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Siwki or Siwek (literally ''Easter Greys'', as in grey horses) is a regional tradition rooted in Polish folklore, in which a procession of dressed up individuals stops passers-by and performs tricks on them. The event usually takes place on Easter Sunday or Easter Monday. The map of Polish Easter processions devised by Andrzej Brencz demonstrates that similar processions take place in areas where villages are close to each other. The area where the Easter Greys tradition is observed stretches between Międzychód, Wolsztyn and Poznań in Poland's region of Greater Poland.〔Andrzej Brencz, ''Siwki - zwyczajowe pochody przebierańców na Wielkanoc'', map and commentary no. 854, in: ''Atlas Języka i Kultury Ludowej Wielkopolski'', t. 11. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM, 2005, p. 95.〕 The Greys are an example of immaterial cultural heritage of the region. == The origins of the custom and the name == As in many such cases, the origins of the custom are not clear: the name suggests parades of grey horses. ''Siwek'' in Polish means a grey horse or mare. The procession is named after the Grey Horse – the main character in the procession. In the past, the procession was lead by a rider on a grey horse (or a man leading two grey horses).〔 Stanisław Błaszczyk suggested that the horse and the bear are an allegory of departing winter. However, Andrzej Brencz invalidated this theory: the procession takes place in spring only because the time of the celebration has been shifted, as often happens with rituals. It has been proven that similar processions of riders ((ドイツ語:Schimmelreiter))〔In German, ''Schimmel'' means "gray horse". See: Langematz R., Nedo P., ''Sorbische Volkskunst'', Bautzen, 1968, p. 164.〕 on grey horses took place in the region of Pomerania (as mapped by Zofia Staszczak〔Zofia Staszczak, ''Pogranicze polsko-niemieckie jako pogranicze etnograficzne'', map no. 16, Poznań: Wydawnictwo UAM, 1978, pp. 13-14.〕), as well as in the regions of Warmia and Masuria, except there they took place around Christmas, often on Christmas Eve. Today the people participating in the custom dress up in white clothes and face masks with holes for eyes and mouth, while puppets of horses are tied to their waists. Andrzej Brencz suggests that the ritual refers to old Slavic rituals, connected with the cult of the horse, and supposed to bring good harvest and wealth.〔Andrzej Brencz, ''Wielkopolski rok obrzędowy. Tradycja i zmiana''. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Poznańskie, 2006, p. 210.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Siwki (Easter tradition)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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