Living Cultural Heritage
Nowolětka / New Year’s Dough Figures
Around New Year and Epiphany, bread shaped like animals, known as Nowolětka, was traditionally baked and mixed into the cattle's feed and was believed to keep them healthy. It was also considered a traditional gift from children to their godparents. From this custom, which survived in isolated cases until the 1920s, a new tradition emerged, which is mainly practiced in schools and kindergartens. Here, children shape and bake various animal figures from dough to give away as gifts.
This is living cultural heritage that is characterised by its dynamism. This means that it changes, adapts and evolves in its practice and transmission over generations. This is how it is passed on and remains alive.
