Photo:  On the Sunday preceding Ash Wednesday, at the Parish of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Włoszczowa in southern Poland, last year's Easter palms are burned for use on Ash Wednesday. https://www.diecezja.kielce.pl/podpatrzone-w-parafii-spalenie-palm-na-popielec

Sprinkling hair on crown of head with ashes in today's times in Poland. https://koscian.naszemiasto.pl/dzis-sroda-popielcowa

Whether a king, a lord, peasant or beggar, all approached the altar to receive the symbolic ashes to remind them “you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”  The historian added another interesting note, something that is not practiced today: “Since not everyone was able to receive this rite on the initial Wednesday, it was given a second time in village churches on the first Sunday of Lent. Such was the piety of the Poles under the rule of Augustus III in the early years that even the sick, unable to receive the ashes in church, asked for it to be brought to their bedside.”

Other historians and ethnographers noted another form of practice in old Poland that perhaps enabled the bedridden at home to receive ashes on this day: only the senior member of the family would approach the priest at the altar, only his head would be sprinkled, and then the priest would pour some ashes into his prayer book. After coming home, in a solemn and serious manner, the head of the family would sprinkle the heads of his loved ones.
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Ash Wednesday marked the first day of Lent- a time taken very seriously.  The women in the villages put away their colorful aprons and bright coral beads for more somber colors. The men often gave up drinking alcohol and even smoking tobacco. Children also experienced the rigors of Lent. Sometimes, toys were hidden from them during Lent, leaving only the most modest or the most damaged ones, and at bedtime, instead of fairy tales, children listened to the lives of the Saints.

Additional information about Ash Wednesday and Lenten period in Poland: Polish Customs, Traditions and Folklore, Hippocrene Books, Inc. 2024

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His short, 24-year life was not one that was full of extraordinary events. He was kind. He prayed unceasingly and won the hearts of the people of Lithuania and Poland.
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     On March 4th, the Catholic Church honors the memory of St. Casimir (1458-1484), patron saint of Lithuania and Poland. Casimir (in Polish, Kazimierz) was born a prince at Wawel Castle in Kraków during the time of the great Poland Lithuanian Commonwealth when Poland and Lithuanian were united as one country. He was the third child born to the Jagiellonian line of Casimir IV, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania and Queen Elisabeth Habsburg of Austria. 

     Raised under the tutelage of Father Jan Długosz, Prince Casimir became a pious, intelligent, and prayerful child. During his short lifetime he distinguished himself by his piety, generosity towards the sick and poor, and devotion to God and Mother Mary. 

← Statue of St. Casimir located in the church of Drądżewa at the ethnographic Museum in Sierpc, Poland.

     He failed at being a warrior and military man when his father sent him out to fight but in Wilno (now Vilnius) in Lithuania, Casimir, born of kings and in line to be a king himself, was a defender of the poor, known for his kindness and almsgiving for those in need. He said about himself  "a Prince can do nothing more honorable than to serve Christ himself among the poor." He didn’t puff himself up as somebody special. The king's son, went out into the streets, talked and cared for the people of his land.  

     His piety was legendary, kneeling and praying before the closed doors of the Vilnius church, witnessed by others.  He is often painted kneeling at night in front of the cathedral doors that emphasize his ardent devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.

   Jan Długosz witness to the prayers of Casimir by Polisih painter Florian Cynk. Wikipedia.

     He had a special devotion to the Mother of God and was especially attached to the Latin hymn Omni die dic Mariae [On every day praise Mary], which he treated as a daily prayer.

 "Omni die dic Mariae Mea  laudes anima: Ejus festa, ejus gesta Cole devotissima."

“Daily, daily sing to Mary, Sing, my soul, her praises due: All her feasts, her actions honor with the heart's true devotion.”

He died young and took that devotion to the grave. Years after his death, when the prince's coffin was opened in 1604, the text of the hymn was found to be buried with him, written on parchment and located under his head. 

His tomb was the site of miracles. His canonization ceremony took place in 1604. His remains are interred in the magnificent Saint Casimir's Chapel in the  Archcathedral Basilica of St. Stanislaus and St. Ladislaus (simply called Vilnius Cathedral) built in 1636.
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   He was kind. He prayed unceasingly. And won the hearts of his people.

  Churches and chapels throughout Poland and Lithuania were built in his name. Immigrating to various parts of the world, the people of Poland brought that devotion with them. 

​←St. Casimir at St. Casimir’s Church, Buffalo, NY 

In church iconography, the princely saint is recognizable by his crown and often depicted in an ermine cloak (above photo),  holding a cross, a lily or a scroll with the words of his favorite prayer Omni die dic Mariae.

Happy name day to all named Casimir (Kazimierz) and its diminutives: Kaz,  Kazik, Kaziuk, Kaziu, Kaziuś.  You are named after a prince!









For more about feast day and name days see: Polish Customs, Traditions and Folklore, Hippocrene Books, Inc. 2024

Sources:  https://mwmskansen.pl/sw-kazimierz
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 During the occupation of Poland during World War II, the city of Kraków became the capital city of a region called the General Government(often abbreviated in the literature as GG). ​

Photo Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum


This German zone of occupation in Poland was inhabited by 11 million people, all of whom were to become a source of cheap labor for the German occupiers. 

To accomplish this task the entire GG region saw the establishment of an endless number of German offices and bureaus. Kraków, where governor Hans Frank took up office at Wawel Castle and hoisted the Nazi swastika, also became the seat of an ever-expanding number of administrative offices filled by thousands of German  civil servants, clerks, lawyers, officials and their families.  
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All businesses, factories and enterprises formerly owned by the Polish and Jewish population were taken over by Germans. They took control of the railway system. The Polish and Jewish press and radio were liquidated. German shops and bookstores appeared with Hitler's portrait in the leading role.  In addition, there was a large military garrison and various services such as the Gestapo, SS (Schutzstaffel, the elite guard of the Nazi regime)and SA (storm troopers).  Everything was in the hands of the Germans.

To accommodate this influx of Germans, the city was divided into zones and Germans began brutally removing Kraków residents from their homes, taking over the better homes and entire neighborhoods. Poles who were displaced were moved to the districts of Stradom and Kazimierz, home to Krakow’s Jewish population, who were simultaneously relocated to the Kraków ghetto under the slogan that "Jews are carriers of infectious diseases.”  They were locked in and those who could not work for the Reich were later deported to extermination camps.

From 1940 on, all the streets in the city were Germanized. 
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Sign reads: Only for German Passengers. NAC photo

​Often referred to in literature as "small sacred architecture," roadside crosses and shrines are an integral part of Poland’s landscape and cityscape. Anyone who has traveled to Poland has to agree that it is impossible not to notice the innumerable crosses, religious statues and little chapels that seem everywhere one looks.

Statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Bliskowice, Poland. Edward Knab photo.

     Over the centuries of Poland’s Christian heritage, they were erected by individuals as a token of gratitude for graces received, to ask forgiveness of sins or as memorials of important events in the life of the founder or founders. Polish ethnographer Tadeusz Seweryn beautifully described them as “… the prayers of the people scattered across the Polish landscape, carved in wood or carved in stone. They are the manifestation of a pious heart.’” The establishment of roadside shrines were essentially acts of faith that arose from a real need from someone’s heart and soul. Each shrine or cross was unique, each one erected for a specific reason and each erected in a special place.

    Frampol, Biłgoraj County, Lublin Voivodeship. Edward Knab photo.   

    This was especially important in the winter. When the narrow, dirt roads of those early times were often covered with a high layer of snow, the tall crosses facilitated orientation to the landscape. This was especially true in small villages that were established in the vast mountainous regions of Poland where the winters were fierce with snow and wind. 
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 Winter in the Tatra Mountains pre 1939. Narodowy Archiwum Cyfrowe. Polona.pl

   ​In summer we would see the shrines decorated with fresh flowers, as well as annuals and perennials.  In winter they are no less adorned and cared for with ribbons,  flags flying high in the wind and colorful artificial flowers.

 Frampol, Lublin Vovoidship. Edward Knab photo.

​Against the background of nature’s coat of winter white, among the filigree of tree branches,  the many shades of evergreens, and the blue of the sky, the numerous crosses, religious figures and chapels in Poland’s landscape quietly make their testaments of the faith of the people of Poland. 

For more about the roadside shrines of Poland look for the book titled Spirit of Place: The Roadside Shrines of Poland, Hippocrene Books, Inc. 2023. Available from Hippocrene Books, Polish Art Center, Polish American Journal Bookstore and Amazon.
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      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. 
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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
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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!
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       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.
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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.