Harvest Zalipie and Lowicz Folk Excursion

Immerse yourself into a magical world of Polish folk art. 

Discover Zalipie - the prettiest, hand-painted village and Łowicz - famous for its rich, colourful folklore. Learn folk crafts straight from artists, who have been passing their traditions through generations. Visit stunning open air museums. Experience beautiful rural countryside. Taste delicious Polish food. Join an unforgettable Harvest procession to celebrate the end of harvesting season.

Folka is proud to invite you to this incredible Harvest Folk Excursion! It will be the longest excursion so far. During our trip across Poland you will have an unique chance to experience various folk traditions and customs from different regions. It will be such a beautiful and memorable journey. Not to be missed. 

When: 5th September - 11th September 2024

Travel Plan:

Thursday 5th September

We’ll meet in Kraków at the Ethnographic Museum.

Museum has an incredible collection of Polish folk art. You will discover a traditional hand painted wooden interior hand painted by women from Zalipie, early examples of unique Krakow Nativity Scenes, embroidered costumes, straw pajaki chandeliers, hand painted pisanki (Easter eggs), wycinanki (papercuts), sculptures and many more.

After visiting the museum, we’ll have a walk around Kazimierz - Jewish district.

In the evening we’ll travel towards Tarnów.

 

Friday 6th September

In the morning we’ll travel to Zalipie. We’ll look for traditional shrines and storks on the way! 

On this day we’ll experience this magical village.

Zalipie is a small, rural village in southern Poland. It became famous thanks to its unique cottages painted in bright flowers by local women.

Felicja Curyłowa (1904-1974) from Zalipie, started decorating her family cottage when she was a young girl. She quickly developed her unique, recognisable style and became a well known artist. She taught and inspired other women to decorate their houses too. With time, their decorations became more colourful and decorative.

Poppies, bluebells, sunflowers, roses, peonies - varieties of flowers are incredible. Decorative floral garlands cover not only walls. You can see them on the ceiling, kitchen stove, plates, everyday household items as well as on the exterior of the house, trees.

Local people still continue this tradition and when spring arrives they start painting flowers on their houses, wells, barns, sheds, beehives, and trees. Since 1948, Malowana Chata (Painted Cottage) competition has taken place in June.

We’ll visit Felicja Curyłowa’s incredible house which has been turned into a museum. All paintings inside the cottage are original. Even her first floral decoration, which she painted at the age of 10 in 1914, survived on the ceiling by the entrance. You will also see her beautiful pajaki attached to a ceiling, papercuts, embroidered costumes.

Stefania Łączyńska (1914-2005) was another well known local painter. Her cottage has been recently dismantled and reconstructed near Felicja’s house. You will see how different her style was from Felicja’s.

Inspired by Felicja and Stefania’s art, you will create your own garland decorated with paper flowers. Local artists will share their secrets on how to make famous paper flowers in Zalipie style. It will be such a memorable experience. This workshop is especially designed for our excursion.

In the late afternoon, we’ll wander around the village to look for more hand-painted houses. We’ll visit local people so they will tell us a little bit more about their painted houses. 

 

Saturday 7th September

In the morning, we’ll visit the Ethnographic Museum in Tarnów. Museum has a lovely collection of local crafts as well as a unique collection of beautifully decorated Gypsy caravans.

We’ll continue to discover Zalipie and learn local craft. We’ll meet a local artist who will show us how to make a traditional unique painted papercut.

After the workshop we’ll visit a local church, which is also beautifully decorated in floral motifs.

It will be our last day in Zalipie and I would like you to embrace this lovely village. You will have some time for yourself, to have a walk, to sit down and contemplate the hand-painted cottages and beautiful nature. The village is so magical that it’s difficult to leave.

 

Sunday 8th September

Early in the morning, we’ll join “Dożynki” celebrations.

Dożynki (Harvest Festival) it's one of the oldest and most important customs, connected with Slavic pagan cults of nature, plants and agriculture.

Traditionally, in rural Poland, from the XVI century Dożynki used to be organised by manor owners as a reward to peasants for their hard work at their land during harvest.

The symbol of Dożynki is a harvesting wreath - it symbolises a rich harvest, the prospect of wealth and the power of new life. Wreath is made of wheat and rye straw (which are believed to be the most important ones) usually in the shape of a crown decorated with flowers, berries, ribbons and braided straws. People dressed in traditional costumes will carry the wreath in a colourful procession, some of them will also carry scythes and smaller garlands. After getting it blessed in a local church, the wreath would be carried to the manor house to be presented to the owners. Then, the owners would give ceremonial speeches and invite everyone to dance, eat and celebrate the end of harvest. 

Dożynki is still celebrated across Poland, they are organised by local authorities. Each village makes their own harvesting crowns, which are later presented at the procession and during the show. They are very elaborate, after the show there’s a competition for the best one. 

We will join the local Dożynki celebrations. Local artists dressed in traditional costumes will bring their spectacular harvest wreaths to take part in a procession. It’s such an amazing and memorable experience.

There will be a craft market where you can buy beautiful and unique folk art from the artists.

 

Monday 9th September

In the morning, we’ll drive towards Łowicz.

Łowicz is a town famous for its vibrant folk culture - traditional “pasiaki” - stripy, colourful costumes, embroidered roses, exceptional “wycinanki” papercuts, unique pająki - straw chandeliers, embroidery, papercraft and music.

We’ll visit a lovely open air museum in Maurzyce.

Museum presents the architecture of the Łowicz region from the period between the 18th century and the beginning of the 20th century. You will visit traditional wooden cottages where you will explore how people used to live. Each cottage features unique decorations, everyday objects and furniture. We’ll have a picturesque walk surrounded by a lovely wooden church from the second half of the XVIII century, wind mill and these mesmerising wooden cottages painted in blue.

In the afternoon, we'll drive to a nearby village Sromów to visit the Folk Museum of Brzozowski's Family. Museum was founded by the folk artist Julian Brzozowski in 1972. Julian created over 400 moving sculptures, some of them full sized and dressed in original costumes. He also constructed special engines to make some of the sculptures move! There's a wedding party and guests dance under mini pająki, Nativity Scene, Corpus Christi procession. Museum is decorated with papercuts, paintings made by other talented members of Brzozowski's family and pająki chandeliers made by Julian's wife Wanda (I included her unique style paper pompoms in my book "Making Mobiles. Create beautiful Polish pajaki using natural materials”).

After the tour we’ll have a paper cut workshop with a local artist. This is an unique opportunity to learn traditional local craft straight from the artist. 

Tuesday 10th September

We will continue to discover Łowicz folklor. 

In the morning, We’ll visit the Ethnographic Museum presenting an extraordinary collection of folk art from the Łowicz region - traditional costumes, embroidery, wycinanki (papercuts), pająki straw chandeliers and many more. We’ll have a private tour around the museum. 

In the afternoon, we’ll have a private workshop with a local, amazing embroidery artist. She will teach us how to make traditional embroidery in Łowicz style.

Wednesday 11th September

We’ll drive to Warsaw early in the morning. It will be the end of our incredible journey.

 

Cost:

Promotional price for Harvest Folk Excursion is £1250 (Price includes 20% VAT)

 

Price includes:

Accommodation

Transport

Workshops Museum tickets

Price does not include:

Flight to Kraków

Flight from Warsaw

Lunches and dinners (Dinner in Poland costs approx £10-£15)

PAYMENT IN INSTALMENTS IS AVAILABLE. Please get in touch info@folka.co

Accommodation:

We will be staying in lovely hotels during our trip. Rooms are single. Breakfast is included in the price.

Transport:

We’ll be travelling in a comfortable minibus with a private driver. Our group will consist of a maximum 7 people.

 

PLEASE NOTE: There might be some changes in an itinerary.

You need to arrive in Kraków at 10am on Thursday 5th September at the latest to be able to join us at the Ethnographic Museum.

You can come to Kraków earlier if you would like to visit the city. We will help you to find a hotel. Also, if you would like to visit Warsaw you can stay longer.

 

CANCELATION POLICY:

As Harvest Folk Excursion is happening soon we are unable to offer a refund once you confirmed and paid for the trip. We will do our best to find a new person.

 

Your guide:

Karolina Merska, originally from Poland, lives and works in London. She makes pajaki - traditional rye straw and paper chandeliers. She loves folk art and her dream is to revive some of the forgotten crafts and traditions.

Over the years she travelled across Poland to find and meet amazing artists and promote their folk craft. She would like to take you with her so you can experience it as well. 

This is Karolina’s last folk excursion this year. She decided to add an extra day to make it more memorable!