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The 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.

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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