Interference of politics in celebrating "dożynki" : the festival of harvest in Poland in 1950s

Dożynki, the harvest festival, is celebrated throughout Poland when all crops are taken from the field, usually at the end of August or the beginning of September. In Poland this celebration is linked to the Catholic Church nowadays, but it was not always like this, at least not on every level of social life. In this article I concentrate on the period of the strong communist government, the 1950s. Analyzing articles published in 1950-1959, mostly in the nationwide daily newspaper Trybuna Ludu ("Tribune of Folk") I present the way the Polish communist government adjusted the festival of dożynki to the new reality. By giving detailed descriptions of preparations and especially the rituals performed during the festival, as displayed in the articles in Trybuna Ludu, I show what kind of politics, and to what extent, influenced the celebration of dożynki at those times.