Oriental or local? Poland’s Tatar community

The Tatars of Poland stay 1 of the country’s most enduring cultural minorities. Arriving in the area as early as the 14th century, this group has maintained its own distinctiveness while adapting to many wider Polish customs. This process has active as much affirmative as negative developments.

Had you, 30 or 40 years ago, visited Kruszyniany, a village close the Belarusian border that is home to 1 of the 2 conventional Tatar settlements in Poland, you would have encountered the tranquil rhythm of community life centred around bayrams (a Turkic word for festivals or celebrations). In Muslim tradition, spiritual holidays are moments for families to gather in prayer at a mosque or a cemetery (mizar). To join their relatives in these celebrations, descendants of Tatars from all around Poland would flock to Kruszyniany. However, erstwhile the festivities were over, only a fewer Tatar families stayed in the village, enjoying its tranquillity and the slow pace of life.