Obchody dnia świętej Barbary w Zagłębiu Dąbrowskim według przekazów literackich z końca XIX wieku
Celebration of St Barbara’s Day in the Dąbrowa Basin According to Literary Sources from the End of the 19th Century

Summary/Abstract: In the last decade of the 19th century, the forms of celebrating St. Barbara’s Day were already developed and established in the Dąbrowa Basin. At that time, well-known writers of the time were active in Dąbrowa and So¬snowiec. In their works one can find numerous ethnological threads from the life of local miners. The research material here are the literary texts contained in three publications that were issued almost simultaneously: Zofia Bukowiecka’s Historia o Janku górniku (Eng. Story About Janek – the Miner), Artur Gruszecki’s Krety (Eng. Moles) and Andrzej Niemojewski’s short story: Święto podziemia (Eng. The Feast of the Underground). The subject of the study are the descriptions of customs cultivated on St. Bar¬bara Day by miners from the Dąbrowa Basin. The author compares the descriptions and lists common elements, including: bonfires on the hills, firing pyrotechnics, celebrations in underground chambers, underground dynamite shots, a march in front of the mine director’s house to give him good wishes, but especially religious celebrations in the mine undergro¬und chapels of St. Barbara.

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