The remembered image of a „sweet” childhood, or tales about maszkety

Abstract

The subject of the article constitutes memories of native Silesians about childhood, or, more precisely, a selected element of cultural heritage, which are sweets, or maszkety, as they are called in the Silesian dialect. The presented statements were recorded by the author during field research conducted between 2019 and 2021 in Upper Silesia, in two provinces – Opole and Silesia – in rural and urban communities. The collected material reveals a picture of childhood in Poland from the post-war period to the 1980s within the context of specific food items, and their place and importance in the lives of children. The material provides a lot of interesting information about the sweets themselves, the circumstances of their preparation and consumption, as well as the past living conditions, changes in eating patterns, as well as celebrations and holidays in families.