Sunday, October 16, 2016

The Drowning of Marzanna




The Drowning of Marzanna. Original 8" x 10" acrylic painting on acid-free paper by Julie Kwiatkowski Schuler.

The pagan-originated spring equinox folk custom of Poland called The Drowning of Marzanna. Marzanna is the Polish incarnation of the old Slavic goddess of winter, plague and death. The effigy is built of straw and dressed in clothes, ribbons, and flowers. Marzanna is taken to the nearest riverbank and thrown to her watery grave as the children sing: As the spring sun rises in the sky of blue, in this swollen river we are drowning you.

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