Carollers’ star

The face of the star is adorned with an eleven-arm cardboard cutout painted silver with glued coloured tissue paper. Originally the intricate lace openwork was lit up by a candle. When it was lit, the pale colours of the tissue paper would become more vivid and the pattern cut in the cardboard more visible. The star then resembled an illuminated stained glass window. The reviving power of light is a metaphor of how the sacrum acts.

In the centre of the composition there is a soaring bird - an eagle or falcon. Both birds tend to be regarded as solar symbols which may explain the positioning in the centre of the star which in the Christian tradition was a sign of the birth of Jesus, "the invincible sun." However, lack of analogy in images adorning other carollers’ stars suggests a different interpretation. The bird is similar to one of the logos used by Sokół (the Polish for “falcon”) Polish Gymnastic Society which operated in Rawa Ruska. Perhaps the exhibit is connected with this organisation? The star might have therefore been used as a Christmas decoration, part of a nativity play stage design or an object used by carollers from the Sokół society.

The object found its way to the Ethnographic Museum in Krakow in 1935 as a gift of Dr Wiktor Medwecki, solicitor and keen tourist.