polish pagan traditions

The Three Kings day was also the traditional day to take down the Christmas Tree, which was erected and decorated on Christmas Eve. Therefore, the crafty nobleman could try out his newly magical persona without paying the price as long as he didnt go to Rome. The Easter meal includes traditional Polish dishes including urek, biaa kiebasy, boiled eggs, and an assortment of other foods and desserts. They stopped before a window and sang a carol. Popular sweet treats, especially loved on this day, are Pczki, Polish-style doughnuts, and Faworki, otherwise known as angel wings, which are crispy pieces of pastry dipped in sugar. By Stanley Garczynski from PGS of Texas Polish Footprints Vol.XII No.4 Winter 1995. You can also see what it looked like last year! Polish Easter Food And Traditions - Polish Shirt Store container.style.maxWidth = container.style.minWidth + 'px'; On Tuesday, the girls are supposed to reciprocate in kind. In 1954, the Polish writer Ewa Szelburg Zarembina composed a fairy tale inspired by the folklore motifs of the Warsaw Mermaid Story. In remembrance of the star of Bethlehem that hung over the manger the night of the birth of Christ and led the Three Kings to the newborn King, young boys dressed as the Three Kings in long, white pants with chasubles of black paper and paper crowns on their heads. Sw. Mikolaj does not live at the North Pole, but up in Heaven. There is one day in the year when the consumption of water in Poland shoots up. She was often given a handsome reward consisting of either money or some gift. On this day, locals create her likeness using straw, old clothing and even accessories like a headscarf. It's definitely not a Wiccan path, and because of the structure within the spirituality, it's not even something where you can swap out gods of other pantheons and insert the Roman deities. The Kutia was made from hulled barley or wheat, which was cooked and sweetened with honey. The origin of this custom is unknown. Whoever it landed on was prophesied to marry before the others. Smigus Dyngus On the best plate of the house, the blessed wafer or Oplatek (Christmas wafer) was placed. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Consequently, Catholic Polish believe one must always be ready to accept an unexpected guest, never turning away anyone in need. container.style.maxHeight = container.style.minHeight + 'px'; Dyngus began somewhat around five in the morning, and the custom demanded that the house where the women slept be secretly invaded. Parties begin mid-morning with a buffet of traditional cuisine and last until after daybreak on Tuesday. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. He was dressed in a long white robe, wearing a tall head piece much like a bishops mitre, a long white flowing beard, and in his hand he held the shepherds staff. The Polish Legend of St.Johns Night was born in early ancient Slavic times when a ritual of water and fire was performed to honor the shortest night of the year. To clarify one of the statements in the article: The number of roughly 4,500 adherents was based on a census methodology that didnt ask every respondent the question, so its an extrapolation from a smaller number of people answering the question. Another belief was that whichever one of the bridesmaids touched the bride or her wreath first after the marriage would marry that year. He encouraged him to carry on with his pursuit and told him that he will soon celebrate his victory. One result of Church domination is a form of syncretic polytheism. The 10 Most Important Slavic Gods - ThoughtCo For whatever its worth, The Pagan Book of Living and Dying has been published in Poland, so someone must be reading about eclectic American Paganism. This was done with one glass which traveled from hand to hand. The legend of Janosik who is considered the Polish Robin Hoon, tells the story of Juraj Janosik who was a Slovak highwayman. To make up for this, someone was always invited to make up the deficiency, be it honored guest or wandering beggar. We are the most comprehensive English language resource dedicated to educating the world about ancient Slavs and modern Slavic nations alike. Sleepy husbands and wives arise and give them a gift of eggs. The most common decorating technique is so called wax-flowing or wax-melting. The legend has remained a mystery even today as it has been said that there are witnesses who have confirmed seeing an enormous snake coming out of the water and upsetting the boats on the river Obra. In modern Poland, wianki is an event most commonly organised by city councils in major Polish agglomerations. The pagan Poles bickered with nature Dingen by means of pouring water and switching with willows to make themselves pure and worthy of the coming year. These initials written with blessed chalk, along with the palms from Palm Sunday and blessed candles from Candlemas Day, were together to be a force to avert disaster. Every year around 21st and 22nd of June, when the nights were extra short and the June solstice arrived, pagan people celebrated fire, water, fertility, love and joy - quite a pagan alternative to modern-day Valentines! var ins = document.createElement('ins'); Leszek Czarny found the dream to be prophetic and decided to fight further his enemies. Yet, even in Poland, one of the most Christianized European countries, Pagan religionsare growing within the shadow of the Church. Polish Easter Customs (Polskie Tradycje Wielkanocne) It was also the official day for caroling to begin. The happy tradition includes many festivities including parades. Polish are very proud of the traditional hospitality they may extend to a stranger who turns up at their door on Christmas eve (unlikely to happen, but not impossible). The story begins with the attack of the area near the town of Lublin by the armies Lithuanians and Yotvingians. var slotId = 'div-gpt-ad-meettheslavs_com-box-3-0_1'; In Poland, fortune telling sets the mood for this evening of merriment which might be the theme for an autumn social gathering. Feast of Greenery, September 8th (Matki Boskiej Zielnej) Behind the wagon, on horseback, rode the master of ceremonies, the Starosta and the best man with a bottle of vodka who alternately offered it to the wagon driver. Single girls pour hot, melted wax into a bowl of cold water, and the hardened wax is then held up to the light. Leszek the Black started thinking about what is the right thing to do. 9 Slavic Rituals & Customs of Ye Olden Days - Culture.pl Walenty was a dedicated miner who was completely in love and obsessed with his work, so he made a plea to God to let him stay in the mines after he dies. Dyngus Day is a Polish and Polish-American celebration on Easter Monday to mark the completion of Lent, and this year, it falls on April 10. A Polish historian wrote of what he called the Oblewania. Behind him were a fiddler and double base player playing a merry tune. It was so essential and played such a vital roll in wedding activities that where other customs have disappeared altogether, the Oczepiny has survived to this day. Meet the Slavs covers topics related to the Slavic culture, history, mythology and more. Another issue with the small number of Pagans is that they tend to know each other, like residents of a small town, which is fine, until it isnt. After years went by, he came back and found that all members of his family were dead. Easter in Poland is a beautiful Polish holiday that straddles Christian and pagan traditions. The couple always sat at the table which was located along the wall containing holy pictures. In fact, Easter in Poland is arguably the most import Then there were Oprosiny or Zaprosiny (the invitations). It is the blessing of the fire, the reverence which goes back to pagan times. He was attracted to it because of hisextensive historical knowledge of the Slavs. The dragon visited the King and required offerings of cattle in order not to devour the humans of the city. These unique representations of our world and humanity offer a multilayered world of imagination that opens up a whole new universe of perception and understanding of history, nature, culture, anthropology, etc. The citys name was, of course, Warsaw. he has come! St. Nicholas entered, filling the room with not only his presence, but with his smile, the twinkle in his eye and his teasing booming voice. Bride and Groom and Their First Dance The party officially starts when the couple comes back from the church and steps to the podium to take their first dance. The last rite included a funeral banquet. According to some theories, the monster is a giant catfish which have been reported as creatures who attack water birds and small animals. Desserts really steal the show on Easter and often consist of cakes such as babka, mazurek, sernik (cheesecake) and more! The entire procession stopped at the gate leading to the manor house, its members continuing to sing until the owner emerged. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Next, Sir Twardowski had to face the devil and his inevitable tragic fate. The custom was called Oczepiny. Some customs varied at different sections of Poland, but the importance of the holiday was general in the whole country. (Maybe some of those dont formally identify themselves as Rodzimowiercy/Pagans, which is why the census numbers fall between those two endpoints.). Pisanki from different regions of Poland can be distinguished by the unique patters. Every year on the night of 2nd November, the Polish people pay their respects to their late friends and relatives by lighting candles in cemeteries across Poland. He enjoyed his life as a rich man but soon became nostalgic and wished to go back to his home village. The girls knock on the windows and sing songs in praise of their spruce tree. In the more well-to-do-homes this was 11 or 13, with 13 being the preferred number as it represented the number that sat down at the Last Supper. Make sure to check if similar events are in your city as well, if it is not included on our list above. St. Nicholas was revered because of his compassion and love for orphans whom he often visited and comforted with little gifts. Salt had equal footing with bread in all family customs from birth to death. Wianki (literally wreaths in English) is an event that can however be traced back to the bygone days of paganism and has preserved some of its original character. Although sad, it is a remarkable sight to see and experience. The day itself had significance many centuries before Christs birth. The Legend about Sir Twardowski and the Devil is, understandably, a devilish story about one of the most popular devils in Polish folklore that signed a pact with the nobleman Sir Twardowski in the 16th century. Easter observances in Poland actually begin on Ash Wednesday, when kocanki or bazie are cut and placed in water. The crowd ate, drank and danced. It is a delightful tradition, Dyngus or Smigus as this custom is called. The Polish believe the girl who gets the most soaked in the celebration will be the first to marry. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". According to Rogalinski, Rodzimowierstwo has three of these formally organized groups. Slavic mythology has different versions of this story and some of them describe the Rusalkas as spirits of dead brides who died of unfortunate events or young womens souls who suffered a violent death, so now they revenge on men that they encounter near the lake where they live. Christmas day was the beginning of the twelve-day period from Christmas which was called Gody These twelve days were observed very carefully, for it was believed among the Polish people that Christmas Day and each of the following eleven days foretold the weather for the equivalent month of the year. Reportedly, in the early history of Poland, the banks of the river Vistula were lined with tiny wooden huts where farmers lived. If you happen to visit Poland the day before Lent, take a gander at the snaking queues outside every bakery. At the time, hungry Polish would use a thick slice of bread as a plate and then eat it. Jacek found the flower and made a wish to become rich. The Myth of the Mermaid of Warsaw is one of the major myths in Polish history especially when it comes to the city of Krakow. The blessed eggs, the symbol of life, are sliced into pieces, and each person present takes a piece of egg and wishes each other good health, prosperity, and happiness for the coming year. migus-dyngus - Wikipedia Growing up, I never connected with my Polish ancestry, even as it marked me with the unwieldy last name Swankowski. The whole country follows an age-old tradition which resembles one big water fight. Skarbnik was wandering around the mines and observing, According to the legend, he is hidden but if one whistle, Skarbnik shows up and may punch one in the face. (Dzien Wszystkich Swietych Dzien Zaduszny) With the help of several Polish Pagans, we examinethe diversity of Pagan practice found withinthe country. He remembered that he mustnt share his fortune. pulling a wagon on which stood the driver, cracking his whip for everyone to get out of his way. An odd number foretold that someone would not live to the next Christmas Eve supper. Eggs were once a part of Polish pagan tradition and still symbolize spring, renewal, fertility, and eternity. Rogalinski explained more of the tenets of this native religion, which varies depending upon the source material. Starting on Good Friday and through Saturday, every one visits the various churches in town to view Christs sepulchers so beautifully and artistically arranged and bathed in flowers. Drawning Marzanna in the village Jeziorzany in 2014 [Photo Credit: Jacek wierczyski]. Nevertheless, Polish mythology is full of exciting stories and characters, so here is a list of 12 Polish legends and myths: In Polish mythology, Latawiec is a mythical creature that is presented as an evil serpent who lives in the deep forest and lurks over attractive young men and women. Quite often forgotten and preserved only in some rural areas, the celebrations surface now in the 21st century as another idea for a fun summer activity.

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