During the workshops, each participant can make traditional holiday decorations by hand. Inspiration can come not only from one's own imagination, but also from the museum's wealth of objects connected with Easter traditions.
Until 30 April 2016, the exhibition “Not Just Easter Eggs. Easter Customs in Silesia” is on display in the Department of the History of the City at the Museum of Ceramics in Bolesławiec, ul. M. Kutuzowa 14. The exhibition opening took place on 11 March.
The exhibition presents objects connected with Lenten and Easter traditions that have survived in various regions of Poland. The exhibits include, among others, Stations of the Cross painted on glass, wooden rattles used during Holy Week rituals, as well as sculptures, bas-reliefs, oleographs and paintings with Passion themes.
The exhibition could not be complete without Easter eggs decorated using various techniques. The collection on display comprises as many as 600 colourful eggs and blown eggshells. The largest group consists of Opole kroszonki covered with intricate scratched (etched) decoration. The Easter palms from the area around Bolesławiec also deserve attention, including both small examples and specimens several metres high, a source of pride for their makers.
One of the exhibition rooms has been arranged as the interior of a rural cottage with traditional holiday decorations hung from the ceiling—so-called spiders. These intricate, openwork structures, made of coloured tissue paper and straw, were created in Bolesławiec County. The exhibition is complemented by folk costumes still worn in some regions during religious holidays, including Easter, expressing an attachment to tradition.
The ceramic element of the arrangement consists of Bolesławiec baking moulds for Easter cakes and jugs featuring the Lamb of God motif. The exhibition concludes with objects connected with Wet Monday and Śmigus-Dyngus: korwacze—switches sometimes used instead of water, “as a warning”—and a cart with a cockerel, an attribute of boys who went “with dyngus”.
The exhibition was prepared in cooperation with the Museum of Opole Village in Opole, the Karkonosze Museum in Jelenia Góra, the Ethnographic Museum in Wrocław and the Bolesławiec Land Song and Dance Ensemble. Throughout the exhibition period, admission is free for children and school students.
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