Stary Kraszew, now part of the Wołomin district, belonged to the administrative district of Radzymin in Kolberg’s day. Its name used to be just ‘Kraszew’. In his notes from 1868, Kolberg wrote: “Go to Wola Rasztowska and Kraszew near Radzymin to the Komierowski family”. The following year, he repeated the same field research in Wola Rasztowska, and, possibly, also in Kraszew.

Kraszew was the estate which, for many years, belonged to the Żymirski. In the 1850s, it became the property of Michał Komierowski, the husband of Salomea Żymirska, and it was probably his name that Kolberg put in his notes.

The data collected in the vicinity of Kraszew and Wola Rasztowska include the accounts of many aspects of rural life, including songs with melodies; descriptions of rituals, beliefs and superstitions; fairy tales and comments on architecture and drawings.

He relates their ritual connected with Easter celebrations, according to which the first person who arrives at home after the Easter mass would have healthy cattle. The other tradition concerned the celebration of baptism. Both boys and girls were pleased with the opportunity to be godfathers or godmothers of bastard children. They believed that it would provide splendid flax for girls and magnificent horses for boys. This is why they took a linen or spindle, or a halter to the celebration.

Kolberg collected also some information about superstitions in relation to children: “If a spell was put on your child, you break it by triply crossing a street and saying Hail Mary three times”.

The description of a wedding from the vicinity of Kraszew, Rasztów and Wola Rasztowska starts with the account of the wedding emblem. It is a juniper wreath, here called ‘koruna’. On the wedding day, two bridesmaids take a branch of juniper from their gardens. They ornament it together with the groomsmen, and then leave it with them. Next, all wedding guests go with the groom to the house of the bride and sing.