The passage of a colourful pageant of harvest wreaths carried by the representatives of individual soletstvos of our municipality commenced yesterday the official celebrations of the harvest festival in the Wieliczka municipality. The harvest pageant was led from the fire station to the parish church by the "Hejnał" brass orchestra from Byszyce.
After a solemn church service traditional harvest rituals started, during which the foremen of the harvest festival welcomed the host of the ceremony, the mayor of Wieliczka, Artur Kozioł with a loaf of bread.
The annual harvest holiday assembled a numerous group of invited guests, including: the Vice-Marshall of the Małopolska District Wojciech Kozak, the Wieliczka County Foreman Jacek Juszkiewicz, the Vice-Chairman of the County Council Roman Wcisło, the Chairman of the Town Council Zbigniew Zarębski along with the vice-chairman:Adam Marek Panuś and Jan Murzyn and the Vice-Mayor of Wieliczka, Henryk Gawor and the Chairman of the PSL Civic-Municipal Board in Wieliczka, Paweł Janus.
The harvest festival celebrations took place at the square by Voluntary Fire Brigade fire station in Byszyce, where artistic ensembles from the Wieliczka Municipality performed throughout the whole afternoon.
Naturally there was a performance by the titled brass orchestra from Byszyce, which added splendour to the thanksgiving mass celebrated for the intention of this year's harvest.
The Song and Dance "Raciborsko" Ensemble,celebrating this year its 15th anniversary, presented songs and dances from the Cracow and Rzeszów region.
On the other hand, interesting modern dance routines were presented by the "Tęcza" Ensemble from Węgrzce Wielkie as well as by the youth from Czarnochowice.
During this year's municipal harvest festival, there was traditionally a possibility of tasting the culinary specialities prepared by the housewives from the Country Housewives' Clubs from:Chorągwica, Jankówka, Podstolice and Byszyce.The ladies from the Country Housewives' Club made sure there was a lot of regional culinary specialities on the tables.
The guests attending the celebrations had an opportunity to taste the traditional sour rye soup, baked meats, various salads and delicious sweets.
The ladies from the Country Housewives' Club, the harvest festival's hosts, also baked a unique Old Polish tree trunk cake.
The housewives from our Muncipality proved their talents not only in the culinary but also in the art field.
The gathered on the square in front of the fire station of the Voluntary Fire Brigade in Byszyce marvelled at the artistry involved in preparation of the harvest wreaths - the little works of art.Thus the jury had a very difficult task, as all of the wreaths have been prepared with great time and work input,great creativity and taste.
Finally the first place was awarded to a wreath from Janowice made by Marzena Grząbel and Teresa Zając.
The subsequent two highest places were awarded to wreaths made by the residents of Czarnochowice and Mietniów.
The mayor of Wieliczka, in appreciation of the unique quality of the prepared wreaths and the time dedicated to the cause, has also funded prizes for the rest of the submitted wreaths from Byszyce, Chorągwica, Grabie, Grajów and Koźmice Wielkie.
This year's harvest festival, organised by the Town and Municipality of Wieliczka, the Soletstvo Council of Byszce as well as the Voluntary Fire Brigade and the Country Housewives' Club from Byszyce, was closed by a traditional dancing party accompanied by the Folk Band group.
