June is a special month in Krakow. During that time three very important celebrations take place: annual Days of Krakow, Crowning of the Marksmen King and the passage of the Lajkonik Hobby Horse.
The first event to take place this year is the Crowning of the Marksmen King on 6th June. First, the members of the Marksmen’s Society will march along Lubicz Street to the Mariacki Church where they will have their Holy Mass. Then, in the presence of municipal and voivodeship authorities the Marksmen King will be crowned next to the Town Hall Tower. Let’s hope he will not be eaten by the dragons which will invade the Old Town on the same day.
The second tradition are frolics of Lajkonik, the Hobby Horse from the district of Zwierzyniec, who comes out once a year during the octave of Corpus Christi. This year the event will take place on 18th June and everyone who will be present between Salwator District and the Market Square on that day can expect to be spanked by this unusual creature who is a mixture of a human and a horse in a spiky hat. The origins of this tradition have already been described last year, so we will not repeat that. However, it is worth reminding that anyone who will be spanked by Lajkonik will have a truly lucky year!