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century. Tradition maintains that the “gorale” of the Sandetian Valley participated in the war with the Swedes during King John Casimir’s reign. The inhabitants of Podegrodzie and a few other villages suc- cessfully participated in the guerilla actions against the enemy’s mil- itary units. They even took a few Swedish generals hostage, for which they were later rewarded with permission to wear a special folk cos- tume, called general’s attire, which looked just like the one worn by the generals, whom they had defeated. 27 The traces of Podegrodzie’s past have been collected in the local Museum of the Poles of Sandetia. The local people would prefer that the museum bore the name of the Poles of Podegrodzie, which shows how strong their sense of their own individuality is. The mu- seum collects the local folk costumes, tools of work, decorations used in various rituals, wayside shrines, and holy images carved by local artists. Another place, which helps one to become more familiar with Podegrodzie’s past, is the Sandetian Ethnographic Park in Nowy Sacz. There is a cottage from Podegrodzie there, which, until the 1950s, stood near Fr. Papczynski’s parents’ lot. The cottage has a small room and a kitchen, in which a cow was kept. With its breath, the cow warmed the inside of the cottage, which was otherwise heated only by the burning of dry twigs. The smoke would escape through the openings between the planks of the ceiling. The entire, often large, family had to fit inside the cottage. The boys more than ten years of age slept in the attic. Holy pictures hung at an angle on the walls under the ceiling. The cemetery, which is located on a hill above the parish church, offers the best view of Podegrodzie and the area. From there, one can clearly see both Nowy and Stary Sacz. In the Sandetian Valley, there is a shrine located at the dirt track leading to the place where one could cross the Dunajec River obscured by thick bushes. Far to the horizon stretch the wooded ranges of Beskid Wschodni [Eastern Beskid] with its tallest peak — Radziejowa. S TANISLAUS P APCZYNSKI 50