Beskids Culture Week – Week of Beskydy Culture belongs to the oldest and the largest folk events in Poland and even in Europe. The purpose of the event is the continuation and popularization of traditional as well as contemporary phenomena in the field of folk culture. Its tradition refers to the pre-war ‘Mountain’s Festival’, which was organized for the first time in Zakopane in 1935, and then in Wisła in 1937. After two years of the pandemic, BCW returns to its traditional form, especially when it comes to the participation of foreign folk music bands.
Beskids Culture Week is the oldest and largest festival of this kind in Poland and Europe that popularizes folklore culture.
Similarly, creators of “Mountain’s Festival” which was supposed to take place in 1934 Zakopane, were guided by the same ideas. Unfortunately, the enormous flood obstructed those plans. However, a year later in 1935, people of Podlhale hosted musicians, dancers, singers, craftsmen and folk artists that came from polish Carpathians, from Cheremosh to Olza River. For whole week, highlanders from Żywiec, Beskid Sądecki, Huculs, Lemkos and Boykos showed artistic goods of their lands. Already then the festival was a contest, and the main prize went to Huculs. Two years later, with its name changed to “Mountain Week”, the event took place in Wisła.
This year’s event lasts 9 days and takes place in 5 towns: Wisła, Żywiec, Szczyrk, Maków Podhalański, Oświęcim and 3 accompanying ones: Istebna, Ujsoły, Jabłonków (Czech Republic), and also in Bielsko-Biała. BCW is mainly attended by amateur folk groups from Beskid and invited groups from other regions of Poland, as well as foreign bands – about 100 music groups annually.
The festival also includes two important events: the Festival of Polish Highlanders Folklore, which includes both a ensemble review of bands from all mountain regions in our country, as well as a competition of bands, singers, instrumentalists, masters in various fields of folklore, and International Folklore Meetings.
The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage annually subsidizes the organization of the Beskid Culture Week as part of the Folk and Traditional Culture program.