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Topienie Marzanny - Drowning The Marzanna

One pagan tradition still popular today is the drowning of the marzanna ("frost maiden"), held on the fourth Sunday of Lent. For our ancestors, the custom was associated with the everlasting rhythm of life. It expressed their joy at the coming of spring,

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Description

Painting on glass is a popular Polish form of folk art by which the artist paints a picture on the reverse side of a glass surface.

One pagan tradition still popular today is the drowning of the marzanna ("frost maiden"), held on the fourth Sunday of Lent. For our ancestors, the custom was associated with the everlasting rhythm of life. It expressed their joy at the coming of spring, which meant a rebirth of nature, promising crops and abundance, the marzanna was a representation of winter, a straw female effigy, dressed in white and adorned with coral beads and ribbons. In Silesia, she was clad in a beautiful wedding dress with a wreath on her head. Villagers carried the marzanna from house to house, then stripped her and scattered the clothes over the fields. Eventually she was drowned in a river, pond, and lake or simply in a big puddle. Sometimes before throwing her into the water the effigy was set on fire. As the marzanna was carried out of the village one way, on the opposite side the villagers carried in the maik - green branches adorned with ribbons, coral beads and flowers. Over centuries this ceremony evolved into a form of amusement. Today drowning the marzanna is mainly done by children on 21 March, which is the first day of spring and an unofficial truants' day.
(Source: http://culture.poland.com/culture-tradition.php)

Features

Hand painted on glass and signed by the artist.
Wooden frame
Size 12.5" x 11.25" - 31.5cm x 28.5cm

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