FOLKLORE AND FOLK ART
Traditions of folk culture of the Upper Silesian village in its basic ethnographic groups of the Tamogórsko-Bytom region, Pszczyna-Rybnik, Raciborska, Cieszyn, Beskidzka, Opole was cultivated for generations, despite the growing in the nineteenth / twentieth century. the process of germanization of these lands. In many parts of the macroregion, they were still alive in dress, chatter, folk art, architecture (Bytom-Rozbark, Dąbrówka Wielka, the villages of Pszczyna between the Vistula and Gostynka, Racibórz villages, Cieszyn and Silesian highlanders). The tourist will notice it in speech and songs with Old Polish sound. The Silesian folk song and dance was made famous by the "Śląsk" Folk Song and Dance Ensemble, and literature, numerous competitions of "Silesian storytellers". W 1. 1950-55 The State Institute of Art has recorded over 12 000 songs from the southern macroregion.
The folk art of Upper Silesia is most beautifully expressed in wooden architecture, single relics of which can still be found in many Silesian villages, and concentrated in ethnographic parks and open-air museums in Chorzów, Pszczynie and Opole-Bierkowice.
In many villages and towns, the inhabitants cultivate folk art to this day. Women make beautifully embroidered napkins (Beskid highlanders from Koniaków). Men practice wood carving, in electrode graphite, charcoal and easel painting. So far, the most interesting representatives of unprofessional work in painting were Teofil Ociepka and Paweł Wróbel, miners from Katowice-Janów.
Every year, the Silesian village returns to its old folk customs and rituals. The most famous is: walking with a Christmas tree, crib, star, for gaiks, melting madder, releasing wreaths on the water, painting Easter eggs, sharp, spinners, pickers, processions on Palm Sunday and Corpus Christi Day, Easter horse processions in the Racibórz area, pageants and harvest games, m.in. "Żniwioki" in the province. Opole. In open-air museums and recreation centers (Wisła, Ustroń) folklore events are organized, m.in. in Chorzów "Folklore Wici", in Pszczyna "Meetings near Brzymem", Wisła, Szczyrk, Żywiec and Oświęcim "Beskidzka Culture Week", Opole-Bierkowice ,,Opole Harvest ". Nowadays, the mass media more and more often organize events popularizing the Silesian folklore: Radio "Katowice", Radio „TOP”, Katowice Television, editorial offices of Silesian newspapers and the Upper Silesian Association (m.in. "Silesian singing", "Gody śląskie").