I used to be just lately at a convention within the Czech Republic and took the chance to go to Poland with my daughter Eva. It wasn’t meant to be a puppet journey. Additionally, because it was late summer time, I knew that it wasn’t an excellent time to see performances or discover folks at dwelling in Europe. Nonetheless, puppets are at all times a touchpoint in my travels, so I used to be open to seeing what I may discover. In the long run, I loved Poland immensely, found fascinating issues, and now know there may be way more to discover sooner or later.
At first, Eva and I spent a number of great days in Kraków the place we visited the Museum of Ethnography, which isn’t to be missed. Along with faithfully reconstructed rooms and considerate reveals the place objects’ taught us about folks’s lives, we encountered a shocking assortment of extravagant szopki puppet theaters, described as “a fusion of flamboyant fortress, nativity scene, glamorous marionette theatre and playground for political satire” (see Nativity scene (szopka) custom in Krakow and The The Marvellous Christmas Custom of Poland’s ‘Szopki’ | Article | Tradition.pl). Associated however distinct from the Ukrainian vertep and the Belarusian betleika, the custom continues every December in Kraków.
