Krakow: Planting a mulch as a memento of the history of “The Wedding”
Depositing the chochoł, a row of straw covering the rose bush for the winter, that is, it turned on Saturday at the museum in Krakow’s Bronowice. This tradition commemorates the wedding of Lucjan Rydel with Jadwiga Mikołajczyk, which inspired Stanisław Wyspiański’s “Wedding”.
As Joanna Zdebska-Schmidt recalled, insp. Rydlówka – a branch of the Krakow Museum, the deposition of the mulch took place on Saturday, on the 121st wedding anniversary of Lucjan and Jadwiga. A band from Bronowice was playing during the ceremony, and children from local kindergartens in Krakow costumes danced around a rose bush wrapped in straw. The ceremony has a half-century tradition, dating back to the opening of the local museum.
It is located in the estate where Bronowice is the site of the poet’s wedding for the wedding of Rydel with the peasant woman Jadwiga Mikołajczyk on November 20, preceded by St Mary’s Church in 1900.
“To celebrate the entire local community, therefore, to avoid only in front of Rydlówka, this year we want to celebrate also in the space of Bronowice Małe” – that is, a representative of the institution appears.
The rite of embedding the mulch was preceded by a wedding procession presented by the groomsmen from the Złoty Róg Theater, which he passes through the streets of Bronowice. During the march, common songs and chants were sung, the museum staff introduced the students and the singing of Mały Bronowice and the wedding of Lucjan and Jadwiga.
In the afternoon, everyone interested could visit the Rydlówka Museum. Especially on that day, the bride and groom appeared in its spaces, as well as guests and phantoms invited to the wedding.
The wedding of 30-year-old Lucjan Rydel and 17-year-old Jadwiga Mikołajczyk took place on November 20, 1900 in St. Mary’s Church. On the Main Square in Krakow, a few thousand curious people gathered that day who wanted to see the marriage of a “gentleman” and a “peasant woman”. The young couple was witnessed by Stanisław Wyspiański.
This event inspired Wyspiański to write the national drama “The Wedding” – presenting Polish society under the partitions and the pursuit of independence. The theater premiere of the play took place on March 16, 1901 at the Krakow City Theater (today the Juliusz Słowacki Theater) and brought Wyspiański to recognition.
The tradition of mulching was started 51 years ago by prof. Stanisław Waltoś, the creator of the first exhibition in Rydlówka. the service has started in the historic manor house.
The museum in the Rydlówka manor house in Bronowice (former village near Krakow) has been located from 1969 to 2014 by the Krakow branch of the Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society. In 2015, the Rydel family made contracts with the city, in case there was a possibility of renovation and it would become a branch of the Krakow Museum.