Kaszuby, from Slownik Geograficzny Krolestwa Polskiego
translated by William F. Hoffman
Kaszuby, in German Kassuben, Kaschuben, Kaschubei, in
documents Cassubia, Cassubitae, the name of a region and
people in West Prussia; it is not certain what the name
comes from, whether from kasanie hub [fold, pleat] (a
term still used for fald [fold, pleat]), or from
kaszuby, which in Pomerania means "fairly shallow water
overgrown with high grass." At one time the clans of the
Pomeranian princes came from the Kaszuby region. It was
originally quite extensive, covering all of Pomerania
that is now Germanized. In the mid 13th-century the
princes of eastern Mecklenburg signed their names
as "duces Cassubitarum" ["leaders" or "dukes" of
Cassubitae]. Currently belonging to the Kaszuby region,
however, is the northwestern portion of Chojnice powiat,
almost all of Koscierzyna powiat (not counting an
eastern band near Skarszewy, Zblewo, and Lubichowo), all
of Kartuzy and Wejherowo powiats, and the northwestern
part of Gdansk powiat, and finally a few remnants in the
Germanized districts of Byt-w and Lebork. To the north
Kaszuby extends to the Baltic Sea, the Bays of Puck and
Gdansk; to the east it borders on the territories of the
Zulawiaks and Kociewiaks; to the south live the
Borowiaks; and to the west lies Germanized Pomerania.
There are no really large rivers or streams in Kaszuby;
still the rivers and streams there are numerous and
swift-running, issuing mostly from lakes. The more
important are: the Brda, Czarna Woda (in its origins),
Wierzyca, Wietcisa, Radunia, Slupa, Slupianka,
Strzelniczka, Leba, Czarna, Reda, Chylonia, Strzysza,
and many others. Lakes are very numerous, including:
Wdzydze, Suminskie, Peplinskie, Wielskie, Koscierskie,
Radunskie, Gowidlinskie, Zarnowskie, and others almost
beyond counting. Stretching through the center of
Kaszuby from east to west is the Ural-Baltic Ridge
(German name Ural-baltischer LandrYcken) with the
highest elevations in the hills of the Szymbark area
(1,020 m. above sea level). These hills divide Kaszuby
into two parts, northern and southern.
The soil of southern Kaszuby is for the most part sandy,
watery, and stony; only rare breaks entertain the eye
with golden wheat and green meadows. Before there was a
highway there, a well-off father bringing his son back
from vacation in Chojnice would harness three spry
steeds, and take along several spare ropes just in case,
for in the sand one could not cover more than 21 km. in
5 hours, and the wheels often sank up to the axle in the
loose element. The ordinary farm-owner considered such a
trip too hard on his harness. So the poorer peasants
would usually set out on foot. If it weren't for the
lakes and their fish, the inhabitants would have to
forsake their patches of sand, for the soil would not
support them. Besides withered rye and small potatoes,
the fields are covered at best only with white
buckwheat, from which the Kaszub has his beloved
porridge, which for him stands in for all other dishes.
He may have some bread he's bought, and he entertains
guests under his thatched roof only on holidays. Small
villages are rare here, too, with meager buildings, and
they are usually located on water, on which the
inhabitants go without care in their small canoes
hollowed out of logs.
It is more cheerful in northern Kaszuby. The soil there,
though cold, is more fertile, sometimes black, and is
densely populated. Hills and valleys of all kinds make
for variation. If we stand on some high point east or
west, we have before us a landscape which other regions
famed for their beauty might envy us. Dark forests
usually enclose the field of view, in which green
fields, lakes shining gold in the sun, narrow bands of
small, swift-flowing rivers and brooks contrast with
small villages, usually hidden on the water in valleys.
This part is rightly called Szwajcarja Kaszubska [Swiss
Kaszuby], namely, the beautifully situated vicinities of
Wejherowo, Kartuzy, Zukowo, Chmielno, the Szymbark
hills, Zarnowiec, Oliwa on the sea, etc. Alongside the
large and medium-sized estates there are small farms
here, the largest a hundred m-rgs. But the peasant is
comfortable, even affluent. In the forest it is no
rarity to find wild boars rooting; when one emerges to
feed on peas and oats, it is felled more often by the
peasant's bullet than the forester's. Farther on, where
the hills do not approach the sea, unfathomable peat
bogs stretch from Oliwa almost to Puck, the source of a
fair-sized profit. In the Bay of Puck and the sea, and
in the larger lakes, people work as fishermen. From
there salmon, flounder, and eels are sent for fast-day
meals to Torun, Gdansk, and Warsaw, and unsalted herring
goes to nourish the natives. In the forest they gather
mushrooms and berries, which they bring to town. They
also burn coal, and rework wood for farm use. But most
often they work in the fields.
In form the Kaszub is not tall; he is bony, nimble, of
rather fair complexion, usually with light-colored hair.
The men's clothing consists of a long, pleated frock (of
homespun), with firm calf s leather shoes, often tar-
soaked, and pants, also of homespun, reaching down to
their tops. Currently the most typical feature of every
Kaszub's attire is a large cap (like the ones firemen
wear), covering the back of the skull, and the ears with
flaps; gray sheepskin is sewn on the front, and the
inside is also lined with sheepskin. They used to wear a
tall sheepskin cap with short silk ribbons, usually
yellow, on the back. Young Kaszub women also delight in
warm homespun dresses with similar ribbons. In summer
they wear on their heads a thin white scarf knotted
under the chin-thus they are called bialki ["white
ones"].
The Kaszub is jolly and free, and if he's been drinking,
he would give his neighbor all he has. But when you get
on his bad side, he is obstinate and uncompromising,
which is the source of a proverb, "Uparty jak Kaszuba"
["stubborn as a Kaszub"J. It is hard to find any real
anger in him. Only one thing has ever really gotten to
him, and that was the Order of the Teutonic Knights;
when a Kaszub wants to revile someone in the coarsest of
terms, he will shout at him "Te komtorze!" ["You Knights
commander!"] (he also calls the toad komtur). He
receives guests cordially and treats them to whatever he
can. Formerly at weddings and baptisms drinking-bouts
were common; but now after the Jesuit fathers' missions,
an exemplary sobriety and industry is the rule. This is
a most pious people, they besiege the famous Wejherowo
kalwarye by the thousands; they also make pilgrimages in
hordes to more distant holy places such as in Laki,
Gietrzwald, etc. Their churches are always overcrowded,
although their parishes, like rural dioceses, are widely
dispersed. The Kaszub is an avid learner, and many
Kaszub sons are educated in gimnazjums in Wejherowo,
Peplino, Chelmno, and Chojnice. In general the boys
distinguish themselves in school with their persistent
work, and quite often with their quick talent.
One can distinguish here three types of szlachta. The
most ancient pure-blooded Pomeranian or Kaszub nobles,
who can usually be recognized beforehand by their short
surnames ending in -a, survive in fairly large numbers
in the powiat of Kartuzy and in Pomerania, as far as to
Slupsk. Among them were the families of Jarka, Pyrcha,
Wnuk, Janta, and many others. Their inheritances are not
large. Another kind of nobles, the zagonowa [roughly
equivalent to "yeoman" in English] are densely settled
in Kartuzy and (northern) Chojnice powiaty, and come
from the cavalry officer's aides who supposedly received
arms under Jan III Sobieski at Vienna. The third kind
consist of Polish families who moved to Prussia in large
numbers in the 16th and 17th centuries, endowed with
extraordinary privileges, especially exemption from the
levy en masse beyond the borders of the country. The
first and the third have become greatly Germanized.
Among the towns, Koscierzyna has most preserved a Kaszub
character; that is why it is called the capital of
Kaszuby. Next comes Wejherowo, more recently founded,
which has recently become more Germanized. Other towns
formerly Kaszub, such as Puck, Lebork, Bytowo, Slupsk,
Leba, and to some extent Gdansk, are now almost entirely
Germanized.
To this point only one railway line crosses Kaszuby, the
Gdansk-Slupsk line at Oliwa, Wejherowo, and Lebork.
Currently they are building another, secondary one from
Pszcz-lki to Skarszewy to Koscierzyna and Bytow. Efforts
are also being made for a similar line from Zukowo to
Kartuzy, but so far the prospects are not good. Highways
are somewhat more densely located. In order to get at
least an approximate idea of the number of the Kaszub
population, the best way is to look at the parishes in
which Kaszubs live, for to be a Kaszub is to be a
Catholic; in general there are few German Catholics
among the Kaszubs. Kaszub is first and foremost the
entire deanery of Puck, with the parishes of Jastarnia,
Mechowo, Starzyn, Wejherowo, Gora, Oksywie (Chylonia),
Puck, Rumia (Reda), Swarzewo, Strzelin, Tulowo, and
Zarnowiec; the total of souls here is over 27,000. The
second deanery, Koscierzyna or Mirachowo, includes the
following parishes: Koscierzyna, Kartuzy, Chmielno,
Gorecin (Kielpin), Gowidlino, Stare Grabowo (Reknica),
Lipusz, Luzino, Parchowo, Sianowo, Sierakowice, Stezyca,
Strzepcz, Sulecin; that is over 43,000 souls. Lebork
deanery, with the parishes of Ugosc, Bytowo,
Niezabyszewo, Lebork, and Rozlazin, has over 6,000
souls. Scattered in other deaneries are the Kaszub
parishes of Zukowo, Przodkowo, Maternia, Oliwa
(partially), Kielno, Chwaszczyno, Kiszewa, Wiele, Legno,
Brusy, Borzyszkowy, for a total of over 43,000. So the
whole Kaszub population totals about 120,000 souls, a
number that would be rather too low than too high,
inasmuch as the above reckoning is done according to
diocesan summaries from 1867 (obviously after having
discounted non-Kaszubs), and recently the numbers of the
population have increased everywhere.
The Kaszub language differs significantly from
contemporary Polish, although experts say that it is one
of its most primeval forms. This language, like the
whole people, is rapid and lively in nature. The accent
usually falls on the syllable farthest from the end. The
Kaszubs themselves divide themselves in terms of
pronunciation into Lasaks and Beloks. The former, in the
south near Koscierzyna, speak more firmly; the Beloks,
near Wejherowo and Puck, cannot pronounce l~.
Considerable variety in pronunciation predominates in
various towns. Medial y and other vowels are most often
pronounced as e: Peck (Puck), reba (ryba, "fish"), grepa
(grupa, "group"), Slepsk (Slupsk). Palatalization is
almost totally unknown, so they say czetac (instead of
czytac, "to read"), cetka (instead of ciotka, "aunt"),
pisac (instead of pisac, "to write"). In endings they
drop the e in -ek: pask (instead of pasek), matk
(instead of matek, from the word for "mother"), ojc
(instead of ojciec, "father"). They have preserved the
old dual in the forms pojdma, pojwa (instead of pojdzmy,
pojdzcie, "let's [both] go, you [both] go"). They have
also preserved many almost unknown terms, e. g.,
czechlo, czechel (grave clothes), gunia (a garment of
coarse material), lez (lie), plesz (tonsure), pleszok
(priest), plesze (dots or eyes on potatoes), nekac (to
drive cattle into the fields), molnia chlaszcze or
chlasta (a dry, glossy shine), etc. Despite all that, a
Kaszub understands a Pole very well, and reads Polish
books (almost every one, because they study alone at
home; at school they have long since been Germanized);
they even take it ill if a Pole speaks to them
po "kaszebsku" (in Kaszubian). They like to read Polish
periodicals, especially when exhorted to do so by their
pastors, most of whom, unfortunately, have been Germans,
and not the best. In the single parish of Mechowo, with
a not over-large population, they keep 78 copies of the
rather heavily written Pielgrzym.
In recent times Kaszuby has become rather famous. First
and foremost, Dr. Cejnowa began to collect anecdotes,
proverbs (not always Kaszubian), songs (many flirtatious
and almost unknown); they were printed in small
brochures under the title Skorb kaszebskje move
[Treasury of Kaszubian]. In Poznan Rev. Gustaw Poblocki
published Slowniczek mowy kaszubskiej [A Small
Dictionary of Kaszubian]. A kind of Kaszubian epic was
written by the well known Hieronim Derdowski, entitled O
panu Czorlinscim co do Puck po sece jachol, Torun 1880.
See also the dissertation of Rev. Kujot in Warta, a
collective work, Poznan 1874. A. Helferding has also
written a lot about Kaszuby. See his Collected Works (in
Russian), Petersburg 1868-73, volume 3. Also
Seidel, "Das Land und Volk der Kassuben" [The Land and
People of Kaszuby], Neue Preuss. ProvinzialblStter,
1852, vol. 48. [Rev. Fankidejski].
Source: Slownik Geograficzny Krolestwa Polskiego -
Warsaw [1882, vol. 3, pp. 904-907].
Translated by William F. Hoffman, c PGSA Spring 1999
Bulletin.