Photo: polskatradycja.pl

EVE OF ST. JOHN’S – NOC ŚWIĘTOJAŃSKA

People have always celebrated the summer solstice. The shortest night of the year is a night of festivities and merry-making all across the world. In Catholic Poland, the celebration of this night was moved a few days to coincide with the eve of the feast of St. John the Baptist on June 24th. So the night that is celebrated with festivals in Poland is called the Eve of St. John’s and it falls on June 23rd.

Photo:www.theatlantic.com

Traditions of the summer solstice focus on two of nature’s elements: fire and water. These elements symbolize male and female characteristics and the celebrations in Poland include the burning of huge fires by men and boys, who also danced around them and jumped through them, while girls made wreaths from flowers and herbs and floated them down the rivers and streams, sometimes adding burning candles to the wreaths.

The men and women usually celebrated separately, the only communication between them being the floating of the wreaths (rzucanie wiankow). Girls hoped that the young man of their dreams would find their wreath and then fall in love with them.

There is a Polish legend that says that the magical flower of the lowly forest fern (kwiat paproci) only blooms on this shortest night of the year. According to the legend, anyone finds this mysterious fern will be rewarded with great treasures. Fairy tales abound about young men who go off on this night, searching for the illusive fern flower.

People stand on the banks of the Vistula River in Warsaw, watching as a huge floral wreath floats past, on June 22, 2024. /www.theatlantic.com

Today, St. John’s Eve festivals and parties include music and dancing, fireworks, boat floats, and bonfires, with men and women celebrating together. In Warsaw and Krakow and in other smaller towns along the Wisla River, you can still see candle-lit wreaths floating down the river on the night of June 23rd.

SOURCE: www.fcsla.com