Praca dawniej i dziś
Górale Nadpopradzcy
Czarne owce u Górali Nadpopradzkich
Hodowla czarnych owiec - niegdyś rozwinięta na tych terenach - staje się na powrót coraz bardziej popularna. Górale Nadpopradzcy (nazywani też czarnymi) jako jedyni mają czarne portki, robione z wełny czarnych owiec właśnie.
I was ordered to herd sheep...
Black sheep have been an essential part of life for Poprad highlanders, who reside in an area stretching from Łomnica-Zdrój to Przysietnica, right on Poland’s border with Slovakia.
There is no such thing as a highlander without sheep. The coloured mountain cakiel used to be the trademark River Poprad valley breed. Black colouring apart, the sheep were distinct in their white tail tips and white spot on their heads, earning them the “bishop sheep” moniker. They defined the existence of Black highlanders, providing them with milk, meat, hides and wool used i.a. to make contemporaneous regional costume, i.e. hołośnie (trousers) and gunia or gurmana (outerwear, long jacket). The colour of men’s attire gave rise to the colloquial “Black highlanders” phrase.
As regional clothing subsided, demand for black wool dropped, the coloured cakiel replaced by white Podhale sheep, flocking in with herds owned by mountain shepherds migrating across the Beskids towards Bieszczady Mountains after the Lemkos had been displaced.
This led to the complete supplanting of black sheep formerly considered a much more valuable breed than their white cousins, as proven by a facetious highlander jingle: merchants from Brno on the road, how much for the wool is owed? seven pennies for the black, for the white – whatever’s in the sack.
Today, they are bred for the sake of tradition and love of shepherding. A select breeder community has restored these animals to the Poprad region several years ago.
In the olden days, the Huculs (a mixed ethnic highlander group of Ruthenian and Wallachian origin) would bring black sheep to market. Trading with Slovaks was common as well. Markets were held in Piwniczna, and the nearby Stary Sącz.
When grazing, sheep feed on grass; in the winter, they eat hay. They also require year-round access to water and green fir branches as a source of essential vitamin and mineral supplements.
Dairy sheep are milked twice a day. Sheep milk differs in taste depending on the animal’s diet, season, and pasture resource abundance.
Sheep would be shorn twice a year, before St. Adalbert’s and after St. Michael’s day: in the spring and autumn. Young animals (around six months old) were shorn around St. John’s day (in late June). In the olden days, the herd would be swum (washed) in the river, to get rid of bedding, grass and dropping residue. Animals were washed on sunny days to let wool dry faster. Sheep would only be shorn once washed. A sheep would be held close, and shorn abdomen to back – for a uniform and dense wool swath.
Wool was put to use in a variety of ways. Once carded (combed), wool would be spun into yarn with looms. Yarn thread would then be handed over to the knop (weaver), then to a fuller charged with processing it to broadcloth. Wool was fulled (in a scouring and milling shop) by processing strips of woven fabric in hot water, and pounding them with waterwheel-driven wooden mallets.
Wool was enormously valuable well until the second half of the 20th century. It was frequently the fundamental source of income for multiple highlander families, black wool considerably more expensive than white. Once wool had been sold at the market, the seller could purchase a tractor, for example, a luxury not everyone could afford.
Lambing took place in late winter or early spring, to allow lambs to be weaned before St. Adalbert’s day. Sheep would be kept in folds or stables, and moved to grazing fields for the summer. Herd population depended on the farmer’s wealth, and field size.
Poprad highlanders followed one of the sheep grazing regimes listed below:
Herds owned individually were usually smaller, several to over a dozen animals. After lambing season, the mothers would be trailed up to high pastures, lambs remaining at the farm and grazed on local wastelands: on roughlands, near streams, mountain streams included, and in wilderness meadows or ravines. Any farmer trailing his sheep up to high pastures for the summer would be eligible for a cheese or salted sheep cheese quota. Animals were returned to their owners in the autumn.
Sheep-related chores included milking, hoof trimming, and shearing.
Sheep have a lifespan of approximately 6-15 years. If they fell ill, they would either be put down if in grave condition (to put them out of their misery), or handed over to an expert mountain shepherd, the best person there was to treat them. Herbal preparations were the usual sheep ailment remedy. The black sheep’s high resistance to disease made them extraordinarily popular in the mountainous Poprad River area.
Mountain shepherds’ sheep disease treatment skills were often referred to as magic. Mountain shepherds could cast or break an evil spell. According to folksy superstition, they would only receive holy communion once a year at Easter, bringing communion wafer on the way back to protect their sheep against evil spells and black magic. The wafer would be inserted into an orifice drilled in the shepherd’s crook to protect the grazing animals. Magic was reserved exclusively for mountain shepherds, who shared their knowledge with nobody.
Sheep used to be the determinant of human living standards, and an essential part of local life. After World War II, black sheep disappeared from Black highlanders’ lands – yet they have been restored thanks to River Poprad valley breeders, who are making every effort for their region to be associated with these wonderful animals..
As the old adage has it, if you have sheep, fortunes you reap.
I have used information kindly divulged to me by Tadeusz Fiedor born in Łomnica-Zdrój (1945), Stanisław Źrałka born in Piwniczna-Zdrój (1959), Monika Florek born in Cracow (1975), and Piotr Maślanka born in Krynica-Zdrój (1985). Just like their ancestors before them, my interlocutors are sheep breeders, following family tradition and personal passion.
Katarzyna Tomasiak
There is no such thing as a highlander without sheep. The coloured mountain cakiel used to be the trademark River Poprad valley breed. Black colouring apart, the sheep were distinct in their white tail tips and white spot on their heads, earning them the “bishop sheep” moniker. They defined the existence of Black highlanders, providing them with milk, meat, hides and wool used i.a. to make contemporaneous regional costume, i.e. hołośnie (trousers) and gunia or gurmana (outerwear, long jacket). The colour of men’s attire gave rise to the colloquial “Black highlanders” phrase.
As regional clothing subsided, demand for black wool dropped, the coloured cakiel replaced by white Podhale sheep, flocking in with herds owned by mountain shepherds migrating across the Beskids towards Bieszczady Mountains after the Lemkos had been displaced.
This led to the complete supplanting of black sheep formerly considered a much more valuable breed than their white cousins, as proven by a facetious highlander jingle: merchants from Brno on the road, how much for the wool is owed? seven pennies for the black, for the white – whatever’s in the sack.
Today, they are bred for the sake of tradition and love of shepherding. A select breeder community has restored these animals to the Poprad region several years ago.
In the olden days, the Huculs (a mixed ethnic highlander group of Ruthenian and Wallachian origin) would bring black sheep to market. Trading with Slovaks was common as well. Markets were held in Piwniczna, and the nearby Stary Sącz.
When grazing, sheep feed on grass; in the winter, they eat hay. They also require year-round access to water and green fir branches as a source of essential vitamin and mineral supplements.
Dairy sheep are milked twice a day. Sheep milk differs in taste depending on the animal’s diet, season, and pasture resource abundance.
Sheep would be shorn twice a year, before St. Adalbert’s and after St. Michael’s day: in the spring and autumn. Young animals (around six months old) were shorn around St. John’s day (in late June). In the olden days, the herd would be swum (washed) in the river, to get rid of bedding, grass and dropping residue. Animals were washed on sunny days to let wool dry faster. Sheep would only be shorn once washed. A sheep would be held close, and shorn abdomen to back – for a uniform and dense wool swath.
Wool was put to use in a variety of ways. Once carded (combed), wool would be spun into yarn with looms. Yarn thread would then be handed over to the knop (weaver), then to a fuller charged with processing it to broadcloth. Wool was fulled (in a scouring and milling shop) by processing strips of woven fabric in hot water, and pounding them with waterwheel-driven wooden mallets.
Wool was enormously valuable well until the second half of the 20th century. It was frequently the fundamental source of income for multiple highlander families, black wool considerably more expensive than white. Once wool had been sold at the market, the seller could purchase a tractor, for example, a luxury not everyone could afford.
Lambing took place in late winter or early spring, to allow lambs to be weaned before St. Adalbert’s day. Sheep would be kept in folds or stables, and moved to grazing fields for the summer. Herd population depended on the farmer’s wealth, and field size.
Poprad highlanders followed one of the sheep grazing regimes listed below:
| 1. Meadow grazing | Grazing in mountain meadows close to home. |
| 2. Shepherding | One farmer would herd sheep from several farms on a given day, the hoint herd count reaching approximately 60 sheep. |
| 3. High pastures | Sheep would be trailed up to high pastures in the spring and down in the autumn an estimated count of 200 sheep per herd. |
Herds owned individually were usually smaller, several to over a dozen animals. After lambing season, the mothers would be trailed up to high pastures, lambs remaining at the farm and grazed on local wastelands: on roughlands, near streams, mountain streams included, and in wilderness meadows or ravines. Any farmer trailing his sheep up to high pastures for the summer would be eligible for a cheese or salted sheep cheese quota. Animals were returned to their owners in the autumn.
Sheep-related chores included milking, hoof trimming, and shearing.
Sheep have a lifespan of approximately 6-15 years. If they fell ill, they would either be put down if in grave condition (to put them out of their misery), or handed over to an expert mountain shepherd, the best person there was to treat them. Herbal preparations were the usual sheep ailment remedy. The black sheep’s high resistance to disease made them extraordinarily popular in the mountainous Poprad River area.
Mountain shepherds’ sheep disease treatment skills were often referred to as magic. Mountain shepherds could cast or break an evil spell. According to folksy superstition, they would only receive holy communion once a year at Easter, bringing communion wafer on the way back to protect their sheep against evil spells and black magic. The wafer would be inserted into an orifice drilled in the shepherd’s crook to protect the grazing animals. Magic was reserved exclusively for mountain shepherds, who shared their knowledge with nobody.
Sheep used to be the determinant of human living standards, and an essential part of local life. After World War II, black sheep disappeared from Black highlanders’ lands – yet they have been restored thanks to River Poprad valley breeders, who are making every effort for their region to be associated with these wonderful animals..
As the old adage has it, if you have sheep, fortunes you reap.
I have used information kindly divulged to me by Tadeusz Fiedor born in Łomnica-Zdrój (1945), Stanisław Źrałka born in Piwniczna-Zdrój (1959), Monika Florek born in Cracow (1975), and Piotr Maślanka born in Krynica-Zdrój (1985). Just like their ancestors before them, my interlocutors are sheep breeders, following family tradition and personal passion.
Katarzyna Tomasiak
