Drawing by Stanisław Bagieński entitled “The sacrificial supper – Staury ham! Dziady, pradziady, przyprzyjcie k’nam!” / “Tygodnik Ilustrowany”, 1904,
Polish Forefathers’ Eve – how our ancestors commemorated the dead
Although Christianity has been alive in Poland since the end of the tenth century, the old pagan traditions associated with commemorating the dead have long been intermingled with belief in the resurrected Christ.
When Mieszko I was baptised, bringing his country into the circle of Christian civilisation, the tradition of celebrating All Saints’ Day in the Church was very recent. Not surprisingly, in the society of the young Christian Piast monarchy, the influence of ancient Slavic beliefs was still strong for centuries to come. State policy and the Church’s liturgical calendar were one thing, but the spirituality and customs of the Polish people as practised at home were quite another. Just as a few centuries earlier in Western Europe the date of 1 November had been adapted to the practices of the Church by taking into account Celtic and Germanic customs, so too in Poland the beliefs and customs of the Slavs survived long after the baptism of the ruler and his entourage, influencing the rituals associated with celebrations in honour of the dead.
Vibrant traces of folk rituals associated with the celebration of dziady [lit. grandfathers; Forefathers’ Eve], or rituals in honour of the dead, were also found in some areas in the first decades of the 20th century.
The word dziady refers to ancestors, old men, wandering beggars, and ghosts. In Slavic tradition, the visible and invisible worlds intermingled, and belief in the spiritual presence of ancestors in the lives of the living was the norm. For these reasons, celebrations honouring the dead were held not just once a year, but at least several times (at any time of the year). The most important of these were in spring (April or late April/early May) and autumn (late October/early November).
The Forefathers’ Eve Ritual at the Cemetery According to the Image of J. Bagienski, “Tygodnik Ilustrowany”, 1904. Source: Polona.pl
The spring dziady were also called radonica or radnica, a reference to ‘joy’ and ‘hatching’. They took the form of a feast at the graves of the dead, traditionally held on the second Tuesday after Easter. It was believed that on that day the dead ancestors would come from the afterlife and take part in the feast, so a meal should be prepared for them. The souls were ‘fed’ by burying some of the food in the ground near the grave. To enable the dead to come to the feast, wooden bridges were made and placed near the grave. The spring festival in honour of the dead was a joyous affair, often lasting until dawn. Over the years, as Christian influences grew stronger, it became a tradition to give some of the prepared food to the poor in exchange for a prayer for the soul of the deceased. Before the feast, a mass was celebrated in the cemetery and the graves were decorated with flowers.
On the other hand, autumn Forefathers’ Eve was usually celebrated in the privacy of own home – not in a cemetery chapel, as described by Mickiewicz. They were much more serious and reflective than the radonica. It was believed that at the turn of October and November, the souls of the dead would return from beyond the grave and circulate among the living. Interacting with them through a suitable ritual was supposed to ensure peace for the souls and the favour of the invisible world for the living.
According to popular belief, on All Souls’ Day the souls would gather in the church to attend a mass celebrated by the deceased priest. In some regions, this belief was so strong that the church, like the home, was prepared for the arrival of the souls, for example by leaving a missal and a stole for the deceased.
A constant element of folk and Christian rituals during All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day was almsgiving. Beggars would gather outside churches, where they would be given food and asked to pray for the dead – similar to the spring grandfathers. According to the old belief, the spirit of the ancestor could take the form of a wandering old man (dziad), who should be provided with refreshments and hospitality. Under the influence of Christianity, dziady came to be seen as the personification of Jesus, who, along with St Peter, travels the world checking that people are guided by charity towards their fellow human beings. Not to host a grandfather was considered a bad sign and a reason for possible misfortune.
Over the years, Christian tradition has superseded most of the popular beliefs and customs associated with the cult of the dead. However, some of its elements were adapted by Christianity and have survived to the present day. These include not only the burning of candles but also other customs that are no longer associated with the memory of the dead, such as leaving an empty place at the Christmas table, which is a remnant of the custom of ‘feeding’ the souls during the December Forefathers’ Eve.
A historian dealing with the history of political thought and the history of ideas. Editor of the Warsaw editorial office of the monthly and portal “All That Matters”.
SOURCE: www.DlaPolonii.pl
