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Some of you may have noticed by the infrequent posting and delayed replies (for which I’m extremely sorry!) that my personal and work life sadly took me over in the recent months. Don’t worry, I plan to continue writing and blogging no matter what. I have a few sketches here just waiting for a bit of my free time to dust off and finish before publishing, and my book script draft keeps screaming for attention. However, I can’t tell yet when will I be able to dedicate “Lamus Dworski” as much time as I used to. I try to peak here and check my mailbox as often as I could in order to answer your messages and questions (don’t ever hesitate to send them, as they always remind me how important this project is and what amazing audience it meets), and I hope you can forgive me for making you wait too long for my replies in some cases.

Cheers to you all ♥

Dożynki, the ancient harvest festival

http://cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl/dmuseion/docmetadata?id=42355&show_nav=true&full_screen=true#

“Udane plony”, Leon Bigosiński (1871-1928).  Source: cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl

Dożynki is an annual harvest festival celebrated in Poland around the turn of August and September that dates back maybe even to the ancient times. To majority of acclaimed historic Polish folklorists, researchers, and poets, such as Oskar Kolberg, Zygmunt Gloger, Ignacy Krasicki, Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, and numerous others, it’s been more than clear that dożynki hold many remnants of a pre-Christian feast of fertility and crops, dedicated to gods of prolificacy, celebrated in rural communities over the centuries ever since the pagan times and eventually syncretized with Christianity.

You might’ve already heard about that festival under the name of dozhinki (how it is very often spelled in the English language). Remnants of that mysterious Slavic festival survived in all Slavic countries under many similar names in local forms of harvest festivities. In Poland it’s been known also under names of wyżynki, obżynki (these two along with the name of dożynki are related to the word żeniec – old Polish word for a reaper), okrężne (from okrężny – roundabout, coming from a custom of ritual encircling of the crop fields), wieńcowe, wieńczyny (from wieniec – wreath or garland), and other regional names that could also be used separately to describe certain parts or rituals performed during that festival.

Before I go into details, I recommend you first to read my older article describing the symbolism of bread, and the rituals of the season of harvest itself before continuing to read about dożynki which is the culminating point of that season.

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Black: colors in Polish folklore (part 3)

http://www.malarze.com/plobraz.php?id=1365

“Smok wawelski” (“Wawel Dragon“) by Witold Pruszkowski (1846-1896). Source: www.malarze.com

Third part of my short series describing the symbolism of colors in Polish folklore.

Again, starting with a bit of vocabulary and etymology for the interested (you might skip these few points to go right to the text below):

  • black (noun): czerń
  • adjectives: (she) czarna; (he) czarny; (it) czarne [full declension here at wiktionary]
  • etymology: coming from Proto-Slavic *čьrnъ, from earlier *čьrxnъ < *kьršnъ, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *kiršnas, from Proto-Indo-European *kr̥snós (black) [wiktionary]
  • the above root for the color black is pretty much consistent across all Slavic languages
  • also called: kary (used only to describe the color of horses) and wrony (used to describe colors of other animals, today rarely in use)

Continue reading →

White: colors in Polish folklore (part 2)

Witold-Chomicz(1910-1984)-Wanda

“Wanda” by artist Witold Chomicz (1910-1984)

Second part of my planned short series describing the symbolism of colors in Polish folklore.

Like before, I’ll start with a bit of vocabulary and etymology for the interested (you might skip these few points to go right to the text below):

  • white (noun): biel
  • adjectives: (she) biała, (he) biały, (it) białe [full declension here at wiktionary]
  • etymology: derived from from Proto-Slavic *bělъ, which in turn came from Proto-Indo-European root noun *bʰēlHs (“white surface or stain”) [wiktionary]
  • the above root for the color white is consistent across all Slavic languages

Continue reading →

Red: colors in Polish folklore (part 1)

Malczewski_Kobieta-w-czerwieni

‘Girl in Red’ by artist Jacek Malczewski (1855-1929). Source: sztuka.agraart.pl

This is going to be a series of articles describing the symbolism of colors in Polish folklore. Red seems to me to be an obvious choice for a start of the series – it’s among the most magickal colors, popular for example in regional clothing, protective charms and jewellery.

First, a bit of vocabulary and related etymology facts for the curious, you can skip these few points to go to the text below right away:

  • red (noun): czerwień
  • adjectives: (she) czerwona, (he) czerwony, (it) czerwone [full declension here at wiktionary]
  • etymology: derived from czerw (larva, maggot, brood), precisely from Polish cochineal, a scale insect that used to be the main source for crimson dye in parts parts of Eurasia, and was one of main export products of the Kingdom of Poland in 15th and 16th centuries
  • the word “czerw” itself came from from Proto-Slavic *čьrvь, that in turn came from Proto-Indo-European *kʷr̥mis meaning a worm [wictionary]
  • the Polish cochineal gave also the name for the Polish name of June: czerwiec. It is the month when the Polish cochineals used to be harvested for the dye, before reaching maturity.
  • in the old-Polish language the color red was also called krasny

Continue reading →