Polish highlanders celebrate the return of sheep from mountain pastures for the winter.

Record ID: 83148

  • Title: Polish highlanders celebrate the return of sheep from mountain pastures for the winter.
  • Date: 4th October 2016
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF LOCALS PERFORMING FOLK MUSIC VARIOUS OF SHEEP
  • Embargoed: 19th October 2016 09:31
  • Keywords: Poland sheep highlanders winter tradition agriculture
  • Location: ISTEBNA, POLAND
  • City: ISTEBNA, POLAND
  • Country: Poland
  • Topics: Living/Lifestyle,Society/Social Issues
  • Reuters ID: LVA00352LAAEX
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Moving to the sound of violins, hundreds of sheep triumphantly entered the small Polish town of Istebna last weekend as locals celebrated their return from mountain pastures after a long summer, dressed in traditional costumes to cheer the herds.
    Every year, Istebna turns into a festival of agricultural traditions as sheep are assigned to the shepherds that will take care of them over the winter and folk music is played.
    "Sheep graze here and we work together, there are no farmers as such, we are a pastoral community. Sheep go from farmers to their shepherd, who guards the sheep all summer so that nothing happens. And today, the main shepherds brought them back and we are celebrating it with music and people who come here to join" Jozef Michalek, told Reuters.
    Located in the Beskidy Mountains in southern Poland and known for little else than their traditional lace production and way of sheep farming, the small isolated town of Istebna attracts many visitors as well as the locals for the festive return of the sheep, who push one another under the sound of the "trembita", a four-meter long horn which used to warn locals about bandits and raiders.
    Henryk Kukuczka has dozens of sheep, and is a true defender of traditional breeding and cheese and wool production. Only the weather can alter a good season as very little has changed since he helped his grandfather with his herd.
    For him, 2016 has been a good year.
    "This year was very successful when when we talk about food. This year it was humid, it rained a lot and grass grew well. Last year it was dry, there was nowhere for the sheep to graze, we had drought and had to chase where grass was with our sheep so that they had something to eat. This year was quite different. There was plenty of grass and there is still a lot left," he said.
    Sheep farming and cheese production are shared by the villagers in the area, which reaches the Czech Republic, where locals share traditions as well as the dialect.
    Czech shepherd Michal Milerski, from Nytki, proudly explained how to make cheese in the "highlanders'" traditional way.
    "As sheep graze, shepherds stay with them, and then shepherds make cheese in the hut by adding special additives from the sheep's stomach to the milk. Milk is then heated to 35-36 degrees to reach body temperature. Then the enzymes cut the milk, it is pressed and formed into a cheese. Making it takes all day, from spring to autumn," he said.
    One thing has changed though in modern times: the job of a shepherd is no longer as dangerous as it used to be.
    Predators and wolves used to roam the dark woods, but bandits and raiders were also feared, against whom the villagers used the "trembita" as a warning.
    "Only the music was necessary, but everyone knew what it meant. People would then take pitchforks and sticks and go help the shepherd to chase away the raiders. That is how it used to be," Malgorzata Malyjurek said.
    Today, the trembita horns are used only during special occasions as locals use mobile phones instead. But the milk, the cheese and the wool remain exactly the same.
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