Living Heritage 4 All Comparative Study of Traditional Festivals
Harvest Festival Harvest Festival / Dożynki – it is a folk holiday combined with ceremonies of thanksgiving for the completion of harvest and field work. In pre-Christian times it was an ethnic Slavic holiday, celebrated during the autumnal equinox (September 23). In modern times it is usually celebrated on one of the Sundays or Saturdays in August or September after the completion of the harvest. As part of the August harvest, some regions traditionally practiced the przepiórka – an offering to the quail which personifies the grain spirit to ensure fertility for the future year. The harvesters would weave three braids of wheat, decorated with ribbons or berries and leave them in the fields in a prominent place for some time. Also called the popiórka or simply pępek depending on the region, the best harvester had to have cut down the wheat, to the singing of ladies: “Pielim przepiórkę na odłogę, będziem pić piwo, chwała Bogu” – We’ll weed the quail wheat on the fallow field, we’ll drink beer, thanks to God!” The villagers would also make an open wreath or a closed crown of rye stalks as a symbol of the whole harvest called a plon. In some areas a równianka – tied wheat stalks were also prepared and decorated similarly to the plon with flowers and ribbons. Together with a round loaf of bread baked with the new grain, the villagers would lead a korowód – procession through the village and ceremonially the top female harvesters would present them to the local landowner.
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