{"id":571,"date":"2009-06-24T11:47:53","date_gmt":"2009-06-24T15:47:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/?p=571"},"modified":"2009-06-24T11:47:53","modified_gmt":"2009-06-24T15:47:53","slug":"midsummer-polish-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/midsummer-polish-style\/","title":{"rendered":"Midsummer – Polish Style"},"content":{"rendered":"

This celebration technically took place yesterday, but I\u2019ve been so busy celebrating Midsummer in all its many incarnations since last week, that the fact that I mentioned absolutely nothing about it on the blog has simply escaped my attention. I beg your forgiveness, and I promise we\u2019ll do better next year, OK?<\/p>\n

In the meantime, and better late than never, let me tell you about this, and incidentally – not so unique, Polish way of celebrating Midsummer.<\/p>\n

First of all, we don\u2019t call it Midsummer in Poland. It\u2019s either \u201cnoc \u015bwi\u0119toja\u0144ska<\/strong>\u201d or \u201csob\u00f3tki<\/strong>\u201d (yes, in plural) or \u201csob\u00f3tka<\/strong>\u201d (yes, singular, take your pick). Some people claim it\u2019s also known as \u201cnoc Kupa\u0142y<\/strong>\u201d but personally, I\u2019ve never heard this expression until very recently.<\/p>\n

The celebration is as old as the human civilization itself, and it turns out that different cultures in the northern hemisphere celebrate it not all that differently. Of course, as most celebrations these days, this one also has its origins in ancient pagan rituals. Then, when Europe adopted Christianity, in most places the occasion became known as \u201cFeast of St. John the Baptist\u201d*<\/strong>. New name, new image, yet the way it\u2019s been celebrated throughout the centuries hasn\u2019t really changed all that much.<\/p>\n

So, how do Poles celebrate noc \u015bwi\u0119toja\u0144ska<\/strong>? With bonfires, of course! The bigger the better. And some crazy people even jump over them. Supposedly for good luck, but really\u2026 more like for a long stay in a burn unit of your favorite hospital.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My most fond memory of noc \u015bwi\u0119toja\u0144ska<\/strong> was hunting (because if you have a bunch of kids doing it, it can\u2019t be called \u201clooking\u201d) for a blooming fern (fern flower \u2013 kwiat paproci<\/strong>) when I was a child. Yes, I know, I know, ferns don\u2019t bloom, never have and never will, but it\u2019s tradition and all that. Luckily for the kids, and in the name of tradition, our parents had the good sense to decorate a mighty fern with paper flowers, candies, lollipops and hide it in the woods. Leave some clues around, let a bunch of kids loose and you have a full-blown treasure hunt on your hands. Oddly enough, nobody ever got lost during this activity, at least not for longer than a couple of hours.<\/p>\n

After the fern flower hunt, it was time for wianki<\/strong> (singular \u2013 wianek<\/strong>)\u2013 flower wreaths with a candle stuck in the middle. You light the candle and let the whole thing float away on a body of water of your choosing. This is a strictly ladies (some even say \u2013 unmarried ladies only) activity. Depending on the region (or even the country \u2013 different Slavic lands have different interpretation of this) this has something to do either with getting a guy\u2019s attention, or getting married, or finding out who you’re going to marry, or as my grandma claimed \u2013 wishing for a long, fruitful life (which I suppose has everything to do with who you’ll marry, after all).<\/p>\n

Then you gather around the bonfire with a stack of sausages and cases of alcohol and party the night away. This one is an equal opportunity party \u2013 both guys and girls are welcome, in fact \u2013 the more the merrier. And this is when the jumping takes place.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always used to say that Midsummer depresses me \u2013 after all what\u2019s there to celebrate? The fact that now the days are going to get shorter? But I remember those traditional celebrations very fondly and honestly, I\u2019m kind of sad I\u2019m too old for the fern hunt now. Ah, such is life\u2026<\/p>\n

*<\/strong> and yes, this is the origin of the Polish name as well \u2013 noc \u015bwi\u0119toja\u0144ska<\/strong>. “\u015awi\u0119to”<\/strong> comes from \u015bwi\u0119ty<\/strong> \u2013 saint (as in Saint John the Baptist) and “ja\u0144ska<\/strong>” comes from Jan<\/strong> – John (as in John the Baptist). See? Same, same!<\/p>\n

Image: wikipedia<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

This celebration technically took place yesterday, but I\u2019ve been so busy celebrating Midsummer in all its many incarnations since last week, that the fact that I mentioned absolutely nothing about it on the blog has simply escaped my attention. I beg your forgiveness, and I promise we\u2019ll do better next year, OK? In the meantime…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[3124,7354,3301,7489,306833],"class_list":["post-571","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-bonfire","tag-celebrations","tag-midsummer","tag-noc-swietojanska","tag-traditions"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}