Religious Singing in Kashubia: Tradition and Modernity

Abstract

The article answers the question of how the custom of religious singing was created in Kashubia and constitutes an integral part of the worship of the Church and local piety/religiosity until modern times. Nowadays, musical worship is manifested both in family and rural life (religious singing at home, May devotions, Rosary prayer services, vigil for the dead) as well as in ecclesial sphere (church services, Calvary celebrations, feasts, processions, and pilgrimages). It integrates local communities and simultaneously “broadens” their relationship with the sacred (God). It is important to present the process of selecting leaders of folk singing, as there is no institutional support in this matter such as music schools, organ courses or choirs. It can be assumed that, as was the case in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the family tradition plays a decisive role in leading and animating collective singing. The changes which are taking place in this respect now require further research and may be the result of the transformations in the field of folk religious singing in Kashubia, which are the consequence of the dynamic social transformation in this region. This study is based on ethnographic field research conducted by the author in 2016–2021 and the literature on the subject.