Udział zwierząt gospodarskich w ludowych obrzędach dorocznych
Involving Livestock in Annual Folk Customs

Summary/Abstract: The article is a presentation of spring rituals associated with animals in the Polish countryside, recorded by ethnographers up to the beginning of the twentieth century. In traditional Polish rural society, rituals associated with the Slavs beliefs and symbolism, which were to symbolically start the new vegetative year, were among the most important activities of worship the choice of animals for the ritual. These beliefs were so firmly embedded in the consciousness of the traditional communities that survived until the early twentieth century in the form of customs and the way of how animals were treated by the hosts. The relationship of man with the animal was very characteristic of the rural community, as it was associated with the supplementation of the basic needs of the host, which translated into a concern for the animals’ health and their lives. In the opinion of the former inhabitants of the village, caring for the animals apparently manifested in the practice of magic that was to prevent and ward off spells and diseases.

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