Łyse is a village in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, situated in the

Masovian Voivodeship The Masovian Voivodeship, also known as the Mazovia Province ( pl, województwo mazowieckie ) is a voivodeship (province) in east-central Poland, with its capital located in the city of Warsaw, which also serves as the capital of the country. The ...

, in

Ostrołęka County __NOTOC__ Ostrołęka County ( pl, powiat ostrołęcki) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Masovian Voivodeship, east-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local gover ...

, and in

Gmina Łyse __NOTOC__ Gmina Łyse is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Ostrołęka County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. Its seat is the village of Łyse, which lies approximately 31 kilometres (19 mi) north of Ostrołęka and 13 ...

, by the road 645 between

Myszyniec Myszyniec is a town in Ostrołęka County, Masovian Voivodeship, northeastern Poland, with 3,032 inhabitants (2004). History Myszyniec was founded in 1654 by the Jesuits in accordance with a royal privilege issued by King John II Casimir Vas ...

and

Nowogród Nowogród is a small town in northeastern Poland located about away from the city of Łomża, in Łomża County, in Podlaskie Voivodeship, with 1,998 inhabitants (2004). It is centered on the area known as Skansen Kurpiowski which is an ope ...

. It lies approximately north of

Ostrołęka , image_flag = POL Ostrołęka flag.svg , image_shield = POL Ostrołęka COA.svg , pushpin_map = Poland Masovian Voivodeship#Poland , pushpin_label_position = bottom , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = ...

and north of

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

. In the years 1975–1998, Łyse belonged to the

Ostrołęka Voivodeship Ostrołęka Voivodeship () was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland in the period 1975–1998. It was superseded by Masovian Voivodeship. Ostrołęka. Major cities and towns ''Population on 31 December 1998.'' * ...

Character

The village is a center of Kurpiowski folk art with a 19th-century wooden church that has a

polychrome Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery or sculpture in multiple colors. Ancient Egypt Colossal statu ...

interior. Mass is held in this church only on special occasions; regular mass has been held in the nearby modern church, Chrystusa Króla Wszechświata, since dedication in 2000. The village has the lowest

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for Work (human activity), w ...

rate in

, due in no small part to the local

meat packing industry The meat-packing industry (also spelled meatpacking industry or meat packing industry) handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of meat from animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock. Poultry is generally no ...

Easter in Łyse

Every year a

Palm Sunday Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. Palm Sunday marks the first day of Holy ...

(the week before

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

)

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

is celebrated here. The highlight of the festival is a contest for the most beautiful

palm Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae **List of Arecaceae genera * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music * Palm (ba ...

. Traditionally, the hand-made flowers of the palm are begun at the beginning of

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...

. During the festival, one can experience Kurpiowski traditions by, among others: Kurpiowski

wycinanki ''Wycinanki'' () in Poland or ''Vytynanky'' (Витина́нки) in Ukraine or ''Vycinanki'' (Выцінанкі) in Belarus, is a Slavic version of the art form of papercutting, popular in Belarus, Poland, and Ukraine. Belarus Vycinank ...

, folk music and dance, and tasting bread slices with lard and pickles. Villages in Ostrołęka County Łomża Governorate Warsaw Voivodeship (1919–1939) {{Ostrołęka-geo-stub