Łyżki, morselki i kantaty. Osiemnastowieczne upominki na kierę i Nowy Rok w Toruniu i innych miastach Prus Królewskich

The annual by-election to the Town Council and allocating positions to particular members of the Council, called kiera, were lavishly celebrated in the towns of Royal Prussia. The occasion was usually marked with a feast, for which special delicacies were ordered. In Elbląg (Elbing) and Toruń (Thorn) it was customary that apothecaries prepared special sweets (called morselki) for the occasion; wines were also specially ordered. In Gdańsk (Danzig) the municipal cantor was commissioned to compose a commemorative cantata every year. In Toruń councillors were presented with silver spoons, which was not practiced in other towns of Royal Prussia. The custom can be traced back to 1703, when it probably started. Apart from the time of kiera, when all the sixteen members of the Council received gifts, the four mayors and the two treasurers were entitled to additional gifts on the New Year. Spoons and other pieces of cutlery were ordered at the best goldsmiths’ workshops. This custom was copied by the councillors of Chełm, who started to treat themselves to such gifts in 1742, but the sums spent for them were smaller than in Toruń. The custom survived in Toruń until 1772. After the first partition of Poland the town suffered a period of economic decline due to the customs policy of Prussia, which was aimed at suppressing local trade and crafts in order to force the town to join the state of Frederick II.