The participants sing traditional songs and throw effigies of Marzanna into the water.

During this procession Marzanna was repeatedly dipped in every encountered puddle or stream.

This was probably an adaptation of a traditional ceremony to drown a straw figure of Marzanna, the spirit of winter.

Marzanna (Slavic goddess of death and winter)

In some locations, a tradition functions in which Marzanna is given a male counterpart - Marzaniok.

Today Marzanna is often perceived as a personification of winter and the symbolic drowning ends this season and returns life.

The Marzanna ritual represents the end of the dark days of winter, the victory over death, and the welcoming of the spring rebirth.

Poplawska, Marzanna.

Morena an alternative form of Marzanna, a Slavic goddess of harvest and witchcraft.

Marzanna (in Poland)

The date when the customs of drowning Marzanna and carrying the copse originated in Silesia is unknown.

Today the ritual often takes the form of bringing a decorated copse to the village after the ritual of drowning Marzanna is completed.

Researchers emphasise that Marzanna functioned not merely as a symbol of winter, but also as a Slavic goddess.

Some researchers underline the sacrificial character of this ritual and suggest that Marzanna is sacrificed in order to appease Winter.

As a result this season does not have a goddess and the goddess Živa fights over it with the goddess Marzanna.

Typically the effigy or doll representing Marzanna is made of straw and dressed in traditional local costume, rags, or even bridesmaid's clothes.

Researchers point out that traditionally only women and girls would walk with a hand-made Marzanna; only later was the custom taken over by young adults and children.

The custom of drowning the effigy of Marzanna derives from sacrificial rites; its function was to ensure a good harvest in the upcoming year.

In some regions - such as around Gliwice and Racibórz - local girls were followed by boys carrying Marzanna's male equivalent - Marzaniok.

Jarilo is god of the vegetation and spring, and his sister and wife, Morena (Marzanna), goddess of winter and death.

In modern times the rituals associated with Marzanna have lost their sacred character and are a pastime - an occasion to have fun and celebrate the beginning of spring.

The authors of Wyrzeczysko propose that Marzanna is sacrificed to the demons of water, whose favour was necessary to ensure a plentiful harvest in the coming year.

In the evening the effigy passed to the young adults; the juniper twigs were lit, and thus illuminated Marzanna was carried out of the village, burned, and thrown into water.

Grazyna Bogdanowicz, Beata Kierejsza, Marzanna Grabowska, Maciej Makarewicz Event Type:

Drowning Marzanna in water (an element of high importance in season-related folk celebrations) is understood as the goddess' symbolic descent into the underworld, to be reborn with next winter.