12 June 2003

Garlands is an old Slavic custom connected to the shortest night of the year, the eve of St. John's day, June 23. In the past, unmarried girls from Cracow used to weave garlands of flowers and set them adrift on the Vistula River, hoping to learn something of their future from the garland's behavior on the water. Today, before midsummer's night, inhabitants of Cracow gather at the Bulwary Wiślane boulevards to watch the open-air show organized every year-last year the event attracted over 100,000 people. This year the event organized by the Cracow 2000 Festival Office is to last two days (June 21 and 22). In addition to Cracow, events are to take place at the lake in Nowa Huta and in Tyniec.

One attraction will be a Midsummer Market, during which the beautiful old Cracow streets of Grodzka, Senacka, Poselska and Kanoniczna will turn into a medieval market, filled with people in period costumes. On Saturday morning (10 a.m.) a concert for children entitled Cruise for a Blue Adventure will take place at the foot of Wawel hill.

The traditional competition for the most beautiful garland will take place on the bank of the Vistula River at 3 p.m. Cracow folk band Muzykanci will perform at 7:40 p.m., right after a boat-race. At 9 p.m. the star of the night, Kayah, will appear onstage. The Saturday night will be topped-off by a fireworks display beginning at 10:30 p.m.

The Warsaw Voice is a patron of the Garlands.

Cracovian Customs
According to legend, in 1287 Cracow craftsmen defeated the Tartars who had invaded the city. This event is commemorated each year, a week after Corpus Christi. June 26, a man in a 40-kilogram costume resembling a Tartar khan and prancing on a hobby horse, known as Lajkonik, will ride in a festive procession from Norbertine Convent in Salwator district to the Market Square. Lajkonik uses a truncheon to lightly hit the shopkeepers and pedestrians standing nearby, apparently ensuring them good luck.

June 28 at 12 noon, Cracow's Old Town Square will see another event with a centuries-long tradition: a colorful pageant featuring trade guild members dressed in historical costumes. The 700-year-old Riflemen's Brotherhood, dating back to the times when the city's defenders also included craftsmen, organizes shooting competitions each year. The first to shoot down the target cock, or kur, holds the Champion Shot title for one year.

About Face!
Polish military bands will march through Cracow's Market Square June 26, but the 13th Military Bands Festival officially opens during a ceremony June 27 at 4 p.m. The festival will continue to June 30.
The concert at the Market Square will last till 10 p.m. and will be aired by TVP 2 public television. The later concerts are expected to be as popular as ever, in Cracow June 28 at 7 p.m. at the Wawel Stadium on Bronowicka Street; and in Katowice June 29 at 3 p.m. at the Spodek arena. The military parades, drills and concerts on Cracow's streets are sure to be impressive. This year, the festival parade will also march through Katowice's center streets June 29 at 1 p.m. Along with 12 Polish bands, orchestras from the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Latvia, the Netherlands and Ukraine will also perform.

In the Wild
Through June 29 the Palace of Art (4 Szczepański Sq.) is hosting an exhibition featuring the best works awarded in the BG Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, organized since 1964 by BBC Wildlife Magazine and the Museum of Natural History in London. For the first time displayed in Poland, this year's edition consists of 90 works (chosen from 18,600 submitted from 62 countries) awarded in a dozen or so categories. Poles Renata and Marek Kosiński are among the laureates.

send to a friend	print article