During his stay in Pokuttia, in the years 1876-1880, Kolberg always stayed in Czortowiec with Władysław Przybysławski, an archaeologist and ethnographer, who provided Kolberg with very good working conditions and helped him in contacting informants. Moreover, Przybysławski made available for Kolberg his our own ethnographical archives. The men worked together during preparation of the exhibition in Kołomyja. Thanks to those circumstances, Kolberg collected here numerous materials.

This is what he wrote about the Christmas traditions:
“After a Christmas dinner, one girl who wants to know her fortune, takes all the spoons from the table; she goes outside and makes noise holding the spoons in her hands. The barking of the first dog specifies the direction from which her future husband will come”.

About the baptism of children born out of wedlock, Kolberg wrote the following:
“Even richer peasants are happy to become godparents of children born out of wedlock. They believe that this can bring good breeding. To make it work, during the celebration, a godmother or a godfather needs to tie a rope around his or her waist; the same rope that is used for cattle tying during ploughing. This rope is called ‘wołowód’. The children born out of wedlock are given the most strange and rare names”.

About the beliefs of the inhabitants of Czortowiec Kolberg wrote:
“In Czortowiec, near Obertyn, on St. George’s Day (May 5), people believe that a naked witch with loosen hair goes through nine yards. She gathers the splinters from nine gates; and then she throws those splinters on cows to bewitch their milk. Later she prepares butter from this milk but she can do this only when the sun is shining and it’s raining at the same time. To protect themselves from witches, in the evening of the St Georges Day, people scatter the yards with poppy seeds and use polecat smells. To protect their cows, they smear some tar wood into the doors of the barn, as well as on the cows’ muzzles and udders”.

Kolberg also collected here some songs, and an account of the dance Kołomyjka: “it is rather a dance of the inner feelings, than a real lively dance. In Czortowiec, next to the inn, I saw a group of about a hundred pairs, dancing in a circle. They danced with their heads, hands and all their bodies; however, they did not move from their original place”.