The Lesser Carpathians – the Nizke Beskydy – is an area of outstanding beauty,
and one of great contrast. Densely forested hills filled with deer, boar and
wolves surround valleys filled with socialist-era concrete tower block towns.
Old babkas in headscarf and traditional dress dig potatoes from the fields and
load their work onto horse-drawn wooden carts while immense trucks hurtle past
on the single lane, heavily pitted road that runs from Budapest in Hungary,
through Kosice in Slovakia to Warsaw in Poland. Gypsies lounge outside their
oft-flooded river bank homes and make their money playing traditional Romany
music at white Slovak weddings while immense Hypermarkets – containing goods
they can barely afford - spring up nearby. Snow and sub-zero temperatures engulf
the land for five months of the year while summer brings forest fires because of
its intense heat. Fast food restaurants, MTV, German and Japanese cars, American
fashion and music are now the staple for much of the year but for this little
region of the globe, Easter is a time of returning to its roots.
Easter, here, really begins on Ash Wednesday with Lent, or Wielki Post (The
Great Fast in Polish); a period the religious take very seriously. In some ways
it is similar to the Western New Year’s Eve tradition of making resolutions –
one must give up a luxury for 40 days, be it smoking, drinking coffee,
chocolates….The day before Ash Wednesday, Paczki Day, is similar to Pancake
Tuesday with sweet, fried doughnuts replacing pancakes – this is a day to load
up on sweet delicacies before the fasting begins – it’s also the last day of
Carniwal and the last opportunity to dance for over a month so accordion-led
polkas are popular at this time.
Hymns sung during Lent show just how sorrowful and reflective this period is
(from the Opening Lament):
Gorzkie zale przybywajcie,
Serce nasze przenikajcie.
Rozplyncie sie me zrenice,
Toczcie smutnych lez krynice.
Slonce, gwiazdy omdlewaja.
Zaloba sie pokrywaja.
Placza rzewnie Aniolowie,
A ktoz zalosc ich wypowie.
Trs:
Come to us bitter lamentations,
Prepare our hearts.
With eyes tearful, hearts repenting,
Let us grieve with no relenting.
Lo, the sun and stars are fading;
sadness, nature all pervading.
Host of Angels, sadly weeping;
Who'll explain their deep bereaving.
During Lent (and something we haven’t seen yet this year due to the continuing
blizzards) the storks return and begin building their nests. Storks (or Bocian
as they’re called here) are a great morale booster as they show that winter has
finally finished and spring has come. In Poland, seeing the first stork of the
year can mean a pleasant, and sometime unpleasant, surprise: if a girl sees her
first stork when the bird is in its nest then she will get pregnant that year.
The week building up to Eatser is known as Wielki Tydzien and begins on Palm
Sunday, also known as Niedziela Kwietna or Flower Sunday as on this day Polish
families bring their wildflowers and blossoming pussywillow branches (kotki) to
the church to be blessed, in place of palms. They then decorate their homes with
them. The days following Palm Sunday are when Spring Cleaning is performed. To
understand just how important Spring Cleaning is, you have to live in a country
where for 5 months all windows and doors are shut tight to keep out the cold!
Also, during the three days leading up to Maundy Thursday, the pisanki are made.
In Polish tradition, there are several types of decorated egg:
Pisanki (batik dyed)
Malowanki (hand painted)
Kraszanki (solid colour dyed)
Drapanki (solid colour with scratched design)
Wyklejanki (yarn decorated)
Nalepianki (straw and paper decorated)
Maundy Thursday in Eastern Slovakia is a far darker occasion than that
represented in Poland. Somewhat akin to Halloween (the traditional version, not
the modern commercial festival), it is seen as a day of evil when witches have
power. In remote villages it is still customary for the Priest to visit each
house and mark the sign of the cross in chalk upon the front door, and to bless
both house and occupants. Church bells are rung for the last time for the Easter
period of mourning and are then tied together.
Good Friday is a somber occasion where Poles dress in their best clothes and go
to Church. It is customary among the devout to spend time kissing each of the
wounds of Christ and reflecting on their own sins.
Easter Saturday, in contrast to Good Friday, is a time of colour as wicker
baskets filled with food (including pisanki) are brought to the church in the
morning to be blessed by the Priest. This is known as Swieconka. Traditionally,
it was a time when families tried to outdo each other by showing who had the
most decorative eggs and, more importantly, who had the nicest food to eat.
Following the Blessing of the Baskets, the Priest then blesses each food group
in turn. Firstly, bread is blessed. Bread is probably the most significant item
for Polish people and the home-baked loaves they bring to the church (as is done
also in the Ukraine) are often decorated to the same extent as a wedding cake,
but with dough. Symbols of the lamb, the cross, and other Easter icons are
designed on the bread before it is cooked. Following the Blessing of the Bread
of Life, the Priest then blesses the meat (in Slovakia most often lamb or kid)
and then finally the eggs, by saying:
Chryste, nasze zycie i zmartwychwstanie, poblogoslaw i znak nowego zycia…
Trs: Christ, our life and resurrection, bless our eggs, the sign of new life…
Following the Blessing, Poles return home to a meager meal and prepare
themselves for their return to the church in the evening to observe Wigilia
Paschalne, the Easter Vigil. This is a long, extremely gothic service that
begins with the lighting of a bonfire outside of the church and often ends with
a Procesja Rezurekcyjna (Resurrection Procession) through the village.
Easter Sunday begins at daybreak with another Mass at church and another
Procesja Rezurekcyjna. Once religious observances have been fulfilled, Poles
head home to feast on the food that they had blessed on Easter Saturday –
remember that they’ve been observing Lent for the last 40 days! Easter Sunday is
a happy occasion as it marks the end of a long period of fasting and
contemplation. In the Carpathian region the feast traditionally begins with the
cutting and sharing of a blessed egg between family members (dzielenie sie
jajkiem), followed by bialy barszcz, (white borscht with sour cream, eggs and
sausage). Special Easter cakes are served, such as babka and mazurek, while in
Slovakia, paska is the delicacy – Paska is also the name for Easter.
Easter Monday has been, in recent years, a festival of some debate as it is seen
as being archaic and chauvinistic. Known as Smigus Dyngus (Drenching Monday) in
Poland, and observed in many parts of the Carpathians, boys traditionally threw
water at girls and then whipped them with a woven willow wand. Once whipped, the
girl tied a ribbon to the end of the stick. Now that many people live in tower
block estates, this tradition has become little more than a means of hooliganry
in the cities, with no cultural understanding of its origins. In a similar
manner to Trick or Treat, boys knock on doors and ask if there are any girls in
the house – they are then ‘bought off’ with a glass of vodka, or slivovica in
Slovakia. When villages were small and everybody knew their neighbours, this was
an enjoyable custom; now it is often frightening for old ladies living on their
own when a group of unknown adolescents appears at their door. The original
pagan meaning of transferring the fertility and life-power of the willow (the
first tree to bloom) and the health and beauty of water has somehow been lost.
It is sad but many of the aforementioned traditions are disappearing as people
move to the cities and globalized culture replaces ancient pastoral customs. For
now, at least, this little region still continues to celebrate in the old style.
