In Kolberg’s day, the city of Czersk belonged to the Grójec district, today Piaseczno district. According to the description from 1885 in ‘Mazovia’, it was: “one of the most ancient Polish towns (some say it was a settlement even during the times of Lech, the founder of Poland; others say it was settled during the times of Bolesław Chrobry). Today it is a small village on a hill by the Vistula river. In the past, Czersk was the capital of this area, and the Mazovian dukes also used to call themselves the dukes of Czersk. There are three towers here which are the remains of the ancient castle”.
Kolberg came to Czersk at the beginning of his research probably because of the fact that it was one of the oldest settlements in Mazovia. During his first trip to Czersk, at Whitsun in 1841, Kolberg was accompanied by Józef Konopka, Walenty Zakrzewski and Emil Jenike. However, he visited this city later. In the register of his voyages for the 1865, it is written: “to Czersk, Czaplin and to the Kozłowscy family”. Czaplin, the city near Czersk, was the settlement of Felicjan Kozłowki, an historian and philologist. Kolberg used to conduct research in this area along with Kozłowski’s son, Kornel; who published the results of his research in the monograph titled ‘Lud. Pieśni, podania, baśnie i przesądy ludu Mazowsza ludu z Mazowsza Czerskiego’ [The People. The Songs, Legends, Fairy Tales and Superstitions of the People of the Masovian Czersk]. Kolberg characterizes this work as ‘excellent’ and quoted it numerously in his own volume related to Mazovia. For example, he used Kozłowski’s description of houses from the Czaplin’s surroundings:
“It suffices to look at a house to know if it is hiding a girl who is ready to get married. Walls of the house are full of white symbols made of lime. The whole place is clean and tidy. The entrance is swept, the window is decorated with flowers, usually yellow marigolds or hollyhocks surrounded by a little wattle fence. This clean view is the promise of a thrifty wife-to-be”.
“Near the entrance they usually hung a horseshoe to protect themselves from charms and witches. According to the tradition, on Saint John’s Eve, they would slip some branches of sagebrush between the thatched roof and spread some more branches with wormwood on the top of it”.
Kolberg also visited Czersk also in the company of Józef Konopka. This is how he reported his first field research experience:
“Going further, especially alone, or even with one or two other people with a cane in your hand was impossible. Those faint-hearted, mistrustful and suspicious peasants were ready to catch any stranger and send him to the district authorities as the representatives of the Polish National Government. I experienced this in Czersk in1841 when travelling with Konopka. We are grateful to the president of the local commune for his intervention. He liberated us from our captors”.
