First on the left depicts St. Nicholas  dressed in bishop's attire with a crosier and the  legend of the gifts to three sisters who were without a dowry. The father—too poor to support them or to supply the dowry they needed to marry—resolved to sell them into slavery, one by one. Hearing the story Nicholas met the family’s need by tossing a bag of his own gold through their open window on three successive nights. In iconography, the bags of gold are often depicted as three balls of gold.

      The second image depicts St. Nicholas saving a flock from wolves which caused him to became the patron saint of cattle, shepherds and animals.  Every year, the villagers appealed to the heavenly patron for special care of their livestock, calling him "shepherd of the livestock."

     The tradition of giving gifts, inspired by his good deeds, survived over the centuries. In the Middle Ages, St. Nicholas was considered the patron saint of children and in Poland, his feast day was called Mikołajki. The local church organist would dress in the traditional bishop’s attire and crozier and visit from house to house, quizzing children on their knowledge of their payers and when done well, the child would receive a small gift.  This custom was written about by Rev. Mikołaj Frąckiewicz in Kraków in 1746: "In memory of the generosity of St. Nicholas who threw gold into the window of three poor girls who needed a dowry in order to marry, on the eve of December 5th, children receive small gifts, with the reminder that they were to say their morning and evening prayers and obey their parents.”  The gifts were always modest ones: an apple, gingerbread in the shape of a heart or even of St. Nicholas himself, a holy picture, or a chalkboard to practice their letters. 
​

The Polish calendar celebrates two things on November 11: Independence Day ( Dzien niepodległosci)   and Dzien  Św. Marcina, (Feast of St. Martin of Tours). On November 13, Poland celebrates the Day of Potato Pancakes, i.e., Dzien placki ziemniaczane.

Photo from Wikimedia commons.

According to official sources, the cultivation of potatoes had its first beginnings in Poland as an ornamental plant when King Jan III Sobieski (1674-1696) sent seedlings to his gardener in Warsaw from Vienna, where he had won a smashing victory over the Turks. Initially enjoyed for their flowers, the tubers gained popularity as a food very slowly, replacing parsnips, turnips and rutabaga which had served as primary foodstuff for the common people. By the 1700’s, all of Poland and Lithuania, rich and poor alike were eating potatoes every day.  It became the salvation of the poorest peasant. When flour was unavailable to bake bread, potatoes were a valuable substitute to fill the belly with its numerous possibilities and variations as a soup, boiled, or fried. 

​According to Polish sources, one of the first recipes for fried potato pancakes comes from the 17th century Stoczek Warmiński, a monastery in Warmia, in northern Poland that served it to the monks. The pancakes of that time, like the ones we have today, were made of grated potatoes, eggs, onion and flour in the proportion of a spoonful for every kilogram of potatoes. They were served only with salt and pepper. Today's popular additions come from the time of the partitions of Poland with influences coming from Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia.  They were eaten alone, that is, plain, or with sour cream or pork cracklings. Sugar was a rarity for the poor but sour cream obtained from milk from a cow, was more readily available. Versions with goulash also called  placki po węgiersku, that is Hungarian pancakes, were the fare of the rich and noble. It is still found in restaurants all over Poland.

Photo: Wikipedia. Pancakes with goulash

An interesting note is how the pancakes were fried in the past. In today’s times we think of a frying pan and oil.  In some regions of Poland, specifically the Kujawy region, the pancakes were called klepacz and fried directly on the top of the black coal stoves, called fajerki, that were traditionally found in old Polish kitchens. The top of it was thoroughly cleaned. More flour (rye, wheat, white) was added to the grated potato mass to make a stiffer dough which allowed the pancake to be turned over without falling apart.

The above photo is from my cousin Zbyszek's kitchen in Poland where he installed the old fashioned Polish kitchen along with his new one.

Potato pancakes are a dish as traditional as pierogi but much easier to make, tasty, filling and can be served for breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack
​

Here is a recipe from my cookbook titled Polish Country Kitchen Cookbook published by Hippocrene Books, 2012.  My mother called them placki kartoflane, just another, old-fashioned name for potatoes - kartofle. Fresh chives in the batter adds adds another note of flavor.


Smacznego! May it be tasty!

​The Polish word for the month of October is Październik. The word comes from the word paździerz, the inner fiber of the all-important flax plant (Linium usitatissium).  

     Through a process called retting, this inner fiber of the flax plant was eventually spun into thread and then woven into cloth to make clothes and also to make useful household items such as bed sheets and tablecloths.  Among the people of Poland, the flax plant was described as more precious than gold because it also produced seeds on the top of the plant when it matured which were used as medicine to maintain and promote health. 

​     In folk medicine the seeds were chewed to treat constipation. In its other major use, the flax seeds were taken to an oil mill where it was squeezed for its oil which we commonly know as linseed oil The substances contained in the flax oil helped to soothe skin inflammation, reduce redness, and itching and used to treat skin conditions such as psoriasis, eczema, and acne. Simon Syreński, the 16th century Polish botanist also known as Syreniusz, recommended it for healing blotches and blemishes, herpes, scabs and even rough fingernails.  In the 1800’s, botanist Krzystof Kluk recommended making a salve made from it to treat scalded skin. In an herbal printed in 1923, Sebastian Kneipp in his Zielnik atlas roslin leczniczych (Herbal atlas of healing Plants) endorsed the benefits of flax compresses and bandages as having a cooling, dissolving and stretching effect in ulcers and swellings.

Flax seed oil (olej lnjany) is still being produced in current day Poland. Author photo. September  2024

     Another really important use of the flax oil was for cooking during the numerous fast days that came throughout the calendar year especially the days of Advent and Lent. During these fast days animal meat and animal oils for cooking were strictly forbidden and the people of Poland had to resort to vegetable oils such as rapeseed, sunflower and flax seed oil.
In some parts of Poland, linseed oil is often called Christmas Eve oil, because its consumption increased so much during Advent and played a critical role in frying the fish that was consumed on Wigilia, the Christmas Eve supper, which is always eaten without any meat or animal fat.

     All vegetable oils have made a major comeback in the diets of the 21st century and deemed healthier for us than animal fats. Our ancestors were ahead of their time!
​
       I’m attaching a brief 5 minute you tube video. It is in Polish but you don’t need to understand Polish to visually see the labor-intensive method used long ago to produce linseed oil, once so important to the people of Poland.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhBiECxlIz8

​     Read more about how the people of Poland treated their health needs in: Polish Herbs, Flowers and Folk Medicine, Hippocrene Books, Inc. 2020

This beloved Spanish saint was a Carmelite nun and the first woman to be declared a Doctor of the Church.

My title comes from a single sentence she wrote in her Book of Foundations where she calls her nuns to  grow in holiness within the fray of daily life. She writes: “Oh then, my daughters, let there be no neglect: but when obedience calls you to exterior employments (as, for example, into kitchen, amidst the pots and dishes), remember that our Lord goes along with you, to help you both in your interior and exterior duties.”

Teresa wanted to tell her sisters that spiritual life cannot be reduced to just hours of prayer and contemplation alone, but that everyday life in all its breadth and fullness can also be lived spiritually; that God is always with you, whether kneeling in church or washing the supper dishes or any of the innumerable tasks of a given day. This transformative, approachable writing on how a soul can journey to God has inspired countless individuals seeking a greater depth of spiritual life.

Her writings, her thought and mysticism and information about her life was translated into Polish and churches such as that of  St. Teresa of Avila in Jurków in southeastern Poland carry her name. The photos depict her feast day in 2023 when the parish hosted a procession and special mass in veneration of her life and her contribution to the teachings of the church and then celebrated with a street fair.

 
     The rich history and tradition in Poland of celebrating the feast day of the church’s patron saint is called an odpust. In older days it once drew pilgrims from all over the country who had a special devotion to that saint. It also drew people from all walks of life including merchants selling devotionals, souvenirs and sweets who set up their wares along the path leading to the church.  It was a day to seek God in church, that “interior life” that St. Teresa wrote about, but also to find Him in the “exterior life” – during a time of socialization and festivity - that everyday life,  even when doing the dishes, can be lived spiritually.

Painting of St. Teresa of Avila by Spanish artist Eduardo Balaca. (Wikipedia) She is often depicted with the words  Misericordias domini in aeternum cantabo: "For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord."  Psalm 89 of the Book of Psalms.

Photos from the parish of St. Teresa of Avila in Jurków Wiślica:   www.facebook.com/story.php/?story_fbid=317947004327067&id=100083353087608&_rdr

For more on how feast days of saints were celebrated in Poland see the chapter on  Feasts and Festivals in: Polish Country Kitchen Cookbook, Hippocrene Books, Inc.

It's time for a new look!

​I​t has been many years since the release of the first edition of this book and I am so very gratified that it has continuously found an audience over these past decades. My thanks to everyone—past, present
and future—who chose or will choose to read this book.

The world has changed significantly in the way information is disseminated since this book’s first publication. Much has also changed in the publishing world including the possibility of making books available in digital format so that readers have the option to never have to leave their home to find and read a book. It’s time for this book to enter into that mainstream and be available as an e-book as well as a physical one. As part of this updating process, I also felt it was time to add color and black and white photos that would enhance the content for the reader.

Thank you to Hippocrene Books, Inc. for working with me on this.
Available October 29, 2024
www.amazon.com/Polish-Customs-Traditions-Folklore-Hodorowicz/dp/0781814510/ref=sr_1_1?crid=GPQVE30VW3CU&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.YdOyqbADSEgGWLv7E-nlreiXWEhEyRZ8rQiDwCUKMgoD_wzhXCuZWoAJzf05fsjt2Itve1Fu83Cjp4PdhnLBz1t9dHlEC5_BeRxdJWLaam7cTaRehEIu_7Qd1pQ7t8AaQdkXzhgVXSEQrukA7OIYul_DI-zVoEAdJs4Me1KiXq-ZLG7UV7xSR4i06afgMyc_Ddgdvt8ABcXTZsd8b0EuKNLV6KF032NSVKrjPJzt0p0.V3TPjF1dZUGzk4ICqf1g_-FSdBdKCMX33sXAL_67h4o&dib_tag=se&keywords=Polish+customs&qid=1728393165&s=books&sprefix=polish+customs%2Cstripbooks%2C112&sr=1-1

​Two mushroom foraging trips to a forest in Poland does not an expert make. And even when you think, “oh, this is great, a mushroom that’s easily recognizable” you really don’t want to get ahead of yourself. 

      Meet the parasol mushroom. In Latin, Macrolepiota procera. In Poland, the regional names for it include  stroszka strzelista, parasolowiec, parasolnik, czubaj, czubak, czubajka kania, gularka, gapa, sowa, or simply, kania, which is what my cousin and her family call it.

     Our trip to the forest in search of mushrooms this year was a bit disappointing - too dry for too long. These parasols appeared in the field behind Johanna’s house. The property is hers but it’s left as an open meadow, thick with grasses, a place where deer feel free to roam about in search of a snack and where parasol mushrooms apparently feel good about the growing conditions because it doesn’t care for very moist soil. Meadows are one of its normal habitats but they also grow on the edges of deciduous and coniferous forests, in forest clearings, roadsides and even in cemeteries- perhaps a testament that everything and everyone knows best where and what’s needed in order to thrive.

      It’s a mushroom you can’t really miss. It stands tall and proud above the grasses– practically shouting out its presence to the world and the cap really does look like a small umbrella, which can reach 4 to 12 inches in diameter.  Sometimes it stands alone without any others around but little Jasiek and his mom Johanna counted 32 of them scattered throughout the meadow! We picked almost all of them which my cousins shared with friends and neighbors. After cleaning them carefully they can be pan fried in butter - plain, without any extra fixings, or dipped in a thin batter of egg, flour and milk or in egg and breadcrumbs much like we do large portobello mushrooms. According to Polish bloggers you won’t find this mushroom offered in market stalls or as a dish in a restaurant. Its delicate taste is a much enjoyed treat by mushroom foragers.  

​     Extra parasols can be dried in the oven for future use to crumble into soup for added flavor and even pulverized to use in making mushroom sauces, as do my cousins.

The true parasol has some identifying characteristics: brown patches on the cap surface, gills underneath; the snakelike skin appearance on the stem that also has a woolly ring just below the cap that moves relatively easily along the stem.

Like all mushrooms it has its look-alikes that are poisonous so while I've increased my knowledge a smidgen, I've a far, far way to go before I move out of amateur status.
​
Thank you to the real mushroom experts: my cousin Jadzia, her husband Krzysiek and their children Johanna and Michał for a fun learning experience about kania, aka the parasol mushroom.

For more about the mushrooms of Poland try The Polish Country Kitchen Cookbook, Hippocrene Books, Inc. 2012.

​There is a powerful passage in Władysław Reymonts’ novel titled Chłopi: Wiosna (The Peasant’s: Spring) where farmer Boryna, ill and confused, instinctively recognizes that it is spring and time to sow his land. He gets up and wanders out to the fields. He kneels down and scoops up earth into his shirt tails as if it were seeds to be sown. He walks the entire field making the characteristic gesture of a sower, first with earth, then with his empty hand and when he is done, he lays down and dies. His last act on earth was to  connect with the land to which he devoted his entire life.

​
​In the agricultural world of our Polish ancestors, not unlike like the fictional Boryna sowing in the spring, the earth was a mother – a nourisher that fed her people, was created by God and as such, was a sacred thing. Their world was ruled by the calendar of Marian feasts including Matko Boska  Siewna – Blessed Mother of Sowing or Our Lady of the Sowing on September 8th.  Since the Blessed Virgin Mary gave life to Jesus, who is the Bread of Life, the people connected her birth with the sowing of the grain from which bread is made.  It was on this day the peasant farmer began sowing his winter wheat. 


←Polish painter and illustrator Piotr Stachiewicz(1858-1938) depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary sowing crops.

Another beautiful passage that highlights the reverence for Mother Earth and this feast day comes from the childhood memoir of Bishop Józef Zawitowski who grew up in the Mazowsze region of Poland:

"My grandfather Francis
each year measured a hundred steps
the length of his field and sowed wheat.
The grains of wheat were cleaned
and blessed on the 8th of September
on the Blessed Mother of Sowing.
The field was properly cultivated
so that there were no weeds.
Grandpa crossed himself, walked barefoot
on the cultivated land and completely focused,
sowed the grains. He prayed resolutely
that mother earth would accept the grains,
that winter would cover it, would bring a harvest.
In the spring he inspected the field, pulled weeds.
During harvest time he waited until the weather had settled
so that the mowed wheat did not lie in the rain.
Alone he threshed, alone he cleaned on the threshing machine
and mill, alone he gathered into a sack
and carried it to the miller…" (author translation)

"Matka Boska Siewna”, by Józef Chełmowski, Brusy-Jaglie, Kaszuby, 1983, photo by Adam Zakrzewski 



In folk tradition, Blessed Mother of Sowing is considered the patron saint of autumn sowing. It was believed that Mary went around to the sown fields and blessed them thereby guaranteeing a good harvest the following year. The importance of the day is found in customs, hymns and art, but  also cemented in this Polish proverb:
 Gdy o Matce Bożej zasiano, to ani za późno, ani za rano.
 If sown on Blessed Mother, its neither too late, nor too early.

For more about Polish customs and traditions see: Polish Customs, Traditions and Folklore, Hippocrene Books, Inc.

Sources: Dziedzictwo kulinarne w kontekstach tradycyjnych i współczesnych  
                List Biskupa Józefa Zawitkowskiego do B. Gapinskiego. Wspomnienie z dzieciństwa 

Photo: etnomuzeum.pl/o-matko-boska/matka-boska-siewna/

​In Poland, the Feast of the Assumption (August 15) is also called Matka Boska  Zielna – Blessed Mother of the Herbs, or Our Lady of the Herbs.  The tradition stems from early Christian legends that when the Blessed Mother was taken into heaven the only items found in her tomb by the apostles were aromatic herbs and flowers. Among the people of Poland, the Blessed Mother is seen as the patron and keeper of the earth and all of its abundance.  So deep is this day rooted in the customs and traditions of the country that on this day, the employed are exempt from work so that everyone who wishes to can  pay homage and celebrate within the Catholic Church with mass, processions and the blessing of herbs and flowers.

The feast day depicted in painting by Polish artist Wincenty Wodzinowski (1833-1940) titled Święto Matki Boskiej Zielnej (The Feast of Our Lady of the Herbs)

     In the past, every village housewife brought a bouquet of herbs, flowers and grain that was collected from her own garden, the fields and orchards. In those days, the basics of such a bouquet were ears of grain (the day often came towards the conclusion of the harvest), flax, poppy heads, thyme, mint, vegetables and fruits such as carrots or apples which were stuck on a stick to be tucked in among the flowers and herbs or branches of  hazelnuts with nuts, etc.

 
     Today, especially in large cities, the flowers and herbs may come from a small city garden or store bought. What frequently happens now is that vendors often set up in front of a church with a variety of flowers for churchgoers to purchase. It doesn’t matter where the plants/flowers come from, for they are all from the earth. 

← Painting titled Matka Boska Zielna (Blessed Mother of the Herbs) by Polish painter Adam Setkowicz (1876-1945)

     This holy day has always had special meaning for me.  Maybe  because, since a small child, I watched my mother heal with plants (often called weeds) found in the grass, or watched the absolute magic of seeds turn into vegetables. It might also be because of a grandmother I never met who sent a photo of herself taken on this special day.

​A couple of years ago I was inspired to imitate that photo, something of me to pass on to the next generation and perhaps inspire them, too.

Feast of Our Lady of the Herbs (Matka Boska Zielna) in Nisko, Poland circa 1950’s. My maternal grandmother Maria Dul Zalewska with her bouquet is second from the left next to the priest.

​



Feast of Our Lady of the Herbs. Buffalo, New York. St. Casimir’s Church. 2022. I positioned myself (first on the left) next to Rev. Czesław Krysa followed by my friends Diane Wołoszyn and Regina Hanchak.

​      It was believed that the blessed bouquet took on extraordinary healing and protective properties. On the way from church, the bouquet was left for a few days in the furrows of the vegetable fields, so that pests would not threaten the cabbage and potato crops. After a few days, the bouquet was taken home and stored, like the Easter palm, tucked behind one of the holy images hanging on the wall. The herbs from the bouquet were used for teas, infusions, and even baths. They were used to fumigate the interiors of houses and farm buildings to protect the inhabitants against tuberculosis, plague and the casting of a spells.

     When the blessed bouquet became bedraggled looking or the majority of it used up over the year, it was never just thrown away. It was considered a sacred object that had to be treated with special care. An old or damaged bouquet had to be burned – just like old or damaged holy images - so that the ashes returned back to the earth.

Thanks for reading! If you'd like to know more about Our Lady of the Herbs:

Polish Customs, Traditions and Folklore, Hippocrene Books, Inc.
Polish Herbs, Flowers and Folk Medicine, Hippocrene Books, Inc.

​Andrew Golebioski, board member of the Cooks Creek Heritage Museum, shares the history of the roadside cross in his community located northeast of the City of Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada:

     
​     “My ancestors immigrated to this area from Galicia in and around 1900. It is in a rural area where many Polish and Ukrainian Galicians settled around the turn of the century. From around 1896-1905, the Canadian Minister of the Interior, Clifford Sifton, embarked on a policy of European immigration to help settle and develop the Canadian prairies. Key to this was the development of the area's agricultural potential. Many Galicians settled in our area, built churches, raised families, and created whole communities. I remember this shrine from when I was a child when I would drive past this location transporting farm machinery from one location to another. I'm 58 years old now.

​The site of this lone shrine is being maintained by the owner of the property next to it who is a descendant of one of the pioneer families to the area. He recalls there being pilgrimages to this cross many decades ago and believed the reason was as you wrote in your book, to pray for good harvests in the area. I have gained a new appreciation for the importance of this unique historical and religious artefact in our area. It is a link to "the old country." You will notice that it is starting to look a little weathered. The resident maintaining the site says he has already obtained lumber to renew it and intends to do it when he has time. I think we may look into having some form of ceremony when this work is completed, again, as a result of the information you provided.

The shrine is located at the northeast corner of the intersection of Zora Road and Willowdale Road, in the Rural Municipality of Springfield. This is about 30 kilometers northeast of the City of Winnipeg.
​
We are currently investigating who may have first erected this particular shrine. It is close to both the Roman Catholic and Ukrainian Catholic churches that were, and still are, here. I also remember a second one in the area but cannot remember exactly where it was. We are trying to establish that location and are asking some of the senior residents of the community.”

​Photos by Andrew Golebioski.

Thank you, Andrew, for writing and sharing the story of the roadside shrine in your area. You honor your ancestors in this remembrance. Although they are silent, roadside crosses and shrines, speak as witnesses to the history, faith and cultural heritage of a region. Życzę wszelkich sukcesów! (Wishing you every success!)

Spirit of Place: The Roadside Shrines of Poland (Hippocrene Books, Inc. 2023) is the book that inspired Andrew to write and share the story of the cross in his community. 
​
Is there a cross or roadside shrine in your community
founded by our Polish ancestors?  Please feel free to click on the CONTACT link and share its story.

​In the Polish language, chłodnik is a term used to denote a cold soup. It’s derived from the word chłód meaning “chill” or “cooling” and is generally used to describe any cold soup made from a variety of fruits and vegetables. For instance, there is chłodnik szczawowy (cold sorrel soup) and chłodnik jabłkowy (chilled apple soup).  The most popular and well known “chłodnik” is made from beets and called chłodnik litewski (Lithuanian cold soup).

As the name implies, cold beet soup came to Poland from Lithuania. Ethnographer Oskar Kolberg in his volume on Lithuania writes: “…. in addition to the foods generally used by all European peoples, there are also dishes specific to this country, popular not only among peasants, but also among nobles. These dishes are the following: 1. cold soup, usually made of finely chopped beets (...) and pieces of ice thrown into the soup. When Władysław Jagiełło married Polish monarch Jadwiga Andegaweńska in the 14th century and untied Poland with Lithuania, the culture, customs and cuisine of both nations became intertwined. It remains a perennial favorite in Poland and among Polish immigrants that crossed oceans to live all over the world.

​The dish has its origins in the peasant population of Lithuania, made of simple ingredients that could be sown and grown by the majority of the peasant population in their gardens: beets, cucumbers, radishes, dill, chives.  In the past, the base of the cold soup was a natural acid, i.e. sour rye or beetroot kvass, a sour liquid made by fermenting rye flour or beets in water. The base could also be obtained by fermenting cucumbers into pickle brine. 

The fermentation gave the soup a sour taste and at the same time made it thirst quenching – a boon when laboring in the hot sun during haying and reaping grain.  Over time, the sour liquid base came from the dairy. Fresh milk was curdled or soured in clay pots. The classic tang of chłodnik could also come from sour cream, buttermilk or whey… quite a versatile dish, really. In today’s times kefir and yogurt have also taken their place in making this dish. 

The vegetables and sour base were mixed together and kept cool in a root cellar or immersed in a running steam to keep cold. In July and August when work was from sunup to sundown and everyone was in the fields, a housewife had short time to prepare something to take for the midday meal or to pull something together for a late supper. The chłodnik could be quickly prepared. If something more substantial was needed at the end of the work day, the cold soup was poured over hot boiled potatoes or topped with hard boiled eggs, both items also at hand. 

Centuries have passed and as happens in the history of food and cooking, recipes were not only exchanged but also adapted to suit a locality, personal needs and tastes, undergoing changes and revisions. Another variation is chłodnik Litewski z boćwina, Lithuanian cold soup with beet greens. It is sometimes simply called botwinka, highlighting the beet greens. In this form raw the beets and the beet greens are chopped and diced, cooked either on water or a light chicken stock, cooled completely and the rest of the ingredients added. I’ve read old cookbooks and recipes that call for the inclusion of rice, cold cuts, diced veal roast, deer meat, and crayfish necks, just to name a few items. Clearly, these recipes were written at a time when meat and special ingredients was more readily available to everyone and not just seen on very high holidays... if at all.

The basic recipe is a refreshing, vibrant pink vegetable soup. We most likely haven’t spent the day out in the field haying but it can be a real bonus after numerous hours in the garden on a hot day or even after laying about on the beach for an afternoon. Or just because you want to make something connected to Poland.

Here is my recipe:

Sources: Kolberg, Oskar. Dziela Wszystkie, Litwa. Tom 53 Reprint 1960.

               Zawadzka, Wincenta. Kucharka Litewska. Wilno. Drukiem Joźefa Zawadzkiego. 1874

​Photos by author.