What to prepare for the Polish Christmas Eve supper (Wigilia)

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Wigilia - traditional Christmas Eve supper in Poland

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Slavic mythology from Poland: zmory

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Slavic mythology from Poland: płanetnicy

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Slavic mythology from Poland: ogniki

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Dziady / Zaduszki - All Souls Day in Poland

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Biłgoraj costume - a guide to Polish folk costumes

The costumes from Biłgoraj, out of all of the surviving folk clothing in the territory of Poland, are said to be exceptional. Along with e.g. the costume of Lasowiacy ethnocultural group, it is usually referred to as the most archaic type of Polish regional costumes. Particularly the Biłgoraj's female clothing is often mentioned as resembling the literary/artistic notion of an ancient Slavic costume.

Regional clothing from the region of Biłgoraj, Poland © ZTL Perła Warmii

The colorful fabrics, rich floral patterns and laces, which you often see as examples of the Polish regional clothing, started slowly emerging around the mid-18th century and taking a clear shape only after the 2nd half of 19th century - after the abolition of serfdom in Poland and during the general development of the mechanized textile industry. The archaic types of costumes can be still found e.g. in some isolated parts of Podlasie and Mazury or among Lasowiacy groups along the San river - and of course in the region around the Biłgoraj town.

Biłgoraj costume, illustration by T.Korotkiewicz for "Kuryer Codzienny", 1938

In the Polish language the costume is called strój biłgorajsko-tarnogrodzki (costume from the region stretching between the towns of Biłgoraj and Tarnogród in south-eastern Poland) - in short called by the name of Biłgoraj, which was the main cultural center of that group.

The town of Biłgoraj and its surroundings were maintaining the old forms of local folk art and culture up until the late 19th century - it was cut from the rest of the country by the swampy Solska Primeval Forest and the nearby rivers San and Tanew. Some elements of local culture are still resembling the oldest of Slavic traditions, according to the ethnographers and related scholars. The contact with the bigger cities of other neighbouring regions was difficult even until the interwar period (1920s-1930s), and in the beginning of the 20th century the region of Biłgoraj was considered poor and underdeveloped. These geographical conditions were conducive to the maintaince of old clothing and customs - in comparison to the rest of Poland, Biłgoraj was one of the latest to replace the traditional patterns by the new modern trends in fashion. Women were maintaining the oldest types of clothing longer than the men, who were more often travelling for trade fairs into distant towns or cities before the era of industralization. These conditions made Biłgoraj one of the most valuable regions, that could serve as a reference to the ancient Slavic clothing of that part of the world.

Approximate area of the Biłgoraj costume © lelapolela.blogspot.com

Dożynki harvest festival: the garlands

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Dożynki (phonetical: Dozhinki) is the annual harvest festival celebrated in Poland around the turn of August and September since the ancient times. The mandatory, very special part of dożynki is presentation of the huge decorative garlands and sculptures (often in a shape of e.g. crown) formed from the crops, straw and other elements like flowers or colorful ribbons.

Girl standing next to a dozhinki garland, celebrations in Mońki, Poland [picture's source]

The dozhinki garlands and sculptures (in Polish: wieńce dożynkowe) by tradition were prepared out of the last few handfuls of the crops from the field - as to ensure the continuity of the good harvest. The last crops could have been cut only by the best reaper and ceremoniously passed to the best local harvesters who were weaving the decorations.

Dozhinki garlands hold a special, very symbolic place during the celebrations. It can be especially seen during the larger form of dozhinki, above the local level. Some small administrative units of Poland (gminy), medium (powiaty) or large (województwa) often create dozhinki festivals for the villages and towns within their regions. Each of the village or town representative that appears on such joint festival prepares a highly decorative dozhinki garland, which is later carried in a procession. Such a garland is meant to represent the place of origin, often being adorned with the name of the village or town (or a region), therefore the preparations are very significant to the local organizations. The dozhinki garlands are always a matter of a competition and the winning administrative unit is proudly holding the title of the most beautiful wieniec (singular form of wieńce) for the whole following year. Only one garland is prepared each year and if the village or city is being invited to multiple dozhinki feasts, then the garland travels with them during the whole "dozhinki season".

Dożynki harvest festival: the bread

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Old-Slavic symbolism of bread and harvest rituals in Poland

Old-Slavic mythology: Świętowit / Svetovid

Świętowit / Światowid / Swantowit / Swantewit / Svątevit / Svetovid / Svantovit - one of the major Slavic deities, god of war, fertility and abundance.

"Świętowit" by Stanisław Jakubowski

WHAT IS ACTUALLY KNOWN?

Lachy Sądeckie costume - a guide to Polish folk costumes

Lachy Sądeckie is a group associated with the Nowy Sącz county in southern Poland, region called Sądecczyzna.

Photo © Zespół Tańca Ludowego "Poznań" AWF

"Lachy" is a plural form of "Lach", which is an ancient term describing an ethnic Pole. Roots of the name come from an old Slavic legend about Lech, Čech/Czech and Rus - three legendary brothers of whom Lech was the founder of Lechia (Poland). The terms derived from the Lach/Lech name have survived for example in Lithuanian and Hungarian languages, where Poland is still nowadays named Lenkija and Lengyelország.

Lachy Sądeckie have a few subgroups. The costumes vary a little between Northern/West, bordering the Kraków East region and Southern/East, landupheaval parts of the region. According to dialektologia site, the main Lachy subgroups are from Nowy Sącz, Limanowa, Szczyrzyc, Myślenice and Dobra; the main center of Lachy are around Podegrodzie.

Approx. area of Lachy Sądeckie costume in Poland

Pisanki - decorating the easter eggs in Poland

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Kraków costume - a guide to Polish folk costumes

Kraków costume - one of the most well-known of the Polish regional costumes, which grew to the rank of a national costume. Sadly, also the most generalized and simplified due to the modern mass-media approach in many cases. How should it look like?

© ZPiT AGH im. Wiesława Białowąsa "KRAKUS"

Origins of the Kraków costume can be traced back to the Renaissance era, but the modern version of it started forming only around the beginning of 18th century. After the difficult times of the 19th century when Poland lost independence it gained the rank of "national costume of Poland":

A Cracow costume is the only peasants' attire which was promoted to the rank of a Polish national costume. This decision was made on patriotic grounds, with the Cracow's peasants’ participation in the Kościuszko Uprising as a main factor. Even the Uprising's leader, Tadeusz Kościuszko, used to wear the Cracow costume (so he dressed "like a peasant") just so that he would not be recognised by Russian spies. Kościuszko's popularity contributed to the popularisation of the Cracow costume among the Poles in general. Some of the costume's elements were applied to the uniforms worn by participants of the 19th century national uprisings. This popularity of the Cracowian costume, especially in its female version, was then reinforced by the Cracow’s intelligence of the Young Poland (Młoda Polska) movement, who promoted it as a new fashion. [source: The State Ethnographical Museum in Warsaw]

What most of the people know as "Kraków costume" actually varies among different villages (which in some cases have become districts of the modern city over time) around the Kraków's old center, such as: Bronowice, Tyniec, Grojec, Wieliczka, Morawica, Olszanica, and so on. However, there are many common elements that make the Kraków costume easy to recognize... and also easy to generalize. Either way, the Kraków costume allows to show a lot of individual approach in detailing, especially as it comes to women's fashion.

Approx. area of the Kraków costume in Poland within Małopolska region.

Old superstitions

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