I’ve become a little obsessed with making a Pujaki. The word Pujaki is polish and translated it means “spiders of straw”. There is a strong folk arts & crafts tradition in Poland. In the winter, when much of the outdoor activities were suspended, Polish peasant families would spend their time preparing for on of their biggest holidays – Christmas. Made from colored paper and straw, the Pujaki would hang over the Christmas table and stay there through New Year’s when it was carried on visit’s to friends’ houses. It was a symbol of good luck for the coming year! I read about these on design sponge and also on decor8.
You can buy them online, like the one above, at the Polish Art Center. Or try your hand at making one, like Lena Corwin or The Small Object did here below.
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I think I will put this on my summer list! Although traditionally made from straw, I think I might try making mine from pipe cleaners. I’ll let you know how it goes!
Hi,
just to correct the spelling; they are called PAJAKI (to be precise the second A should have a little dash/tail on the underside – PAJĄKI) which means spiders as they resemble straw spiders.
The phrase “Tradycyjne pająki ludowe” means “traditional folk spiders” and google image search will return a lot of examples.