Aspen bast decorations from my hometown - Koziegłowy

Today's Polish tradition will include a personal story because it is connected with my family and the town I come from. I am going to talk about aspen bast (łyko osikowe) - a product used for decorations, that comes from the small town of Koziegłowy, in the Silesian Voivodeship.

The history of aspen bast goes back to the end of the 19th century and has its roots in plaiting, i.e. making baskets, hats, mats, and other practical objects from thin, long strips of wood. In Koziegłowy, plaiting has been common for a long time, and braided hats are made to this day (at one time, at the entrance to the village, there was even the largest hat in the world, entered in the Guinness Book of Records). The materials were usually imported from Białowieża - a district distanced several hundred kilometers away in north-eastern Poland. Traditionally, before the war, the Jewish people were involved in bringing and selling it here. This changed in the 1920s, when, after the devastation of World War I and the extermination of the Jews, the population of Koziegłowy began to collect raw materials from local forests and use the aspen that was commonly growing in this region.

In the interwar period, natural wood began to be dyed and aspen products took on colors, and 40 years later, in addition to traditional utility items, the inhabitants of Koziegłowy began producing decorative aspen elements, which were hung in windows and under ceilings in local households. The aspen cockerel is the most popular, but flowers, geometric shapes, and others have also been created. In addition to hanging ornaments, sumptuous bouquets were made, which were later placed in vases in houses or decorated with them in the local, 600-year-old church. With time, people started also to produce the decorations for the Christmas tree of aspen.

Aspen gained fame in Poland and abroad, but when the political changes came at the beginning of the 90s, it was almost completely forgotten.

This is where my mother enters the story. At the beginning of the 21st century, she became the manager of a local cultural center and set herself the goal of popularizing aspen ornaments. She started to conduct aspen workshops in Koziegłowy and outside the town, revived the tradition, and popularized it again. Soon after, the first private company was established, which started the production of aspen ornaments.

Today the tradition is alive again. Apart from the aforementioned company, several families produce and sell aspen ornaments and travel around the country offering handicraft workshops. My mother is no longer the manager of a local cultural center, she currently lives in Brussels, Belgium, but also there she often conducts workshops on the production of aspen decorations for the local Polish community and Belgians. The ornaments produced by her found their way to Belgian galleries and were even presented at the Polish Embassy.

The future of aspen bast seems promising. The tradition has been revived, popularized, and lives its own life, being the object of interest of many inhabitants of Koziegłowy.

_{My mother teaches me and my husband how to make the aspen bast decorations}