Kolberg came to Bodzanowo two times. Firstly in 1860, secondly, after five years, in 1865. During his stay in this region he took advantage of the hospitality of the Biesiekierski family. In ‘The Letters of Oskar Kolberg’ there is a correspondence from Józef Bliziński, a writer and the owner of the manor in Choceń sent from Bodzanowo and Sędzin. Bliziński provided Kolberg with some material from the region of Kujawy. Moreover, he portrayed Kolberg in his drama ‘Marcowy kawaler’ [The Fickle Bachelor], giving him the name of Heliodor.

Some of the materials from Bodzanowo are connected with witchcraft: “One miserable woman who is mad with despair runs around the village and dances a few times a day. It is believed that a witch from another town cast a spell on her, which will continue for the whole year. She is forced to dance even in the middle of a forest. Sometimes she has to dance in winter, when it is freezing and windy, yet her feet are not freezing then”.

The Kujawiaks, according to Kolberg, are always ready to laugh and play. Three weeks before a wedding, they organise a so-called ‘zdawiny’ [from ‘zdać’ – to hand over]. The party is so lavishly organized that it looks almost like the wedding itself. It is thrown on Saturdays. As Kolberg relates: “music and vodka are its indispensable elements. Parents of the future wife fill tables with buttered bread, meat and different dishes; yet, they sit round the table not sooner than the late midnight hours, when the first cock crows. The guests eat and dance till 10 in the morning on Sunday. Later, everybody goes to a church where the young couple pays for the banns”.

Poorer people provide their guests with cheese and butter during ‘zdawiny’.