There will be no presentation at the Adam Mickiewicz monument on the Main Square, and no traditional march. This year, the coronavirus pandemic caused the 78th Krakow Nativity Scenes Competition to take place in a different form.
The History of the #Szopki Contest
The Krakow Nativity Scenes Competition has a rich history. It was initiated in 1937. Then, during the German occupation, it had to be interrupted, but right after the war, this tradition was returned. Since 1946, it has been organized by the Krakow Museum.
Stay true to tradition!
The Krakow nativity scene is the culmination of several months or even several years of work. The aim of the competition is to uphold the tradition of nativity scene crafts and to popularize this unique element of urban folklore.
The 78th Krakow Nativity Scene Competition during the epidemic will be organized in a completely different form.
Małgorzata Niechaj, curator of the Krakow Museum
The competition will go online!
The jury will be in session on the first Thursday of December. Since some of the jurors will not be able to see the nativity scenes directly, and we cannot accumulate so many people at the same time, from November 16 to 30, we started to host nativity scenes in Celestat – the curator informed.
The curator of the Krakow Museum presented the procedure for accepting and registering nativity scenes. “Each of them is photographed. In addition, we make videos of those with moving parts, lighting. The nativity scenes are then described and sent to the jurors. On this basis, the cribs will be scored with points, we will award prizes during a remote session” – says Małgorzata Niechaj.
Deadline & Winners Announcement
The deadline for announcing the results of the competition, which will take place on Sunday, December 6, has been kept. Punctually at 14, the director of the Krakow Museum, Niezabitowski (chairman of the jury) will officially announce the results of the nativity scene competition on-line, on the YouTube platform, and on social media. As the curator admitted, the interest in the competition exceeded the expectations of the organizers. The largest nativity scenes are to appear in Celestat on Monday.
Several categories = several prizes
The nativity scene competition is held in several categories, not only age categories: up to 8 years old, through family nativity scenes, youth nativity scenes, and seniors – over 18 years of age, and in terms of size: miniature nativity scenes, small, medium and large nativity scenes.
The so far sent cribs are dominated by the architecture of the Old Kraków, the Cathedral, Kraków churches, and the Wawel Castle, although an interesting crib is a crib containing a Curia building with a papal window and a popemobile, or a crib with elements of the Basilica of Divine Mercy.
Szopka with COVID19 masks!
Most of the sent nativity scenes also contain elements referring to the anniversary of the birth of St. John Paul II and the pandemic that has prevailed since the beginning of the year (dolls with masks). There is also a nativity scene probably of a sports club lover – Cracovia and Wisła, referring to their derby. There were also cribs containing a viewing balloon over the Vistula River.
In the nativity scene by the master of the Krakow nativity scene, Maciek Moszew, the author portrayed himself at the base with an inscription informing that he is participating in the Krakow Nativity Scene for the 75th time.
UNESCO Acknowledgment
For many years, the Museum of Krakow has not only been looking after the nativity scene and its promotion both at home and abroad, but also documents the phenomenon of Krakow nativity scenes, which in 2018 was entered on the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Read the article in Polish language, on Gazeta Krakowska site.
Stay safe everyone!
The Twisted Red LadyBug
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