Siuda baba

The custom of changing clothes was preserved only in Wieliczka and Lednica. It is always celebrated on the second day of Easter, and it is associated with the celebration of the pagan goddess of spring – Leda. Her temple was right there. An eternal candle burned in the shingle, watched over by the priestesses of Leda, who were allowed to leave the temple once a year. Today’s Siuda Baba is a man dressed as a woman, with a large cross in his hand, large chestnut beads around his neck, a large basket wrapped in a cloth on his back, and a soot-drenched whip in his hand. Anyone who doesn’t donate will be smeared with soot. Onlookers and children run after Siuda Baba, singing a song.