A few dozen people gathered on Sunday afternoon at the Ypsilanti C.Y.N.K (Creative Youth Nexus & Kitchen) art space to participate in an “Effigy Building Workshop and Parade – The Autumn Rite of Marzanna“, an art project/communal performance developed by Michelle Cieloszczyk, a graduate student in fine arts at the University of Michigan. Michelle, who grew up in Canada, speaks Polish fluently and has very strong ties to Poland, especially to the Mazury region, where her parents are from. About a year ago Michelle became fascinated with the figure of Marzanna and its role in “contagious magic”. Since then, she has made Marzanna the center of her art projects, with yesterday’s workshop and parade being the second one of four, and two more – “the winter Marzanna” and “the spring Marzanna” still to come.
In this folk custom still practiced in Poland in the early spring, a straw doll representing winter and death called “Marzanna” is drowned in a pond or a river. This ancient communal ritual, now usually practiced by school children, symbolically brings about the end of winter and symbolizes the passing of time, the cyclic renewal of nature, the victory of life over death and eternal hope.
In her projects, Michelle uses the figure of Marzanna and the framework of the ritual but also modifies it. Her “fall Marzanna” is still communal (the workshop participants built their Marzannas together and then walked together), but also more personal. During the short talk preceding the workshop and introducing the folk custom as well as her art and her understanding of Marzanna, the artist said: “Think of a person who has cared for you or held your burden. We all have a Marzanna in our lives. Your Marzanna could be a portrait of this person. Your Marzanna could be aspirational (someone you hope will come). Your Marzanna could be a self-portrait.”
Among the workshop participants were art students, a group of Ann Arbor Polonia Association members, and Michelle’s parents Sławek and Alicja, who came to Ypsilanti from London, Ontario, to support their daughter.
The first step was the building of the effigy and there was an abundance of materials to choose from: straw, dried leaves, ribbons, yarn, acorns, pinecones, different textiles as well as “armatures” made of branches, prepared by Michelle in advance.
Creativity and joyful exuberance were palatable in the room, while different techniques, such as glueing, binding with twine and braiding were used to create unique and expressive effigies. Once all the Marzannas were completed, Michelle helped the participants to affix them to tall poles which in turn were carried in a colorful and joyful procession, with the accompaniment of percussion instruments, down West Michigan Avenue to nearby Riverside Park. There, in a large gazebo on the river, the participants were instructed to tie the dolls to the pillars and then connect them by multicolored ribbons. By doing so the participants symbolically both paid homage to the people who help them to carry the burdens of life but also released these worries and burdens, which earlier were “deposited” onto the dolls. They were reminded that no matter how difficult and personal their problems might seem to them, they are not unique, we all share them, which could be a comforting and soothing thought.
If this seem to be too far-fetched of an “outcome” of this performative project for you, the activities of making the dolls followed by walking in the park on the beautiful, sunny fall afternoon were relaxing and fun. On the way to the park bystanders admired the parade, cheered it on, while a couple of them – like Wyatt who happened to be playing an ocarina in the park – joined in.
To stay alive and relevant, folk culture needs to be not only practiced but also reinterpreted, and that’s what the artist’s act of reimagining Marzanna is.
Michelle Cieloszczyk’s Marzanna projects expand the traditional practice; by inviting her fellow artists and the public to participate, Michelle also introduces non-Poles to the richness, beauty and power of Polish culture.
Text and photos: Alina Klin
