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 | Poland Local Customs | Tips 21 - 30 of 125 |  |
St John's Night celebrations date back to pre-Christian times, when they bore the name of Kupala. The night of 21 June, the shortest night of the year has always been considered a special one, a night of fire, which represents the masculine element and of water, standing for the female. It's a magical night when love can bind people forever.
Nowadays it is more often celebrated on 23 June, on the eve of St John's day or on the Saturday which is closest to that date.
On that night bonfires are lit on river banks and people gather around them to celebrate the coming of the summer. Young girls weave wreathes from wild flowers and love herbs, with ribbons and a candle in the middle. The wreathes are then let off with the river current. If they are carried away, the girl will get married in the coming year but if a wreath gets entangled in the weeds or stopped in some other way its author will have to wait for her beloved longer than that. In some places, young men wait further down the river and try to catch the wreathes. The wreath's owner becomes their pair, at least for the night.
Some people go into the forest to search for a fern flower. The fern is said to flower on that night only and whoever finds its flower will have all their wishes granted. You may try your luck as well.
It's a lovely custom and the tradition has been recently revived even in cities. If you happen to be in Poland near the date, find out what celebrations are planned near the place where you are staying. Some pictures of the celebrations can be found at the web address given below. Click on the images to see them in colour.
Update: 24 June 2009. Last night we watched the celebrations of St John's Night in Krutyn in Mazury. I enclose some pictures of them here - more to be posted on my Mazury page soon. Leave a Comment
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Youngsters often call the first day of the Spring the "Truant's Day", because many pupils do not go to school that day. But the teachers trying to avoid the huge absence from school usually do not provide normal lessons, but strolls, visits in cinema or other activities. One of them is a "Marzanna's drowning", connected to the old pagan custom.
The Marzanna (a word in the old form of Polish language has a meaning of nightmare or another bad things linked to the death) is a puppet which symbolize the Winter. To pass it out the Marzanna should be burn or drown down. Today many pupils and teachers goes on March 21th at the river's or lake's shores to throw the puppet into water.
There are a series of prohibitions during a ceremony. E.g. no one should touch the puppet flowing in water, because his hand can then shrivel.
The typical puppet is made of straw, white cotton and colourful ribbons.
The photo taken from the Internet. Children wear traditional cloths, but not that ones which were typical for Krakow's region. Leave a Comment
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The wonderful tradition of Wigilia on Christmas Eve is celebrated, with a huge Christmas feast. The meal cannot begin until the first star of night appears. Once the star appears, a special wafer blessed by the parish priest called oplatek, is broken into pieces and shared by all. Finally the meal can begin. The feast consists of twelve courses,. The table is always set with one extra seat in case a stranger or the Holy Spirit should appear to share the meal. .
The wafer-sharing ritual is accompanied by mutual wishes of health and prosperity in the coming year. At Christmas time, it is now also sent to absent members of the family and close fiends in foreign lands, who, in their loneliness, partake of it and so, are in communion with their Ioved ones. They dream that they are seated with their family at the Wigilia table, enjoying blessings, forgiveness and warmth of Christmas.
The Oplatek is the treasure link that brings warm memories of Poland to us alI, settled in different parts of the world. Christmas Eve is the culminating point in preparation for Christmas in Poland. Leave a Comment
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Most of Poles get married in months that have an 'r' in their Polish names: March (marzec), June (czerwiec), August (sierpien), September (wrzesien), October (pazdziernik), December (grudzien). Well... that's just a funny custom, isn't it.
Another nice custom is related to pictures taken after the married couple leaves the church. They either go to a photographer's studio or take the photographer to a walk in a park. In this picture you can see them posing for a photo Leave a Comment
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On December 24th families gather for a traditional Christmas Supper. It consists of 12 dishes so you can imagine how much fun the hosts have...
After the supper we reach under the Christmas Tree to see what Santa brought us this year. Presents don't have to be expensive, they need to show that someone cares :) Leave a Comment
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If you visit Poland around the 1st of November , don't expect any Haloween street parties or so. Of course such parties are held in clubs and children meet together to scare neighbours-as every excuse is good to get some sweets, but in Poland the day we celebrate is All Saints Day on the first of November.On that day (and days around it) people go to graveyards to their relatives and friends' graves to pray for them ,to put some flowers and light candles.Graveyards are crowded with people as even those whose relatives are buried somewhere far away just come and light a candle to show they remember.
Oh, and there's also one thing important for tourists- you may expect some problems with the traffic around graveyards and public transport schedules may be changed. Leave a Comment
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Young people in Poland usually decide to be married in church and after the church ceremony have a wedding reception for family and friends. The receptions I have attended recently were organised for about 80-100 people, but I know that in the country it is still common to have a wedding reception for several hundred guests.
Here are a few wedding traditions and customs.
A bride usually has a long white dress and often a veil. It is said that a bridegroom mustn't see the bride in her wedding dress before the ceremony. If he does, it may lead to many stormy arguments in their life. The bridegroom and his closest family usually come to the bride's house, where the young couple is being blessed by parents and then they all go to church. Sometimes the bride is led to the altar by her father, followed by the bridegroom and his mother, but sometimes the young walk to the altar together.
Handfuls of small coins are thrown at the young couple leaving a church. They are expected to pick up all of them, otherwise their wallets may often be empty in the future. Then the young receive the wishes - which usually takes quite a long time considering the number of people invited to church. Part of them will then go to a wedding reception, which nowadays is usually held in a restaurant. There the young are greeted with bread and salt (old Polish tradition) and a glass of champagne is served for everybody. After the toast the young throw their glasses back, and hopefully break them, as it is supposed to bring good luck. Then all-night party begins with plenty of food, alcohol, music, dancing and fun. About midnight so called 'oczepiny' takes place. The bride throws her veil and maids try to catch it. The one who does it will be the first to get married. Then the 'male version' takes place with the bridegroom throwing his tie or bowtie.
Another important moment is cutting the wedding cake. The young couple should cut the first piece together which symbolizes sharing of married-life duties. Leave a Comment
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When Ingrid (Trekki) wrote to me, suggesting we could give links to our Christmas carols on our pages, I was really thrilled. Polish people have some really lovely ones that I am sure you will enjoy. And she has even taught me how to make the links. Thanks, Ingrid.
So here they are:
Lulajze Jezuniu
Jezus malusienki
Medrcy swiata
Dzisiaj w Betlejem
Wsrod nocnej ciszy
Oj maluski, maluski
Pojdzmy wszyscy do stajenki
Gdy sliczna Panna...
Pastuszkowie bracia
Wsrod nocnej ciszy
For German carols, see Trekki's Germany Local Customs tip. Leave a Comment
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the New Years' Day - 1 January
the Easter Sunday - March or April
Easter Monday - March or April
the Labour's Day - 1 May
the Constitution Day - 3 May
the Corpus Christi Day (Pentecost) - a Thursday in June
the Feast of Assumption Day - 15 August
the All Saints' Day - 1 November
the Independence Day - 11 November
the Christmas - 25-26 December Leave a Comment
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Driving down one of the country roads, I made my husband stop the car when I saw the farmers in the field. My daughter took the camera and ran back to photograph them. The mother and kids had come with lunch and the whole family laughed as Susan took her photos. Everyone was so accomodating. Such warm and friendly people. Leave a Comment
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on June 24, 2009
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