"O sheaf of rye! Wretched little crumb! How fascinating your story is to man! How closely your fate is intertwined with both the bright palace and the thatched cottage!"
(L.K. Syrokomla)
On September 3, 1995, an event bringing together more than 2,000 people—not only from our municipality, but also from the city of Bolesławiec and the surrounding municipalities of the Jelenia Góra Voivodeship—was held at the former Soviet military grounds in Trzebień. This was, of course, the Harvest Festival, organized by the Bolesławiec Municipal Office and the Municipal Cultural and Sports Centre in Kruszyn.
The hosts of the harvest festival were the residents of Ocice, who fully fulfilled their duties.
Among the invited guests were representatives of Parliament, namely Members of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland: Janusz Dobrosz, Jerzy Jankowski and Marian Michalski.
The voivodeship authorities were headed by Janusz Pezda, the Jelenia Góra voivode, and Piotr Roman, Chairman of the Presidium of the Self-Government Assembly; also present were directors of departments of the Voivodeship Office, including agriculture and surveying, as well as the Superintendent of Education.
Representatives of the clergy included Father Józef Lisowski, Chancellor of the Legnica Bishop’s Curia; Monsignor Tadeusz Jurek, Chaplain for Farmers of the Legnica Curia; Father Edward Bober, Dean of the Bolesławiec–West Deanery; and the parish priests of the Bolesławiec municipality.
The commanders of military units were also present: Unit No. 4355, commanded by Col. Stanisław Chwojnicki, and Unit No. 1259, commanded by Col. Bogdan Kośny.
We were also pleased to welcome representatives of the central and voivodeship authorities working for agriculture, as well as political parties, political groupings and trade unions: PSL, the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture, the Agricultural Property Agency of the State Treasury, the Voivodeship Agricultural Advisory Centre, the Voivodeship Association of Farmers, Farmers’ Circles and Agricultural Organizations, the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union of Individual Farmers “Solidarity”; representatives of the local authorities of municipalities neighbouring and cooperating with the Bolesławiec municipality, headed by municipal council chairpersons and the president of Bolesławiec; the mayors of Lubomierz, Lwówek Śląski, Nowogrodziec and Świerzawa; and the heads of the municipalities of Zgorzelec and Osiecznica. Also present were the management of enterprises and workplaces, including the Zielona Góra Mineral Resources Mines, PZZ, GS “SCH”, RSP and many others.
The event began with a harvest festival Mass. After the Mass, the head of the Bolesławiec Municipality, Kazimierz Gawron, spoke, followed by the Jelenia Góra voivode, a Member of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland and the chairman of the voivodeship board of PSL.
The harvest festival procession included surrounding municipalities with their harvest wreaths, as well as delegations from villages in the Bolesławiec municipality. Performances by the Bolesławiec Song and Dance Ensemble and ensembles from Sokołowiec and Radostów entertained the audience.
The highlight of this year’s harvest festival was the municipal authorities threshing grain with flails. First place went to the pair Jan Puk, chairman of the Agriculture Committee of the Bolesławiec Municipal Council, and Urszula Róg, chairwoman of the Committee for Culture, Education, Health and Social Affairs. The audience competition—climbing a pole for “liquid rye” and roasted pork fat—was extremely popular. Although the eight-metre-high, slippery pole seemed impossible to conquer, a young resident of Żeliszów managed to scale it, along with the crossbar bearing the prizes.
The event had an original setting: a C-45 tractor—the oldest Polish tractor—entered the sports field towing a binder, and the festival was hosted by the wonderful master of ceremonies Olgierd Poniżnik, mayor of Lubomierz, together with my humble self, performing as a Łowicz girl on that tractor.
We sincerely thank all the private individuals and institutions whose contribution made our event—the voivodeship harvest festival—possible and ensured that it ran smoothly and without problems.
As in the previous year, it rained just before the harvest festival, but on Sunday not a drop fell from the sky. It is difficult for me to assess the quality of the event, since I was one of its organizers, but I think the 2,000 spectators who stayed from noon until the harvest festival dance at 7 p.m. (some until midnight) will do that for me.
A balm to the eyes were the picturesque exhibitions of harvest wreaths, cakes, crops, fruit, vegetables and many other things.
Summer is practically over; autumn, winter, spring, summer and the next harvest are approaching, culminating in the annual Harvest Festival.