie
sam Pan Jezus do mnie jedzie...

English translation

And on Sunday after dinner
the Lord Jesus himself comes to me...

(no. 202)

A larger part of the collection, namely 40 per cent, is taken up by lyric songs. Their subject matter is very extensive, corresponding to the full range of human feelings

that find expression in this genre. Besides the principal strand of love and courtship themes, this group includes songs of almost all the types listed in the general, ceremonial and occupational sections.

The number of satirical songs, comprising 35 per cent of the collection, expresses the distinctive disposition of the people, their intelligence and sense of humour. Folk satire leaves no area of life untouched — and thus none of the groups in the classification of songs by content. It treats rural social relations with sarcasm and also comments on tragic historical events:

Original Polish

A Mussolini jedzie do Hitlera,
a Hitler w schronie, bierze go cholera,
oj, Mussolini równa się świni,
trzyma się Osi, Osi się prosi...

English translation

And Mussolini goes to Hitler,
and Hitler’s in the bunker, fuming with rage,
oh, Mussolini’s no better than a pig,
he clings to the Axis, begs the Axis...

(no. 40)

Satire spares neither family homes nor the intimacy of married life, nor does it fear touching the clerical robe; to untimely advances it gives a metaphorical reply:

Original Polish

Po co żeś się, stary dziadu przywlókł,
nie poradzi mojej roli twój pług,
moja rola to sama rędzina,
tyś stary dziad, ja młoda dziewczyna.

English translation

Why have you dragged yourself here, you old codger,
your plough cannot work my land,
my land is all rendzina,
you’re an old codger, I’m a young girl.

(no. 172)

III. Turning to the findings from research into the textual layer of the songs, we should note the cohesion and close interdependence of their poetic and musical elements. Both the literature in this field and the experience gained from work on the present collection suggest that the leading role belongs precisely to the text, to its syllabic, line and stanza structure.

Textual analysis reveals that the general principle underlying the construction of Częstochowa songs is their strophic form, which accords with the principal conventions governing the entirety of Polish song folklore. In this collection approximately 55 per cent have a two-line stanza structure, with twelve-syllable lines forming the largest part of this group. Four-line stanzas account for 32 per cent of the items, the most frequent type being the heterometric stanza, with a varying number of syllables in each line. The remaining types are represented in small numbers by five-line stanzas (5 per cent), three-line stanzas (3 per cent), stanzas with a refrain (3 per cent),

and six-line stanzas. In all types of stanza, rhyme most typically follows a pattern of rhyming couplets; alternating rhyme is rare and associated with brigand, soldiers’ and prison texts — which, in the case of this collection, do not fall strictly and without qualification within the set of features defining rural folklore.

An examination of the quality of the rhymes shows — in all types of stanza — a clear predominance of exact, rich feminine rhymes.

The language exemplified by the collected songs does not depart greatly in its syntactic features from the patterns of standard literary Polish. The Częstochowa vernacular can therefore be characterised only on the basis of phonetics, whose properties, owing to the region’s location, show affinities with the dialects of Małopolska, Wielkopolska and also Śląsk; the inconsistency and slightness of the linguistic deviations nevertheless allow Częstochowa speech to be regarded as closer to standard Polish than as belonging to any particular dialect. This, moreover, proves an advantage for the “literary” artistic devices of folk poetry; they appear in abundance, relying chiefly on metaphors and similes.

IV. Musical analysis of the songs in terms of scale and tonality reveals, as already mentioned, archaic features in 10 per cent of the collection, manifested especially in pentatonic and Dorian turns, followed by Aeolian and Lydian features and the phenomenon of mixed scales — modal scales, as well as tonal scales with pentatonic and modal inflections. The most unusual phenomenon is melodies with a scale narrower than a pentatonic one; an example was provided by one of the two oldest female informants, Marianna Machura (born 1888) from Golce, who sang Mamusiu moja, boli mie głowa (Mother Dear, My Head Is Aching), based on the tetrachord g-a-c¹-d¹. A scale of this kind suggests a certain ambiguity: it may be regarded as a form more archaic than a pentatonic scale, resulting from the superimposition of two trichords spanning a fourth: d¹-c¹-a, c¹-a-g⁴; one should, however, also remember the explanation offered by Moszyński⁵, who describes a similar phenomenon as the transposition of a second upwards by a fourth. Another possibility is to treat this scale as a so-called defective pentatonic scale, with the third note of the pyknon missing. Wozaczyńska⁶ considers such a formation and notes the regularity of its occurrence.

Among the songs based on the major-minor system, which comprises 90 per cent of the collection, the not uncommon cases of an unstable tonal mode oscillating between minor and major deserve attention. Characteristic of folk melodies, including those in this collection, are modulatory shifts in their implied harmonies, chiefly according to the relative-key

relationship.

This observation — given material represented exclusively by monophony — results from analysis according to conventions generally used in the major-minor system and also adopted by the people (though without professional awareness). This avenue of harmonic “inference” naturally leaves some room for debate: it is subject to its own relativity in the face of equally well-founded arguments.

V. In analysis, the melodic line is revealed primarily through its basic structural type, which is an eight-bar period with an internal A — B scheme, although departures from this model are by no means exceptional. Three-part organisation is represented by very few examples. These mostly have an AAB or ABA structure, which also creates an analogy with two-part form in the first case.

Irregular formations, accounting for approximately 30 per cent of the songs, contain an element of asymmetry primarily within the melody itself. We thus encounter structures of 6 — 24 bars with an unequal internal organisation: 2+4, 5+3, 4+6, 6+5, 7+10, 12+8, 14+10 and others. By contrast, songs whose regularity is disturbed by textual interpolations occupying one or two bars are relatively rare. Calls such as Original Polishkuku, kukuryku, dana, hejEnglish translation“cuckoo”, “cock-a-doodle-doo”, “dana”, “hey” cause the melody to lose its straightforward structure despite its objectively symmetrical organisation (for example, 8+8 bars).

Another way in which melodies are lengthened is through the repetition of middle passages. An extreme instance of internal structural expansion of this type is the cumulative song (żydowskie wesele; “Jewish wedding”) about how Original Polish„stworzył Pan Bóg gruszkę... kozę... piesa... kija...”English translation“the Lord God created a pear... a goat... a dog... a stick...” and so on (no. 196). In each stanza one new line is added; as a final result, the song expands from its initial eight bars into a form several dozen bars long — while the cell that forms the basis of this growth is a phrase of just 2 bars.

Analysis of the melodic line in terms of intervals allows us to establish that seconds and thirds have the greatest importance, followed by unisons, fourths, fifths, sixths, octaves and sevenths — in precisely this order. The interval of a ninth also appears sporadically, more in connection with the division into musical phrases than in the continuous course of the melody. This hierarchy of intervals essentially accords with traditional ways of constructing melodies, also observed in professional classical composition. It likewise ensures the fluidity and flow of folk melodies.

Melismatic writing finds modest use in Częstochowa songs, in favour of the syllabic writing prevalent here. Melodies of a recitative

character are exceptional, while the most frequent shape of the melodic line in this collection belongs to the category of undulating contours.

VI. Rhythm is defined here by the following features:

a. beginning on the downbeat as the principal rule, associated with traditional rural song; anacrustic beginnings as an indication of an element that is new or foreign to indigenous models,

b. descendental rhythms, which define the character of Polish folk music in general,

c. accentuation of weak beats within the bar, particularly in material of dance origin,

d. the predominance of odd, triple metre (57 per cent) over even metre (29 per cent),

e. relatively frequent changes of metre (in 14 per cent).

The phenomenon of metre changing within a single song is encountered very frequently in the collection under discussion; in general, melodies containing any metrical changes account for approximately 40 per cent of the collection. This number includes, however, mostly both melodies in which individual bars are shortened or lengthened almost accidentally (for example, as a result of mannerisms or poorly planned breathing), and songs whose rhythmic structure contains deliberately contrasting metrical sections: these form a group comprising 14 per cent of the collection.

The substantive analysis naturally concerned songs of the second kind — with changing metre, but governed by certain rules. In these cases metre becomes a factor in the shaping of form, creating contrast between passages of the melody and thus dividing it into two (ab), three (aba) or four (abab) parts. Not all melodies with changing metre display such readily discernible regularity, however: we encounter examples whose internal differentiations cannot be expressed in a symmetrical pattern.

VII. The relationships and mutual influences between the Częstochowa region and neighbouring, and even more distant, areas are considerable — chiefly because of the geographical situation of these lands, and also because of the character of the area’s civilisational development. This interdependence is complemented and reflected by artistic correspondences, manifested both in analogies between texts and entire literary themes and in melodic affinities. In this collection we encounter narrative themes with legendary sources, such as the already mentioned song about the girl from Kraków, a trace of the tale of Saint Dorothea, or the song about a woman who killed her child. Among Częstochowa songs we also find themes of a reflective nature, directly related to Polish poetry — such as the motif

from the Pieśń gminna (Folk Song) in Mickiewicz’s Dziady (Forefathers’ Eve), or a song related to the poetry of the nobility:

Original Polish

Trzeba się zapytać starszego doktora,
kiedy panny kochać, z rana czy z wieczora?
Z rana kochać ładnie, z wieczora przykładnie,
trzeba panne kochać, kiedy ji popadnie.

English translation

We must ask the elder doctor,
when to love young women, morning or evening?
In the morning it’s lovely, in the evening proper,
you must love the girl whenever the occasion arises for her.

(no. 130)

The many versions of this text found in different poets⁷ and the numerous variants recorded by Kolberg throughout the country indicate the verse’s folk origin, at the same time contradicting the reverse route of the theme — from the poetry of the nobility to that of the people.

The phenomenon of literary analogies is, moreover, neither a new issue in folklore studies nor one confined to the Częstochowa region.

A different kind of question is raised, however, by those features which, adopted from other ethnic communities as a result of migration or other connections, have become a permanent part of the song repertoire under discussion. It is sometimes difficult here to draw a strict distinction between what is “of Częstochowa” or from outside the area, and what is “nationwide Polish”: the origin of a song is not always as obvious as in the case of the żydowskie wesele (“Jewish wedding”) theme already mentioned above⁸.

Borrowings from neighbouring countries — especially from the Germans — are considerable in this collection; linguistic differences rule out the literal adoption of both text and music, so the language is adapted to a foreign melody. Sometimes this is immediately apparent, as in a lullaby (no. 54) constituting a distinctive Polish-German linguistic creation. Equally obvious foreign origins are indicated by a song sung in Czech.

A melody borrowed from the popular Russian folk song Wołga — Wołga (Volga — Volga), used for a text on a prison theme⁹, belongs to another sphere of influence. Here we are dealing not only with the appropriation of a foreign melody, but also with the creation of a text removed from the realities of village life; taken together, this produces a song with no ties to Częstochowa traditions, a creation that could adapt to the reality of any other region. Yet the living presence of this very song in the repertoire of a Częstochowa performer also testifies to the current shape of local folk culture. We repeatedly encounter a similar phenomenon in this collection: foreign popular melodies used for newly created texts about war, partisan activity, prison and other subjects.

A detailed account of textual and musical analogies in Częstochowa songs requires far more space and would involve thorough comparative research; here the aim would be to establish the problem and become aware of its causes and tendencies.

This account, presenting concrete data on the songs’ properties of scale, tonality, metre and rhythm, as well as on their literary basis, allows the individual propositions above to be brought together into a general, overarching view, according to which the folk song tradition of the Częstochowa region:

— 1. constitutes an integral part of national folklore, owing to its numerous interpenetrations, affinities and shared elements; a part that, in a sense — like other centrally situated regions of Poland — brings into focus the essential characteristics of folk creativity on a national scale;

— 2. reflects the overall internal structure of Polish folklore through similar proportions of thematic strands and types of melodic organisation;

— 3. displays distinguishing features that allow us to speak of a certain distinctiveness, weaker, of course, than the degree of originality of the folklore of Podhale, Kurpie or also Śląsk; this distinctiveness emerges in various deviations of detail, discussed several times above, which exist as subordinate elements within the overall relationship of this region’s folklore to Polish folklore as a whole.

As an individual feature of the folklore of the Częstochowa region — a particularly positive feature, attesting to its vitality and creative character — we should identify the historical significance of these melodies and texts, which takes shape continuously through the documentation of contemporary life, spontaneously transformed into art. This is precisely where a starting point for further considerations may be found; their aim is to trace the transformations of folk art and culture, from typically rural traditions to its present character, encompassed broadly by the concepts of peasant-worker and worker-peasant culture and connected with the great social migrations that are still taking place.

A further problem that emerges here is the need to investigate the mechanism by which contemporary rural culture becomes imbued with urban content, and the process by which features traditionally associated with village culture are assimilated into urban and suburban folklore. It seems that the Częstochowa region, like Śląsk, the Kraków region and the Warszawa area, offers the opportunity for a particularly interesting analysis of this question.

Thus, the assessment of the collected and analysed material coincides here with the emergence of new problems awaiting

further development, given the limited treatment they have so far received in the specialist literature. This fact, too, supports the continuing relevance of the present considerations; moreover, it confirms the current vitality and continuous evolution of folk culture as a whole.