Cyber Folklore
Spanning the Silesian and Żywiec Beskids, Orava and Kysuce, the Polish-Slovak borderlands have plenty to offer for tourists. There are numerous hiking trails, charming villages hidden in the mountains and gems of wooden architecture. The region is also famous for its colourful folklore events, of which the biggest and best known is the Beskids Culture Week organized by the Regional Centre of Culture in Bielsko-Biała. The event is attended by about 100 bands performing in five towns: Wisła, Szczyrk, Oświęcim, Żywiec and Maków Podhalański. The Week has regular fans who come here each year to applaud folk bands and musicians visit folk art fairs and savour traditional regional dishes.
The most important winter event is Żywiec Yule (Gody Żywieckie) – a festival held in January with folk bands helping to cultivate Christmas and New Year customs and traditions. The festival attracts adults and children alike. The latter watch with rapt attention the performances of colourfully dressed carol singers and join in the fun on the snow, the former revel in some of the local dances, and everyone enjoys the traditional food with equal gusto.
The Beskids Culture Week and Żywiec Yule are the two most popular events promoting the region’s folk culture in a very attractive way. But they are not the only ones! There is something interesting happening in the borderlands almost every month. The Slovakian town of Skalité hosts a festival of the highland culture of Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic in June, the village of Malatiná, also in Slovakia, organizes an international festival of shepherds’ culture in July, and Wieprz near Żywiec, Poland, invites visitors to listen to folk storytellers and musical performances with the use of rare folk instruments.
Cyber Folklore is a project which enables modern promotion of the folk cultural heritage of the Polish-Slovakian borderlands. Launched as part of the project delivery, the www.etnofoto.net website is a virtual compendium containing, among other things, information about folklore bands and folk artists, an impressive photo gallery of the Beskids Culture Week and Żywiec Yule. The module “On the trails of tradition” is a virtual tourist guide with extensive information about some of the Polish and Slovakian museums. The website also includes a calendar of festivals and other events which is very useful for folklore fans and all those planning to spend their free time in the Beskids, Orava or Kysuce.
Cyber Folklore is a project using modern technology to promote all that is most interesting in regional folklore. It also facilitates communication between the organizers of folklore events on both sides of the border, which in turn improves coordination.
The project was nominated in the 1st contest Poland Even More Beautiful. Seven Miracles of EU Funds in the Promotional Product category.
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