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Paper short abstract

The paper examines various ways of depicting nature, climate change, and the impacts of weather changes on the environment and human life in Ignacy Czerwiński's work, Okolica Zadniestrska (The Area Behind the Dniester River), considering the author's comments on local beliefs and folk tales.

Paper long abstract

Okolica zadniestrska (The Area Behind the Dniester River, 1811), the book of Ignacy Czerwiński, was recognised as the first Polish ethnographic monograph. The work includes: detailed descriptions of the topography of the territory and the hydrographic network, combined with etymological research known from old chronicles and chorography, accounts of the author's in situ observations concerning weather variability, the related condition of rivers and land, natural resources, and the noticeable impact of climatic and natural changes on the state of local agriculture. Czerwiński successfully combined a synchronic approach with a diachronic one – the description of phenomena observed today complements a chapter that includes reflections, which encompass not only the social history of the area but also the history of local nature. The author pointed out visible remnants from past centuries, including traces of human activity and natural processes, which are evident in changes to river beds, soil quality, and climate deterioration. Czerwiński also gives voice to the Boykos, the people inhabiting the Transnistrian region (using italics to cite their proverbs, for example). Apart from the etic perspective – that of the host and owner of the local villages – it is also possible to notice the emic perspective, which provides insight into folk beliefs and practices related to, among other things, the weather. Both the author and the Boykos he describes take seasonal cycles into account. Vernacular weather predictions and phenomena categorised by the local population as 'natural' and 'unnatural' weather events also play an important role in Czerwiński's findings.