Kulig (sleigh rides) is an old

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

winter tradition dating back to the days of the

szlachta The ''szlachta'' (Polish: endonym, Lithuanian: šlėkta) were the noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth who, as a class, had the dominating position in the ...

(nobility). The kulig was a

sleigh A sled, skid, sledge, or sleigh is a land vehicle that slides across a surface, usually of ice or snow. It is built with either a smooth underside or a separate body supported by two or more smooth, relatively narrow, longitudinal runners s ...

ride party organized among the Polish aristocracy. A cavalcade of horse-pulled sleighs and sleds went from one manor house to another, entertained everywhere with hearty meals followed by dancing. Nowadays Kulig rides are a popular tourist attraction in the Polish

Tatra mountains The Tatra Mountains (), Tatras, or Tatra (''Tatry'' either in Slovak language, Slovak () or in Polish language, Polish () - ''plurale tantum''), are a series of mountains within the Western Carpathians that form a natural border between Slovak ...

, advertised and practiced in places such as

Zakopane Zakopane ( Podhale Goral: ''Zokopane'') is a town in the extreme south of Poland, in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998, it was part of Nowy Sącz Voivodeship; since 1999, it has been par ...

References

External links

Kulig - old Polish winter tradition
at ''Polish News'', 2002. Retrieved December 13, 2012. {{Poland-stub Polish traditions