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POLISH
EASTER TRADITIONS
Polish
Easter traditions are as old and beautiful
as Polish Christmas traditions and they require
just as much elaborate preparation. These
traditions celebrate not only the central
mystery of the Catholic faith, the Resurrection
of Jesus Christ, they also celebrate the coming
of spring and the long-awaited rebirth and
renewal of nature after the long, dark months
of winter. The Polish name for Easter is Wielkanoc,
which means Great Night-the night from Holy
Saturday to Easter Sunday-when the miracle
of the Resurrection took place.
Lent or Wielki Post is the six-week
period of religious preparation for Easter.
Before the fasting that is a part of Lent,
everyone enjoys one last week of merrymaking
and good food. This is called Fat Week or
Tlusty Tydzien. It starts on
the Thursday before Ash Wednesday, when costume
parties are held and millions of the famous
jelly doughnuts called paczki are baked and
consumed. In the United States, paczki
are eaten on Fat Tuesday, also known as Mardi
Gras, but in Poland these delicacies are a
part of weeklong celebration leading up to
Ash Wednesday.
On
Ash Wednesday people go to church for ashes
and they also cut pussy willow branches, called
bazie or kotki
and place them in water , in the hope that
they will bloom by Palm Sunday. The six weeks
of Lent, leading to Easter Sunday, are a time
of fasting and prayer. Stations of the Cross
and Gorzkie Zale are two religious traditions
observed during Lent. Gorzkie Zale,
which means Bitter Sorrows, are beautiful
hymns or lamentations that are sung on Friday
evenings and Sunday afternoons in Lent. These
are ancient chants, retracing the Passion
and Crucifixion, and their soulful notes ring
out of all churches in cities and villages
in Poland during Lent.
Palm
Sunday begins Holy Week when preparations
for Easter can start in earnest. Since palms
do not grow in Poland, people take pussywillow
branches to church to be blessed by the priest
on Palm Sunday, or sprigs of colored straw.
The branches and sprigs are then hung in houses,
usually tucked behind a holy picture, to bring
health and prosperity to the household during
the coming year.
Holy
Week, Wielki Tydzien, includes
spiritual and other preparations for Easter.
Homes are cleaned, curtains washed, and the
baking and cooking begins. In olden times,
ham and sausages were made and smoked at home,
and bread and other pastries were baked from
scratch. The baking tradition continues today
and tall airy babkas, flat colorful
shortbread cakes called mazurki,
and rich creamy cheesecakes or serniki
are lovingly prepared. Each housewife wants
to have a large selection of homemade pastries
to place on her Easter table. Easter eggs,
called pisanki, are also made during Holy
Week.
On
Holy Thursday, people go to church for a service
that commemorates the Last Supper. The priest
washes the feet of twelve parishioners and
repeats the actions and words of Jesus Christ,
starting the celebration of the Passion that
will take place over the next three days.
On Holy Friday, after 3 p.m., which is the
time that Jesus died on the cross, each church
sets up a tomb where the Holy Eucharist is
placed as well as a statue of Jesus taken
down from the cross. Parishioners stand guard
at the tomb all night as people come and pray.
Many people go from village to village and
in the city from church to church to pray
at the tombs, called groby.
No baking is allowed on Holy Friday, but people
spend time coloring Easter eggs and preparing
baskets to be blessed in church on Holy Saturday.
The
most colorful additions to Polish Easter baskets
are the Easter eggs, called pisanki. There
are many different names for Easter eggs in
Poland, depending on the method that is used
to make them. Click here
to learn more about the many methods of making
Polish Easter eggs. In addition to the eggs,
a Polish Easter basket includes sausage or
ham, bread, butter, salt, and horseradish.
The eggs symbolize life, spring, and the Resurrection.
Bread represents Christ, the bread of life.
The sausage or ham represent abundance and
God's generosity. The horseradish represents
the passion of Christ and salt symbolizes
prosperity. Butter represents good will and
the decorations of green sprigs, pussy willows,
or daffodils represent joy. People all over
Poland walk with their Easter baskets in hand
to church on Holy Saturday-where a priest
blesses them with holy water-and then they
go straight home to try some of the blessed
food, which tastes all the more delicious
after weeks of fasting during Lent.
On
Sunday morning, a beautifully laid table is
prepared and covered with pisanki, ham, sausage,
cold meats, salads and relishes, including
cwikla, made with grated beets
and horseradish, bread, babki, mazurki, and
other pastries, and, in the center, a lamb
made of butter or sugar, commemorating the
resurrected Christ. No smoke was permitted
on Easter Sunday so no warm food was served,
other than zur, the traditional sour soup
that is a must on the Easter menu. Easter
Brunch is called Swieconka,
which means blessed food, since many of the
items served on Easter Sunday had been blessed
in church on Holy Saturday. The Easter Brunch
starts with the sharing of a blessed egg-everyone
takes a piece of the egg from the head of
the household as they exchange best wishes
with one another.
On
Easter Monday the water consumption in Poland
shoots way up and this is due to an ancient
custom that is still observed today, in villages
and cities alike. It is called Smigus
Dyngus or Wet Monday when people sprinkle
each other with water on the day after Easter,
or, in the case of young people, they don't
sprinkle but douse each other with buckets
of water. Boys lie in wait to surprise young
girls to see who can get whom wet first! In
extreme cases, you might even be thrown into
a stream of cold water with all your clothes
on!
The
custom of pouring water is an ancient spring
rite of cleansing, purification, and fertility
that is practiced all over the world, from
Europe to China. In Poland it takes on a religious
meaning since, according to legend, Prince
Mieszko I, the first king of Poland, was married
and baptized on Easter Monday in the year
966 AD. He had the entire nation of Poland
christened on his wedding day as well, and
Poland has been a deeply religious country
every since, for over one thousand years.
PISANKI
Polish
Easter Eggs - Pisanki
Eggs
are a symbol of spring and rebirth all around
the world, and they have also become the most
enduring symbol of Easter and the Resurrection.
In Poland, Easter egg-making has developed
into a true art form and there are as many
methods of making them as there are traditions
and rituals associated with them. Easter eggs
are called pisanki in Polish,
which comes from the word pisac,
which means to write. Designs are drawn or
words are written on a hardboiled egg with
a wax stylus, then placed in a dye. When the
wax is scraped off, a white pattern is revealed
on the colored egg.
Pisanki
are usually prepared in Polish homes during
Holy Week, especially on Holy Friday. On Holy
Saturday, the colored eggs are placed in baskets,
along with butter, bread, salt, horseradish,
sausage, and ham, and taken to church to be
blessed by a priest
Altough
pisanka has come to mean Easter
egg in Polish, it represents only one of the
methods used to decorate eggs in Poland. Here
are some of the most popular types of Easter
eggs in Poland:
Pisanki
- eggs with wax patterns "written"
or drawn on them, then dyed
Kraszanki - solid-color eggs,
dyed with plant materials such as beets,
onion skins, and leaves
Malowanki - hand-painted eggs
Drapanki - solid-color eggs with
a design scratched onto the surface
Wyklejanki - eggs decorated with
colored yarn
Nalepianki - eggs decorated with
paper cut-outs or straw
Sometimes, hollow eggs are used instead of
hardboiled. The eggs can then be displayed
all year long, ensuring good health and prosperity.
The solid-color eggs were used for consumption;
the decorated and hollow eggs would be saved
from year to year. Once blessed in church
on Holy Saturday, eggs were never thrown out,
nor were the eggshells. Instead they would
be buried in the garden or field as crops
were sown, bringing good fortune and ensuring
a good harvest. The water used in cooking
Easter eggs was also saved and used to water
fruit trees and to wash beehives. This was
believed to result in sweet-tasting fruit
and delicious golden honey.
On
Easter Sunday, before Swiecone,
the traditional Polish Easter Brunch, a blessed
Easter egg is shared by the family, as Easter
wishes are exchanged. Pets and livestock were
given a blessed Easter egg to eat as well.
For
Polish Easter Recipes, click
here.
POLISH
CONSTITUTION DAY MAY 3rd
Did
you know… that the Polish Constitution
is the second-oldest Constitution in the world
and the first Constitution in Europe? It was
ratified on May 3, 1791, only four years after
the American Constitution was adopted by the
Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia
in 1787. Did you know… that the Polish
Constitution so enraged Poland's super-power
neighbors that they partitioned the country
in an attempt to keep democracy from spreading
beyond Poland's borders? Russia, Prussia,
and Austria divided Poland into three sections
and ruled the nation for over 100 years.
Did
you know… that Poland has two national
holidays? May 3rd Constitution Day and November
11th Independence Day. That was the day in
1917 when Poland's Independence was reinstated
by the Regency Council, after more than 100
years of partition by its neighbors.
CORPUS
CHRISTI - BOZE CIALO
The
feast of Corpus Christi (Body of Christ) or
Boze Cialo is observed on the Thursday after
Trinity Sunday all over Poland. Houses, doorways,
and windows are decorated with greenery, flowers,
and holy pictures and makeshift altars and
shrines are built in the streets.
Traffic
comes to a virtual standstill at noon as from
every church in the country a procession leaves
with people walking behind the priest who
is carrying the Blessed Sacrament. Many of
the people are dressed in their regional costumes.
The colorful procession winds through the
streets, stopping at the temporary shrines
to sing and pray. The shrines are also decorated
with branches and members of the processions
pick twigs and leaves from them for good luck
and happiness. Young girls dressed in First
Holy Communion dresses scatter flower petals
on the street in front of the priest while
young boys carry incense. It is a day of celebration
and prayer in all of Poland, as well as a
national holiday.
LAJKONIK
The
legend of Lajkonik goes back to medieval times,
when Poland was often invaded by Mongol tribes
from the East. In 1241, the people of Krakow
successfully repelled one such attack and
this triumphant day is celebrated every year
on the first Thursday after the religious
holiday of Corpus Christi during the Lajkonik
Festival.
Lajkonik
has become one of the most beloved unofficial
symbols of the city of Kraków. It is
represented as a bearded man resembling a
Tatar in a pointed hat, dressed in colorful
attire, with a wooden horse around his waist.
Some say that the legend originated in pre-Christian
times when it was believed that in the spring
a horse brought good luck and high crop yields.
Later this was combined with the historical
stories of a Mongol invasion that was warded
off by the brave people of the city. Today,
the Lajkonik Festival begins with a colorful
parade of medieval dragons, knights, kings,
and maidens, led by the Lajkonik who prances
around chasing people with his mace. It is
said that if he touches you with his mace,
you will have good luck throughout the coming
year! The parade starts at the Wawel Castle
and ends in the center of town, in Market
Square.
BOCIANY
/ STORKS
Nothing
says spring in Poland more than the arrival
of the beloved "bociek" or stork.
You can see their large nests on rooftops,
towers, chimneys, telephone poles, walls,
haystacks, and on specially constructed nest
towers. Storks are said to bring good luck
and many homeowners will erect special stork
ledges on their roofs to encourage them to
nest there.
Poland
is home every summer to over half of the 160,000
European storks thought to be in existence
today. They are tall white wading birds, with
long red legs and long red beaks. They play
a colorful role in Polish fairy tales and
folklore. They are much loved by young and
old alike and they are considered harbingers
of the weather, marking the warm months with
their activities. Here are some folk sayings
about storks in Poland:
If storks arrive on St Joseph's Day (March
19), the snows will soon melt away.
On Annunciation Day (March 25), a stork will
be in its nest to stay.
On St Wojciech's Day (April 23), the stork
an egg will lay.
On St. Bartholomew's Day (August 24), the
stork prepares to fly away.
The
storks fly from Poland to Africa for the winter
months with their young. Over 100,000 stork
babies are hatched in Poland every summer.
Storks really seem to love their adopted country
of Poland!
EVE
OF ST. JOHN'S - NOC SWIETOJANSKA
People
have always celebrated the summer solstice.
The shortest night of the year is a night
of festivities and merry-making all across
the world. In Catholic Poland, the celebration
of this night was moved a few days to coincide
with the eve of the feast of St. John the
Baptist on June 24th. So the night that
is celebrated with festivals in Poland is
called the Eve of St. John's and it falls
on June 23rd.
Traditions
of the summer solstice focus on two of nature's
elements: fire and water. These elements
symbolize male and female characteristics
and the celebrations in Poland include the
burning of huge fires by men and boys, who
also danced around them and jumped through
them, while girls made wreaths from flowers
and herbs and floated them down the rivers
and streams, sometimes adding burning candles
to the wreaths.
The
men and women usually celebrated separately,
the only communication between them being
the floating of the wreaths (rzucanie wiankow).
Girls hoped that the young man of their
dreams would find their wreath and then
fall in love with them.
There
is a Polish legend that says that the magical
flower of the lowly forest fern (kwiat paproci)
only blooms on this shortest night of the
year. According to the legend, anyone finds
this mysterious fern will be rewarded with
great treasures. Fairy tales abound about
young men who go off on this night, searching
for the illusive fern flower.
Today,
St. John's Eve festivals and parties include
music and dancing, fireworks, boat floats,
and bonfires, with men and women celebrating
together. In Warsaw and Krakow and in other
smaller towns along the Wisla River, you
can still see candle-lit wreaths floating
down the river on the night of June 23rd.
MATKI
BOSKIEJ ZIELNEJ - OUR LADY OF THE FIELDS
As
summer draws to an end in Poland, the feast
day of Our Lady of the Fields (Matki Boskiej
Zielnej) is celebrated on August 15th. This
is also the feast day of the Assumption of
Our Lady. People bring to church great bouquets
made from branches, herbs, vegetables, and
wheat, interwoven with a few flowers from
the fields and gardens, which are blessed
by the priest. These bouquets are carried
home and kept until the following year. When
there is sickness in the household, the herbs
are brewed and used for medicinal purposes,
not only for the people, but for the livestock
as well. Wreaths are made on this day by young
girls and also brought to church to be blessed
and then they are proudly worn to attract
young men during the picnics and festivals
that follow the ceremonies in church.
DOZYNKI
- HARVEST FESTIVAL
The
Poles do not celebrate Thanksgiving in November
the way we do in the United States. They celebrate
the end of the harvest and thank God for the
bounties of the land in September, as summer
turns to fall and as the last fields are mown
and harvested.
The
symbol of Dozynki or the Harvest Festival
is a large wreath made of a number of grains,
the ones considered most important to the
harvesters, usually wheat and rye. The wreath
was made in the shape of a domed crown and
decorated with flowers, ribbons, hazelnuts,
and the fruit of the mountain ash tree. Holy
pictures or icons were sometimes added (see
photo).
The
wreaths were made by farmers and landowners
and brought to church to be blessed during
the Harvest Mass. Everyone dressed in their
finest folk costumes for the Mass and young
maidens vied to be the ones selected for the
honor of wearing a smaller version of the
dozynki wreath on their heads. A procession
accompanied the wreaths to church, which were
either carried or placed in horse-drawn wagons,
also decorated with ribbons and greenery.
After Mass, a harvest feast was prepared and
everyone joined in the celebrations that sometimes
lasted for a few days. Music, singing, and
dancing accompanied the festivities, as everyone
rejoiced that the work of the harvest was
done and that the food and grains were now
in storage for the long winter season ahead.
The
dozynki wreaths were taken home after the
celebration and hung in a prominent place
in the home, such as in an entrance hall,
above a chest of drawers, or above the door
of the main living room as a symbol of prosperity.
NOVEMBER
IN POLAND
The
biggest holiday in Poland of the autumn
season is All Saints' Day called Wszystkich
Swietych, celebrated on NOVEMEBR 1st.
All
Saints' Day is a holy day which has been celebrated
in Poland and the rest of the Catholic world
for many centuries. All Saints' Day is a national
holiday in Poland, and a day when people visit
the graves of loved ones and place candles
and flowers on their graves. Abandoned graves
are also decorated with candles and flowers.
If a family has moved away or no family members
are able to be present, neighbors will make
sure that no grave is forgotten. On this day,
all of the dead are to be remembered and honored.
The special votive candles, which can burn
for many hours, are placed on the graves so
that departed souls can find their way through
the darkness and flowers, usually mums, are
placed so that the dead know that they live
on in the memories of the those they left
behind. Cemeteries are lit by many hundreds
of these candles and at night they can be
seen glowing from long distances as darkness
descends. Many Poles travel from far and wide
to visit family graves on that day and to
honor the dead. The holiday is also sometimes
known as the Day of the Dead, Dzien Zmarlych.
The
next day, November 2nd is All Souls' Day,
or Zaduszki, when the church prays for all
departed souls, not only the souls of the
saints, but also of those who are still in
purgatory. Cemeteries and churches are visited
on this day as well.
In
recent years, Halloween, which originally
was a Celtic holiday, has made an appearance
in Poland with children donning costumes and
attending parties on October 31st, but the
true celebration of the dead in Poland continues
to be on November 1st and 2nd when millions
of people from all around the country criss-cross
the nation to visit the graves of their loved
ones. The smell of burning candles wafts across
the breadth and the width of Poland and cemeteries
are ablaze at night-you can see the glow in
the night sky wherever you look.
November
11th is Polish Independence Day and it is
the second national holiday in Poland-the
first one is Constitution Day celebrated on
May 3rd. November 11th is the day that Poland
regained its freedom after 123 years of partition
by its powerful neighbors, the superpowers
of the time: Russia, Prussia, and Austria.
November 11th is the same date that the Armistice
was signed ending World War I between Germany
and the Allies. Poles celebrate both of their
national holidays with pride. For a nation
that was not free for a large part of its
history, it is now happy to celebrate its
political freedom with great passion and pride-on
both of its national holidays.
POLISH
WEDDING TRADITIONS
May
and June are months of weddings and many Polish
American brides like to incorporate some Polish
traditions into their own weddings. We often
get asked to publish some of the common Polish
wedding customs. There are, of course, many
different traditions and they vary from region
to region and from city to village. Country
weddings in Poland are often three-day affairs
with all the neighbors as well as family members
joining in the festivities. In Polish towns
and cities weddings are becoming more elegant
and smaller and are being held in hotels and
restaurants rather than in the bride's home.
Regardless of whether the wedding will be
large or small, held in a Polish village or
an American city, it is undoubtedly the most
important celebration in a couple's lifetime.
It is a joyful occasion for both families
and for both sets of friends and couples usually
go all out in planning the day. They try to
add meaning to the festivities by writing
their own vows and by adding special traditions
from their own families or ethnic backgrounds.
Parents' Blessing
The "wesele" or wedding in Poland
began with the groom arriving with his groomsmen
at the house of the bride. They would wait
outside while the bridesmaids helped the bride
to dress and get ready. Guests would also
arrive at the bride's house shortly before
the church ceremony. Musicians would be playing
as the guests arrived and everyone waited
for the bride to appear. People gathered at
the home of the bride in order to accompany
the bridal couple to church, but also to witness
the blessing and symbolic farewells of the
bride with her parents, relatives, and friends.
The blessing by the parents was sometimes
seen as more meaningful than the church ceremony
itself! After the couple received the parents'
blessing, everyone stood in a circle around
them as the bride's mother sprinkled them
with holy water. The blessings were so important
that if a mother or father had died, the wedding
party would stop at the cemetery where the
groom or bride prayed at the deceased parent's
grave before going on to church.
The trip to the church took place in various
ways, with the bride and groom usually riding
in separate wagons. Several wagons pulled
by stately horses and filled with guests dressed
in their Sunday best and with bouquets of
flowers, followed the lead wagon on which
a driver stood, cracking his whip for everyone
to get out of his way. Behind him were a fiddler
and other musicians playing merry tunes. Behind
the lead wagon, on horseback, rode the master
of ceremonies, the Starosta. Everyone sang:
the bridesmaids, the groomsmen, the musicians,
as well as the drivers.
During the church ceremony it was expected
of the bride to cry. If she didn't, it was
believed that she would be unhappy and cry
throughout her married life. After the ceremony,
the bride sometimes threw handfuls of straw
on the young boys and girls who followed the
wedding party. Whoever caught the straw was
prophesied to marry before the others. Another
belief was that whichever of the bridesmaids
touched the bride or her wreath first after
the ceremony would marry that same year.
Greeting with Bread and Salt
When the newlyweds, followed by the wedding
party and invited guests, finally arrived
at the Dom Weselny, the house where the wedding
feast would take place, they found the door
closed to them. The Starosta (best man or
master of ceremonies) would have to sing a
song asking for the door to be opened to the
young couple. The young couple was most often
greeted at the entrance of the house by both
sets of parents with bread and salt. Salt
had equal footing with bread in all family
customs from birth to death. It was believed
that salt had the power to heal and cleanse,
to uncover evil and thieves, to protect houses
against fire, dispel storms and hail, and
to drive away evil spirits.
In Polish American weddings, the parents of
the bride and groom often greet the young
couple with bread and salt as they enter the
banquet hall where the reception will be held.
A loaf of bread and a small ramekin of salt
should be placed on a tray covered with a
white linen cloth. The bride and groom break
off a piece of the bread and dip it in the
salt while the parents greet and bless them.
A glass of wine is sometimes added to the
greeting and the couple take a sip of it as
well.
"Oczepiny"
Towards the end of the reception, the most
important wedding custom of all takes place:
the "Oczepiny" or the Unveiling
and Capping Ceremony. It is documented all
the way back to the 16th century and represents
the rite of passage-from young girl to married
woman. All the single women at the reception
circle the bride as the maid of honor stands
behind her and removes the veil from her head
as music is played. A married woman then has
the responsibility of pinning a married woman's
"cap" on the head of the bride as
all the married women present at the reception
form a circle around her. At this moment,
the bride is officially considered a married
woman! Sometimes after the unveiling, the
bride will toss the veil rather than the bouquet
to the single women or she will give her veil
to the maid of honor. The cap was usually
a gift to the bride from her godmother. The
cap was reserved for special occasions and
worn to church, for folk festivals and weddings,
and, at the end of a married woman's life,
she was buried wearing the cap from her wedding
day.
The
Apron Dance
The Polish Bridal Dance has become an American
tradition for the descendants of immigrants
from Poland and other Slavic countries. The
last dance at a Polish American wedding, before
the bride and groom leave, is usually reserved
for the bride and is called the "Pani
Mloda" or Bridal Dance. It is also sometimes
called the Money Dance or the Apron Dance.
All the guests at the reception line up for
a last chance to dance with the bride and
to donate money to the newly wed couple. The
money is placed by each guest into an apron,
which is held by the bride's father before
dancing with the bride. The Starosta (master
of ceremonies) keeps the line moving, allowing
everyone only a few spins with the bride before
cutting in for the next guest's chance to
dance. After each guest has danced with the
bride, she or he receives a drink and a piece
of the freshly cut wedding cake.
After the final guest completes his dance
with the bride, the groom takes his turn.
Then he throws his wallet into the apron,
takes his bride and the apron, and they leave
together to start their new life!
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