POLISH PAGANISM

Mountain men disguised as devils, the Grim Reaper, horses and bears ring-in the New Year.

For centuries, men have crisscrossed snowy villages nestled in the foothills of Poland's southern Beskid range around the New Year to wish neighbours happiness and prosperity.

Devils, bears and Death ring in the New Year in Poland

Stanislaw WASZAK,
AFP•January 18, 2020

Colourful and loud, the festival, with its time-honoured traditions, brings together inhabitants of villages nestled in the foothills of Poland's southern Beskid mountain range (AFP Photo/Wojtek RADWANSKI)


Milowka (Poland) (AFP) - Mountain men disguised as devils, the Grim Reaper, horses and bears ring-in the New Year with a cacophony of drums, whistles, shouts and catchy melodies in a time-honoured tradition still popular in Poland's mountains.

For centuries, men have crisscrossed snowy villages nestled in the foothills of Poland's southern Beskid range around the New Year to wish neighbours happiness and prosperity in return for gifts of food or small sums of money.

Similar folk customs marking the winter solstice are practised in neighbouring countries and can be traced back to pagan times.

For the last half-century lively troupes of characters have flocked to the Beskidy village of Milowka for the colourful and loud "Dziady Zywieckie" festival that ranks as part of Poland's intangible cultural heritage

"All this uproar, characters dressed in very bright colours, the noises, bells and whistles, cracking whips are meant to chase away spirits who want to descend to Earth," festival organiser Andrzej Maciejowski told AFP.

"The characters represent people and imaginary entities known to rural folk in days gone by: otherworldly beings, devils and the Grim Reaper, as well as ethnic minorities like Jews or Roma and old professions like peddlers or healers," he added.

Bears and horses play a leading role in the custom signalling that spring and new life are on their way.

Men parading as lively horses symbolise vigour while others, posing as bears, bear the power to "fertilise the Earth so that it bears more fruit than last year," adds Maciejowski.

Cracking whips open the joyful if chaotic festivities before the Grim Reaper makes an appearance followed by troupes of horses and bears dancing wildly to symbolise new life.

- Circle of life -

"In popular tradition, death as represented by the Grim Reaper is never final, but rather marks the passage to a new and higher stage of life," explains ethnographer Barbara Rosiek.

During the noisy procession through the village and in the courtyards of cosy old log cabins, the groups hail the eternal circle of life marked by order or disorder in nature.

Horses run, devils bicker and taunt onlookers to whom peddlers also display their merchandise promising marvels, sometimes in a grumpy manner.

Amid the din, the Grim Reaper cuts a calm figure, waving his scythe at onlookers.

"Death wants to take people's lives but even the devils prevent it. Death only scares people," says Szymon Sikora, 28, a truck driver dressed up as the Grim Reaper in a terrifying mask and with a large scythe in hand.

Dressed up as a peddler, Robert Brzusnia, 45, has taken part in the festival for nearly all his life.

"I've participated... for 40 years. My father did too," he said.

"All December, the guys meet in their free time to prepare their masks and costumes, and to rehearse," says Maciejowski, who cannot contain his amusement.

"Bells tinkle and whips crack loudly. In short, the tradition is alive and well."

Images for Dziady Zywieckie

Dziady Żywiec, Jukaka, Jukoka - a folk custom celebrated in the Żywiec region. Territorially limited to Żywiec - Zabłocie . According to tradition, the bridge on the Sola River separating Żywiec from Zabłocie was the impassable border for yucca .

The rite lasts from the evening on New Year's Eve and ends on New Year's in the afternoon. During this rite, carolling is combined with New Year's greetings and pranks for passers-by.

Payment for a carol is sometimes a Christmas cake, refreshments with vodka, or most often a small amount of money, which in Zabłocie was used to organize 'dziadowska' games, especially in Zabłocie.

This custom is disappearing every year. It is maintained only at the cyclically organized Gody Żywieckie event at the turn of January and February.

Żywiec [ edit | edit code ]

Dziady Dziady, to distinguish it from Dziady from nearby villages near Podywiec , is often called yucca . However, this is not the only difference, because there are differences in costumes between them. Dziady Żywiec uses the most archaic type of masks. It is a mask, usually from a piece of sheep's fleece, with cut out holes for eyes and mouth. They wear a cap on the head in the form of a cone, finished with a pompom (usually made of tissue paper), on which the coming new year is written. Other attributes of yucca are bells pinned to the waist and a whip made of rope narrowing towards the end (formerly such ropes were made by Żywiec rope makerson order) approx. 3 m long, mounted on a wooden shaft approx. 30-40 mm in diameter, approx. 30-50 cm long and finished with so-called ciynioskiem and strzylock about 30-40 cm long, braided by linen thread by jukaca. It is this tip that gives the effect of "cracking with a whip", reminiscent of the bang of a gunshot.

The "band" yukacy consisted of a dozen to several dozen (sometimes up to 70 people). Jukac could only be a bachelor (today these rules are no longer observed, but in the past they were obligatory). Among the yuccathere is a kind of hierarchy and rules established by tradition. There is only one company and any competition is out of the question. The company is headed by a cashier. It differs from the others in red outfit. He has several herdsmen to help. You can recognize them by the stripes sewn on the pants. Their color also means the place they occupy in the group of drovers. Everyone who wants to be promoted in the hierarchy must already have an experience in walking on "grandfathers". Formerly one of the strictly observed rules was that in public places under no circumstances could be revealed. The grandfather had to remain anonymous for breaking this rule, threatening to divide the whip with a whip. Grandfather's clothing is made according to his own idea. The next in the grandfather's hierarchy are: grandfather (he had a hat like a drover, but with horns), a chimney sweep, devil and woman.

The order of grandfathers' carolling is also defined. The "chasing" of Dziady begins on New Year's Eve with a collection in the square in front of the Żywiec railway station , they are given instructions and they go to New Year's Eve games taking place in Zabłocie. At present, the tradition of not crossing the bridge over Sola has been broken and yucca also goes to the city center. After arriving at the party, they fall into the room and give New Year wishes to the participants. Then there is a dance for grandparents where selected ladies and married women ask. Then they leave the ball and go to the next one. That's how time passes almost until the morning.

At 5:00 a.m. on New Year's Day in the church of St. Floriana in Zabłocie is organized for yucca so-called grandfather's mass . After its completion, they run away in small groups to carol through the houses in Zabłocie and on the street (formerly Główna and now Dworcowa Street), wishing the residents returning from services.

Podżywieckie villages [ edit | edit code ]

Dziady Dzywiec, in relation to carol groups associated with this custom, found in Żywiec villages, differ from yucca from Zabłocie. There are quite large differences between them, visible even between individual villages. Only in Sienna , because this village belonged to the farm key in Żywiec and its parish was for many years the Żywiec parish, as well as the fact that it is located on the border with Zabłocie, the forms of dress and carolling behaved as they did in Żywiec.

The further away from Żywiec, this custom takes the form of a reviving life spectacle, the quintessence of which is the dance of horses over a dead-sleeping bear or macidula , who resurrects - wakes up from winter sleep. Characters also appear in groups of carol singers in favor of characters associated with nature:

• horses - the horse's outfit took the form of a cap set on a wooden frame finished from the front with a horse's head carved in wood and decorated with colorful fragments of ribbons or tissue paper;
• bear - dressed in a sheepskin coat, fleece outside.

and characters, probably observed at fairs, maybe in nearby Żywiec, that is:

• Soldier - with a cornea on his head, decorated with orders ; he often served as a commandant in the dziadowska company.
• A Jew - in an excessively long hat, in a mask carved in linden wood in a particularly unsightly manner with a hooked nose, in a worn patched coat, sometimes with a suitcase (money); he is often accompanied by a Jewish woman - a well-painted woman.
• A young couple - characters depicting (parodying) the city's smarts.

and characters who sometimes come to the countryside, i.e.

• Gypsy with a Gypsy - no mask where the face was painted mostly in red; the attribute of the Gypsy couple was a child attached to the back.
• " Dziechciorz " - they were most often Slovaks or Hungarians selling children and performing minor repairs in a farmyard (e.g. pot riveting, which was once popular); often this character becomes a Jew.
• Chimney sweep - without a mask, painted black mostly, in a cylinder with a ladder and especially recently with chimney sweep brushes and formerly with a broom.

The figures of the gypsies and the chimney sweep were assigned to adepts of the grandfather's trade, as it were during an internship. Only after completing this internship could you be promoted in the company and put on a mask.

There were also characters with difficult to determine origin or mythical:

• The devil - usually two one red the other black.
• Death - dressed in a white sheet with bones painted in black paint and with a scythe in her hands.
• Macidula - string, shredder, usually in a mask, but often without it.

Of course, there are also characters from the everyday life of the village:

• Priest - dressed up like a priest (priest how everyone sees).
• a policeman - often dressed as a policeman.
• Highlanders - the highlanders ' task was to play carolers; one played the button- heligonce , the other played the violin and the other on a vacancy .

All characters were played by men, it was never possible to participate in these women's rituals.

GOOGLE TRANSLATION FROM POLISH WIKIPEDIA 

AUSTRALIA WILDFIRES UPDATE

Weather 'merry-go-round' poses new risks for fire-ravaged Australia Issued on: 

21/01/2020 

Sydney (AFP)

A "merry-go-round" of extreme weather was hampering efforts by firefighters in Australia to tackle unprecedented bushfires that have killed at least 29 people and devastated vast swathes of the country.

Parts of the country welcomed heavy rainfall overnight, but authorities warned Tuesday that storms were bringing added complications, and the fire-danger risk could be elevated in the coming days.

"It has been a merry-go-round of weather over the last few days," the Bureau of Meteorology's Kevin Parkin said.

"We have gone from fires and storms and floods, and giant hail -- the size of limes... producing widespread damage -- to fire danger escalating on our doorstep," the senior meteorologist added.

The country has suffered a collision of extreme climate events in the past week, with storms, lightning, thunder and hail battering areas in the fire-hit east.

The bushfire season has been made worse by climate change, experts say.

Victoria state experienced bursts of intense rain over the past 48 hours that helped to contain long-running blazes in some areas, but landslides, fallen trees and lightning strikes have hampered recovery efforts.

The temperature in Victoria is set to climb into the mid-30 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) range on Wednesday amid fierce winds, prompting extreme weather warnings in the western parts of the state, where authorities say "new start" fires will be difficult to contain.

"New starts in unprepared communities are the biggest risk," Victoria Country Fire Authority chief officer Steve Warrington told media.

"If communities are not prepared for fire -- whether they live or die, whether their property is saved or not saved -- is very much dependent on decisions people make right now."

A change is expected to bring more rain to the state late Wednesday.

Further north in New South Wales state, heavy rains have also been welcomed in some areas but in others it has left fire-ravaged areas too damp to undertake preventative controlled burns.

Authorities there are bracing for elevated fire danger on Thursday, when temperatures in parts of the state will tip above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

© 2020 AFP

Amid raging wildfires, Australia hit by extreme floods, hail and dust storms

Issued on: 20/01/2020 - 

This handout photo taken on January 17, 2020 and received on January 20 courtesy of Marcia Macmillan shows a child running towards a dust storm in Mullengudgery in New South Wales. - Dust storms hit many parts of Australia's western New South Wales as a prolonged drought continues. (Photo by Handout / Courtesy of Marcia Macmillan / AFP) / AFP - HANDOUT

Text by:NEWS WIRES

Dust storms, hail and flash floods have battered beleaguered Australian cities in recent days, extreme weather that has diminished the threat from scores of wildfires that continue to blaze across the country’s southeast.
A hail storm in the national capital Canberra on Monday damaged public buildings, businesses, homes and cars, cut power to some suburbs, brought down trees, caused flash flooding and injured two people, emergency services officials said.

To the west, a 300-kilometer (186-mile) wide cloud of red dust was carried by wind gusts up to 107 kilometers (66 miles) per hour and descended on the drought-stricken towns of Dubbo, Broken Hill, Nyngan and Parkes, local media reported. Much of the dust is top soil from New South Wales state farms.

Incredible images captured from our contributor Jason Davies of the dust storm that impacted Parkes NSW Australia. Media licensing via SWA. See Jason's Gallery and Video at https://t.co/Q5NddbiPaZ #duststorm pic.twitter.com/8aTnFON5om— Severe Weather Aus (@SevereWeatherAU) January 19, 2020

“It’s part and parcel of this record drought we’ve got at the moment,” Dubbo Mayor Ben Shields told Nine Network television.

Hail struck Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, on Sunday and more hail storms are forecast to return. The city has been choked by smoke from distant wildfires in Victoria state in recent weeks.

FIRST FIRES, NOW ICE: Severe storms lash parts of Australia, bringing golf ball-sized hail. https://t.co/0jmjbKmRnz pic.twitter.com/TbbkTZbJmg— ABC News (@ABC) January 20, 2020

Unusually intense storms over the weekend caused flash flooding in the cities of Brisbane and Gold Coast in Queensland state just north of New South Wales, where most of the wildfire destruction has occurred.

The fires have claimed at least 28 lives since September, destroyed more than 2,600 homes and razed more than 10.4 million hectares (25.7 million acres). The area burned is larger than the U.S. state of Indiana.

Widespread recent rainfall in New South Wales and Victoria have helped but have not extinguished major fires in Australia’s two most populous states.

Authorities have warned the fire danger will escalate this week in both states with rising temperatures and drier conditions.

(AP)

Huge bush fires have been destroying parts of Australia for weeks, and many areas are desperate for rain.

With promises of storms, some thought that they’d finally be getting some well-needed showers. Along with the severe thunderstorms that were predicted on Sunday night, Australians in New South Wales were brought huge dust storms.

The winds produced by the thunderstorms whipped up dry dust so intensely that some towns went dark in the middle of the day.

People are sharing pictures and videos of the storms on Twitter, and many of the images look practically apocalyptic.

One person tweeted, “When the bureau forecasts rain and this arrives... AGAIN! #fudust #sickofcleaning #whenwillwegetrain”. Luckily, the thick dust clouds have in some areas finally given way to rain, although it’s partly come along with hailstones.

Threatened species even more at risk due to Australia's bushfires
Issued on: 20/01/2020 

An injured koala sits at the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park, at the Wildlife Emergency Response Centre in Parndana, Kangaroo Island, Australia January 19, 2020. © REUTERS/Tracey Nearmy

Text by:NEWS WIRES

Australia's bushfires have burned more than half the known habitat of 100 threatened plants and animals, including 32 critically endangered species, the government said Monday.

Wildlife experts worry that more than a billion animals have perished in the unprecedented wave of bushfires that have ravaged eastern and southern Australia for months.

Twenty-eight people died in the blazes, which have swept through an area larger than Portugal.

Officials say it will take weeks to assess the exact toll as many fire grounds remain too dangerous to inspect.

But the government's Department of the Environment and Energy on Monday issued a preliminary list of threatened species of plants, animals and insects which have seen more than 10 percent of their known habitat affected.

More than 80 percent of the known or likely habitats of 49 species has fallen within fire zones, while another 65 species have seen 50-80 percent of their distribution areas affected.

Sally Box, the department's Threatened Species Commissioner, said the survey results were just a first step in understanding the potential impact of the bushfires on Australia's wildlife.

“Some species are more vulnerable to fire than others and some areas were more severely burnt than others, so further analysis will be needed before we can fully assess the impact of the fires on the ground,” she said.

The threatened species in the path of the fires included 272 plant, 16 mammal, 14 frog, nine bird, seven reptile, four insect, four fish and one spider species, the department said.

Of the 32 critically endangered species impacted by the fires, most were plants though they also included frogs, turtles and three types of bird.

(AFP)

Storms, flash floods douse parts of bushfire-stricken Australia

Issued on: 18/01/2020 

Text by: NEWS WIRES

Parts of Australia's east coast were hit by severe storms on Saturday, dousing some of the bushfires that have devastated the region for months but causing road closures and flash flooding.

Fears of smoke from the fires disrupting the Australian Open tennis receded in Melbourne, where the main tournament was due to start on Monday.

Despite the heavy rain, authorities were still battling nearly 100 blazes - part of the bushfires that have killed 29 people since September, destroyed more than 2,500 homes and scorched an area nearly one-third the size of Germany.

Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, three of the states most hit by drought and bushfires, are now dealing with rain bucketing down in several areas.

Major highways were closed in Queensland on Saturday, with the state getting some of the heaviest rain Australia has seen for months, while power was cut in parts of New South Wales after a stormy night.

"Heavy, intense rainfall has eased, but showers and thunderstorms still possible through the weekend," the Bureau of Meteorology in Queensland said on Twitter on Saturday.

"Take care on the roads - if it's flooded, forget it."

Parts of Queensland's south saw triple the monthly rainfall overnight. No major damage has been reported, although some residential areas were flooded and many of the state's parks and tourist attractions were closed.

New South Wales fire services welcomed the rain, which they said on Twitter would help to control the 75 fires burning in the state, of which 25 are yet to be contained. But, they also said that some firegrounds have not seen any rain yet.

More benign storms were forecast for Victoria over the weekend, which has been hit this week already by severe storms and unhealthy smoke from the bushfires.

Skies were clear in Melbourne, however, for the final round of qualifying for the Australian Open, the year's first Grand Slam, and Victoria's Environmental Protection rated the air quality as "good", after an earlier forecast of unhealthy air for the weekend.

There were still more than a dozen fires burning in Victoria on Saturday, with firefighters battling to contain a big blaze in the state's mountain region, fifteen times the size of Manhattan.

Victoria's emergency service also issued an evacuation warning due to a bushfire on Saturday for French Island, the state's largest coastal island with a small population of just above 100 people.

(REUTERS) 

Bushland is seen burnt by fire as rain pools in large puddles at Bilpin, in the Blue Mountains, Australia,
 January 17, 2020. © AAP Image, Dan Himbrechts, Reuters

Thousands of Central American migrants wait on the Rodolfo Robles bridge on the Guatemala-Mexico border as they hope to enter Mexico legally on their journey to the US.

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