Jan Czeczot of Ostoja (, ''Jan Čačot,'' , 1796–1847) was a Polish romantic poet and Belarusian

folklorist Folklore studies (also known as folkloristics, tradition studies or folk life studies in the UK) is the academic discipline devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currency in the 1950s to distinguish the ac ...

and ethnographer. Fascinated by the

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

and the traditional folk songs of the former

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

, a confederal part of the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

, he recollected hundreds of them in his works. Inspired by them, he also wrote several poems in what could be considered a pre-modern

Belarusian language Belarusian (, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language. It is one of the two Languages of Belarus, official languages in Belarus, the other being Russian language, Russian. It is also spoken in parts of Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Polan ...

. As such, he is often cited as one of the first Polish ethnographers and one of the predecessors of the Belarusian national revival.

Biography

Jan Czeczot was born on 24 June 1796 in a noble family that was part of the

Clan of Ostoja The Clan Ostoja (Moscics), Clan of Ostoja (old Polish: ''Ostoya'') was a powerful group of knights and lords in late-medieval Europe. The clan encompassed families in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (including present-day Belarus and Ukraine ...

family of Tadeusz Czeczot in Małuszyce ( Małušyčy, now in Hrodna Voblast) near Navahrudak. He graduated from a Dominican school in Navahrudak and then joined the Vilna Academy in 1816. There, he made friends with many of the predecessors of Polish romanticism, among them

Adam Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. He also largely influenced Ukra ...

, who is said to support Czeczot's early poetic writings. Their friendship was immortalized in the dedication to Mickiewicz's III part of '' Dziady''. Also, Czeczot became the secretary of the Philomatic Society and a friend of Ignacy Domejko, with whom he shared passion for the folklore. After the society was discovered by the Russian

secret police image:Putin-Stasi-Ausweis.png, 300px, Vladimir Putin's secret police identity card, issued by the East German Stasi while he was working as a Soviet KGB liaison officer from 1985 to 1989. Both organizations used similar forms of repression. Secre ...

in 1823, Czeczot was arrested and sent to

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

. After his sentence was completed, he relocated to central Russia and in 1833 settled in

Lepiel Lyepyel or Lepel (; , ; ; ) is a town in Vitebsk Region, Belarus, located near Lyepyel Lake on the Vuła (river), Vula River. It serves as the administrative center of Lyepyel District. Its population in the 1998 census was 19,400. As of 2024, i ...

. In 1837 he was allowed to publish his first book, the ''Piosnki wieśniacze znad Niemna'' (''Folk Songs of the

Neman River Neman, Nemunas or Niemen is a river in Europe that rises in central Belarus and flows through Lithuania then forms Lithuania–Russia border, the northern border of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia's western exclave, which specifically follows its s ...

''). The second edition of that anthology, published in 1844 under the title of ''Piosnki wieśniacze znad Niemna z dołączeniem pierwotwornych w mowie słowiańsko-krewickiej'' (''Folk Songs of the Neman River with Originals Written in Slavic-Krevich Language''), was significantly expanded and included many translations of his works to what could be seen as a predecessor of the modern

. It was not until 1839 when he finally was allowed to return home. Unable to find a job, for five years he was working as a librarian in a family estate of his family's friends, the Chrebtowicze family. He never fully recovered after his resettlement to Siberia. In 1846 he went to the spa of Druskininkai, but the treatment was unsuccessful and Jan Czeczot died on 23 August of the following year. He is buried in a small cemetery in Ratnyčia in Lithuania. Several of his works published in the latter part of his life gained much popularity. Among the fans of his poetry was composer Stanisław Moniuszko, who even decided to illustrate some of his poems with music.Wójcicki Antoni, Cieślak Antoni, Polskie pieśni i piosenki : śpiewnik polski : elodie i teksty Warszawa, Wydawnictwo Polonia, 1989

References

1796 births 1847 deaths People from Karelichy district Polish nobility Clan of Ostoja Polish exiles in the Russian Empire 19th-century Polish poets 19th-century Belarusian poets Belarusian folklorists Belarusian male poets Polish male poets 19th-century Polish male writers Vilnius University alumni Polish writers in Belarusian Poets from the Russian Empire Scholars from the Russian Empire

Biography

See also

References

Further reading