The longest night of the year – so-called “Saint John’s” Eve – was also an occasion to perform ancient rites. Those typically involved making wreaths and garlands for the ladies followed by late night gatherings and the setting of fires usually in the fields (going ku-pole) or on hilltops. Next came the dancing around these fires. Young women lead those gatherings and young men joined later. They would then couple up and dance around the fires and, often, jump through them – sometimes together. Some of the older records (Lucas of Great Kozmin) also mention dances with swords (“I recall that in youth I read in a certain chronicle that there were in Poland Gods and from those days to our times such rites come that, young women [in his time] dance with swords, as if in offering to the pagan Gods, and not to [the] God, as well as [dances of] young men with swords and sticks, which they then hit about…”). (see here).

The wreaths would typically be made of bylica (artemisia or mugwort) though other plants were utilized as well, including  piołun (common wormwood also a type of artemisia), dziurawiec (Saint John’s wort), leszczyna branches (hazel), mięta (mint), ruta (ruta or rue), biedrzeniec (pimpinella) or czarny bez (black elderberry) were seen as having beneficial powers on this day. Of course, the most coveted was the fern flower – a mythical flower much like the four-leafed clover. Women would take venture naked into the woods, most often with their male companions, in search of this flower. As I understand it, few had found the flower though some had had an altogether good time nevertheless.

In a related custom, the wreaths (wianki – pronounced “vianki”) would often end up being placed on the surface of local rivers and sent gently floating with the current. Frequently, they would also carry an attached candle so that they remained visible from afar. While women would float the wreaths on water, young men would light small fires on the river banks. These custom continued even into the 18th and 19th centuries when inhabitants in Warsaw would gather on the banks of the Vistula to send their wreaths on the way to the sea while cheering them on from the local bridges. Local potentates would also give out small gifts to the public on the occasion and the common people would exchange presents amongst themselves. The last Polish king – Stanisuav Poniatowski – was recorded attending these events. Sometimes the plants were forgotten and other means were used to float a fire; for example, in Pomerania, local inhabitants would place small barrels full of tar on the water surface and set them on fire, watching them head out to the Baltic.

Such gatherings were known in Poland as sobótki (diminutive for “sabbaths”) or palinoce (pronounced “palinotze“) aka palinocki (pronounced “palinotzki”) (that is “burning nights”). The rituals are alluded too already in the 11th century by Thietmar who describes Mount Ślęża in Silesia. That same mountain would be referred to as sobotka in the 13th century. The clergy typically bemoaned such pre-Christian relicts and forbade them as we have described previously:

• Bishop Andrzej Łaskarz Statutes (1420s): “Prohibit too the nightly dances that take place during days of the sabbath (sobotki or kupalnocki in the summer) and on the days of the Saints John the Baptist and Saints Peter and Paul, for there are fornications and adultery and incest committed in those times.” (see here); or

• Royal Decree of Casimir IV (1468): “populi multitudo sexus utriusque assolet de consuetudine confluere, ubi tubarum, timpanorum. fistularum, aliorumque musicorum generum exercicia adhibentur, chorearum ceterorumque jocorum plausus exercentur…” (see here); or

• Marcin of Urzędów (circa 1500 – 1573): “For this reason these pagan [maidens] dedicated this herb to her and when the day [of Diana/Artemis] was celebrated some hung it up around houses while others girded it on: and this was done on the twenty fourth day of the moon [month] June, on our day of Saint John: and so they [the ladies] lit fires in the night, danced, praying and honoring the devil.  [And] this pagan custom they [women] refuse to forsake to this day, for so they make offerings of this herb hanging it and girding it on.  And they honour holidays of this devil [i.e., Diana/Artemis] by making sabaths [sobotki], burning fires, kindling fires with planks [sticks], so that there should be the right devilish holiness: there they sing devilish songs, obscene/filthy while dancing.” (see here);

Many Polish writers wrote about these customs quite affectionately – among them the 16th century poet Jan Kochanowski and the 17th century poet Jan Gawiński.

Kochanowski wrote about the custom in his “Saint John’s Song About Sobótka” which features twelve maidens (see this website for the whole thing in Polish) whereas Jan Gawiński wrote the following in his twelve months’ compilation (featured in June of course):

“Saint John the Baptist hath come, hence they burn the sabbaths and round these they sing and dance the village lasses. Don’t abolish their rites. What has come to us through the ages and withstood centuries, must continue through the ages yet.”

Jan święty Chrzciciel przyszedł, więc palą sobótki a koło nich śpiewając skaczą wiejskie młódki. Nie znoście ich zwyczajów. Co nas z wiekiem doszło i wiekom się ostało, trzeba by w wiek poszło. 

Curiously, in describing the customs of the month of December, Gawiński speaks of the daughter (Mary) giving birth to the father (Jesus). This convoluted concoction also smacks of pre-Christian beliefs where he Earth (Demeter, perhaps Marzanna-Ceres) gave birth to Jasion (Iasion) who then – in June (that is on “Saint John’s” Eve) would fertilize the same Earth before he withered in the winter only to be reborn (with the “invincible” Sun) in December again. Once again I recommend James Frazer’s “The Golden Bough”.

The earliest recorded mention of the Polish lelum, polelum comes from the “Prayer Book of Sister Constance” (Modlitewnik Siostry Konstancji) which seems to have been put together in 1527 (at least, that is, according to Jerzy Samuel Bandtkie aka Bandtke the famous Polish philologist, linguist and historian). It is a copy of earlier (probably end of 15th or early 16th century) books. The prayer book itself was mostly handwritten it seems but also, apparently, contains some printed material. It is stored in the Jagiellonian Library though was published by Władysław Wisłocki (1841-1900) in 1882. From there it came to the attention of Brueckner and others.

In the prayer book, the saying lelum polelum seems to mean as much as “easily” or “without effort.” Wisłocki  gives the full sentence as:

“But who should receive it [the glory of eternal life] for free leli poleli, without suffering anything, without performing any good deeds?”

„A któż ją daremno otrzyma (chwałę żywota wiecznego) leli poleli, nic nie cierpiąc, nic dobrego nie działając?”

As to who this sister Constance was, your guess is as good as anyone’s.

Of course, lelum polelum, continues to be a favorite of many a Suav with some Suavic warriors being particularly fond of it.

 Copyright ©2019 jassa.org All Rights Reserved

It is interesting to note how the same symbols crop up in different contexts. To illustrate here are some samples from an article by Piotr Kotowicz.

Here is an axehead from Over Hornbæk in Denmark:

And here is a mason’s mark from Saint Peter’s collegiate church in Kruszwica, Poland (full disclosure: I flipped it to match 🙂 ):

Here is an axehead from Pień in Poland: 

And here is the “infamous” urn from Biała, Poland (3rd-4th century) that “proved” to the Nazis that their ancestors had beaten the Poles to, well, Poland (it was found by Poles pre-WWII):

Another similar motif appears on an urn from Wąchock:

Similar symbols were found in England (in this case, again, as masonry marks!) and on pottery as early as the Sintashta culture.

Now, part of the problem here is that these symbols are not exactly that difficult to come up with which means that they likely repeat themselves quite independently. Of course, the closer people live, the more likely it is that they will try to steal each other’s artistic ideas too. For these reasons, the “meaning” of these things might be entirely different depending on the location and time.

Copyright ©2019 jassa.org All Rights Reserved

An interesting question about the nature of Łada has never been solved:

• is Łada a Polish Goddess worshipped locally in Mazovia or is Łada the Polish (presumably male) God Mars?

The confusion stems from the fact that Długosz referred to Łada as a Mazovian Goddess in one place but as the Lechitic Mars in another.

Elsewhere, Łada is also referred to as the gardzyna that is “hero” or “champion” of Jassa. So we can also ask:

• is Łada the Male War Champion or is Łada the Female War Champion.

• And what is the connection to Jassa?

A solution to some of these questions may present itself if we acknowledge the fact that there may have been two Deities with a similar Name, look at the origin of the word ładny and rope in a bit of Greek mythology.

note: I’ve already written about some of this here but without focusing sufficiently on the “Łado – Ares” connection. What “Łado – Ares” connection? Keep reading.

Let’s begin:

Two Deities

First, there are actually two different Deities referred to in non-Polish Suavic songs – the female Łada and the male Łado. They are not siblings. Rather, they are typically shown as the bride (Łada) and the bridegroom (Łado). (It is from this set up that Brueckner, erroneously surmised that these Names merely merely mean “your beloved.”)

The “Orderly” Name

Second, the adjective ładny did not originally mean “pretty” as it does now. It meant “orderly” or “harmonious.” It originated with the word ład – which means, to this day, simply, “orderliness” or merely “order.”

Incidentally, the word jasny – that is “bright” – may come from – the name Jaś. 

The Greek Connections

Third, we have Greek mythology. Greek mythology, with all of its inconsistencies such as they are, presents us with an interesting name – twice. That name is Harmonia. I say twice because there are two Harmonias. Yet, each brings a tantalizing hint for the reconstruction of the Polish Pantheon:

• Harmonia – The goddess of harmony and concord. In some tellings, she is the daughter of Ares and Aphrodite but there is also a version says that she was the daughter of Zeus and Electra and, the sister of Iasion (and Dardanos). In fact, it is at the wedding of this Harmonia that her brother Iasion succumbs to the lures of Demeter. This is the version related by Diodorus Siculus:

“There were born in that land [of Samothrake (Samothrace)] to Zeus and Elektra (Electra), who was one of the Atlantides [Pleiades], Dardanos (Dardanus) and Iasion and Harmonia . . . Kadmos (Cadmus), the son of Agenor, came in the course of his quest for Europe [Europa, his sister abducted by Zeus,] to the Samothrakians, and after participating in the initiation [into the mysteries of Samothrake] he married Harmonia, who was the sister of Iasion and not, as the Greeks recount in their mythologies, the daughter of Ares. This wedding of Kadmos and Harmonia was the first, we are told, for which the gods provided the marriage-feast, and Demeter, becoming enamoured of Iasion, presented him with the fruit of the corn, Hermes gave a lyre, Athene the renowned necklace and a robe and a flute, and Elektra the sacred rites of the Great Mother of the Gods [Rhea], as she is called, together with cymbals and kettledrums and the instruments of the ritual; and Apollon played upon the lyre and the Mousai (Muses) upon their flutes, and the rest of the gods spoke them fair and gave the pair their aid in the celebration of the weding. After this Kadmos, they say, in accordance with the oracle he had received, founded Thebes in Boiotia (Boeotia).”

(Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 5. 48. 2 (trans. Oldfather) (Greek historian C1st B.C.))

• Harmonia – The nymph – who as such, would have been a possible candidate for the retinue of Dionysus or Pan (with either of whom, Iasion could be identified as a fertility/agricultural Hero) and by one account, the mother – by Ares – of the Amazons.  In fact, Apollonius Rhodius says the following:

“The Amazones of the Doiantian plain [by the river Thermodon on the Black Sea] were by no means gently, well-conducted folk; they were brutal and aggressive, and their main concern in life was war. War, indeed, was in their blood, daughters of Ares as they were and of the Nymphe Harmonia, who lay with the god in the depths of the Akmonian (Acmonian) Wood and bore him girls who fell in love with fighting.” 

(Argonautica 2. 986 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.))

Synthesis

Łada was a Goddess – the sister of Jassa – and the wife of Łado. 

Łado was a God and and the husband of Łada.

Gardzyna – It may well be that Łado was a “War God” and, in that capacity also the gardzyna that is “hero” or “champion” of Jassa. But, if Łado was “Ares” then Łada as an “Amazon” could likewise be a powerful champion for Her Brother.

Finally, Demeter seems to be very much in the above telling the “Earth Goddess” Who is “ploughed” so to speak by Iasion. It is tempting to speculate that Demeter may be similar to the Goddess Marzanna who was identified by Długosz as Ceres – which is, of course, the Roman name for Demeter.

So we have a wedding between the “war pair” with the female being the sister of  Jassa – the Polish Jupiter. At that wedding Marzanna and Jassa just go and do their own thing. The actual names still in use in Polish peasant songs were, of course, Marysia and Jasień. Occasionally, there was also Kasienia or Kasia as Jasień‘s woman.

Now the only question is how does “Zeus” fit into this. My guess is that Piorun (Thor but also Tyr and Taranos) was simply an aspect of Jassa (Odin) that, at some point in time, became a “Storm” God in his own right, traveling the world as a “war hero” – quasi-Ares – Bohater, Багатур or Bagatyr. Thus, from Sarnicki we learn that:

“Rossi… de heroibus suis, quos Bohatiros id est semideos vocant, aliis persuadere conantur.”

Copyright ©2019 jassa.org All Rights Reserved