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.

The magnificent main altar of St. Mary’s Church (Mariacki) in Kraków’s Main Square in Old Town is decorated with a magnificent altarpiece by sculptor Wit Stwosz (Veit Stoss). Considered to be among the greatest of late Gothic European masterpieces it is, undeniably, the most beautiful religious artifact in Kraków, if not Poland. 

The altarpiece, like the church itself, is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.  It has movable wings that open, revealing the center panel of the Dormition (the heavenly “falling asleep”) of Mary and six scenes from her life ranging from the Annunciation to Pentecost on the wings.

Witnessing the opening of this superb altarpiece, complete with fanfare, is one of the must-see experiences when visiting Kraków. 

←The altarpiece when open. Wikipedia photo.

Having said that, no less exquisite is the altarpiece when it is closed, depicting 12 scenes from the lives of both Mary and Jesus. Apart from the religious message, the artists and sculptors of the time beautifully depicted the clothes of the 15th century period, which must be of great interest to costume designers, but they also the depicted local flora of the period which is of equal interest to those of us interested in plants. The scene containing the greatest number of  plants is located at the bottom right of the closed altar and titled Christ the Gardener, in Polish, Chrystus jako Ogrodnik.

The altarpiece when closed                                           Bottom right: Location of Christ as Gardener

Close up of the panel depicting Jesus and Mary Magdalene

     The scene comes to us from the Gospel of John (20:11-18) the only one of the four evangelists who places the death and resurrection of Christ in a garden. We read that Mary Magdalene was the first to visit the tomb, saw that it was empty, ran for the apostles, was confused and weeping outside the tomb, turned and saw Jesus but thought he was a gardener. (Apologies to St. John for this abbreviated/Cliff Notes version).   Painted into a walled garden is a kneeling Mary Magdelene and Jesus holding a shovel set against a green floral background.

     In the years 1932 and 1934, during one of the many restorations of the altarpiece over the centuries, Polish ethnobotanist Władysław Szafer from Jagellonian University was able to get a close look at the panel. Under the layers of removed dirt was a wonderful array of clearly visible plant motifs.  He noted that all the plants were common, easily identifiable ones found in meadows and wasteland throughout Europe as well as in and around Kraków. Because they were painted in their natural size (and sometimes enlarged) he also concluded that the artists must have used/studied live plants as models for their work. What a find!  

     Looking at the panel we’ll start in the upper middle towards the back wall:
​

In the center with flowers: Listera ovata – common twayblade-  storczyk, in Polish 

To the right of twayblade:
Cirsium heterophyllum - melancholy thistle-ostrożen dwubarwny 

To the left of twayblade:
Cirsium lanceolatum synonymous with Cirsium vulgare bull thistle - ostrożeń wąskolistny 

Leaves near Christ's hand and top of shovel: Primula - primrose -​ pierwiosnek

Sticking up from the bottom of the frame: leaves of Potentilla argentea - silver cinquefoil - srebnika

Bottom right: Trifolium repens clover -koniczyna

At the bottom near the spade:

​Lilium martagon- turk's cap lily  before flowering - ​złotogłów

To the left of the panel:

Below Christ's heel is a stylized version of Asarum europaeum- wild ginger-kopytnik

To the left of the ginger, a stylized version of Plantago major -plantain - babka,

To the left of that in the corner  another example of thistle and above that  on the edge of the panel, with yellow flowers is  Chelidonium majus -Greater celadine -  jaskółcze ziele

Above that against the wood wall  is a species of fern either Asplenium virde green spleenwort or the very similar Asplenium trichomanes maidenhair spleenwort -zanokcica zielona 
​

On the right side of the panel with Mary Magdalene we see many of the same plants repeated but some new ones as well.
​

​There are the leaves of Taraxacum officinale -dandelion-
mniszek

​Behind her, shown in its flowering state is Convallaria majalis or lily-of-the valley, called konwalia in Polish. It's most likely there was an associated symbolism as Mary was often described as “the violet of humility,  the lily of chastity" and connected to many other flowers besides lily-of -the-valley.

     
      The theme of Christ as a gardener is not limited to the artists of Poland. There are so many beautiful images by artists of different countries who have channeled their gifts and interpreted the gospel in their own particular way. They  all warrant viewing, admiration and close study. But I’m of the mind with historian, writer, and ethnographer Zygmunt Gloger who wrote: “It is good to know foreign things-it is a duty to known your own.” 

      Source: “Polichromja roślinna w ołtarzu Wita Stwosza.” [Plant polychromy in the altar of Wit Stwosz]
Władysław Szafer. Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae.[ Polish Botanical Society] 1934

For more about the plants of Poland: Polish Herbs, Flowers and Folk Medicine. Hippocrene Books. 2020

Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium L.), also known as the Chrysanthemum parthenium, is a perennial plant belonging to the aster family of plants. It is related to, but not as well known, as Tanacetum vulgare, better known as tansy. 

Feverfew. Tanacetum parthenium. Often mistaken with chamomile also from same family of plants.

     The name speaks for itself.  Since the time of the Middle Ages, it was an herb used in treating fevers.
​
     Feverfew is known as Złocień maruna in Poland. According to Remigiusz Ładowski  in his Historia Naturalna Krolestwo Polskiego (Natural History of the Kingdom of Poland  published in 1793), the flower and greenery of feverfew has “cleansing properties, awakened monthlies, cleansed after childbirth, dispelled the placenta and dead fetus.” Polish websites currently seem to promote it for the treatment of migraines.

     The plant self-seeds intensively. I don’t remember planting it and yet it’s growing profusely all over the various gardens around the house. I suspect it was most likely carried and sown by the wind. 

Feverfew in different parts of the garden.

     In previous years I would pull out any young emerging plants (they were everywhere!) but this year I got to the garden late and decided I liked its reproductive exuberance by growing wherever it found fertile soil, so I let them go. They grew well in the sun but also in shadier spots, their white petals brightening what would otherwise be a dark spot in the garden. I felt rewarded for my restraint!  
   
     I’m always looking to bring some of my garden indoors to enjoy in a floral arrangement. The long, erect stems and tiny daisy-like flowers makes feverfew a nice addition to a floral bouquet or as a bouquet on its own but it’s down side is it has a pungent, almost medicinal, odor.

​

So instead of bringing it into the house, I placed it on the back porch where the open space dispersed the scent and I could still enjoy the flowers and remind myself of its medicinal use over the centuries. 

Photos by author.

References: Polish Herbs, Flowers and Folk Medicine. Hippocrene Books. 2020.

​     Marsh marigold (Caltha palustris) is a lovely harbinger of spring. As its name suggests, marsh marigold grows in wet places such as marshes, ditches and woods in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. It grows wild throughout Poland, blooming from April through May and is commonly known as kaczeniec or knieć błotna. 

Kaczeńce.(Marsh marigold). 1908. Józef Chelmonski Muzeum Narodowa W Warszawie (National Museum in Warsaw).

 ← In his Dykcyjonarz roslinny (Dictionary of plants…) published in 1786, Polish naturalist Krzysztof Kluk calls it majowka błotna, describing its presence in  muddy waters during the month of May.

 “...It grows in wet meadows. It flowers in April and May. The flowers and leaves are much liked by cattle and goats and, if young and tender, by sheep. If a cow eats it, her butter will be yellowish. The flower, boiled with alum, will give a yellow color to thread. The flower buds, while hard, if marinated can take the place of capers on the table...”

In his  Rośliny w wierzeniach i zwyczajach ludowych (Plants in folk beliefs and customs), professor Adam Fisher also mentions its use as a dye for pisanki (decorated Easter eggs) when used in conjunction with the bark of the apple tree. He adds that medicinally, in Zakopane in the Nowy Targ region, a deconcoction was made to cleanse puss-filled wounds that wouldn’t heal.

​The lovely yellow flowers and dark green, heart shaped leaves  caught the eye of many Polish painters including Stanisław Wyspiański ​.

   Kaczeńce. Stanisław Wyspiański. 1895-6) Muzeum Narodowy w Kielcach (National Museum in Kielce)
 
He collected floral motifs during his wanderings to the Wisła River, Bielany and the area of Panieńskie Skały around Kraków. He wrote of his preference for flowers and herbs in a letter to his friend Lucjana Rydel: "I pulled the most lush flower bushes from the meadows and rocks near Bielany and brought the whole bunch home (...) how I like to sit among these flowers. Hollyhocks, mullein, what wonderful plants, what soaring shapes, how lively they are, what talkative flowers."  The artist kept a sketchbook and wanted to publish his own herbal titled "Studium roślin stylizowanych, a materiałów dla celów zdobnictwa dekoracyjnego (a "Study of stylized plants and materials for decorative purposes), but the work was never realized. His love of  flowers can be found in his numerous portrait paintings or as part of his work on the interior decorations of the Franciscan church in Kraków. 

Vase with marsh marigolds. Alfons Karpinski. 1934       Marigolds in floodwaters on the Biebrza.                                                                                                            Aleksander Żywiecki (1962- ) 

  If you live in the northeastern United States, keep an eye out for marsh marigolds on your spring walks or hikes through boggy areas of woods or meadows.  Lucky for us they are also fairly easy to grow and maintain in gardens if the soil remains consistently moist such as in problematic wet areas. While they bloom more profusely in full sun they can tolerate some shade. If you are an artist and so inclined, make sketch and begin your own herbal or take a photo to document how your garden grows.

​For more on the plants and flowers of Poland: Polish Herbs, Flowers and Folk Medicine. 2020. Hippocrene  Books, Inc.