Abstrakt:
Polish wandering beggars, commonly called dziady and Ukrainian hurdy-gurdy
players are two groups, which were characterized by certain similarities, but at
the same time they differed in a significant way. Despite these differences, the way
they were stereotypically perceived in the former rural communities was similar
and was characterized by a specific ambiguity. Considerations presented in this chapter lead to the conclusion that the ambivalent image of dziady and hurdygurdy
players in traditional culture was associated with two stereotypical ways of
describing them by ethnologists and folklorists. The first was the creation of an
idealized image of noble and pious thinkers and poets, the other depicted them as
crooks looking for an easy profit. Both images worked as ideological dimension
and despite the disappearance of hurdy-gurdy players and dziady after the 2nd
World War are still present in the public consciousness and are used to describing
certain phenomena of contemporary culture.
