Dożynki Harvest Festival 2023

Dożynki means 'a celebration of harvest'

For the local Polish community, the last Sunday in October is always reserved for the Dożynki Harvest Festival. The only festival of its kind in the southern hemisphere.

The word ‘Dożynki’ means 'a celebration of harvest', a centuries old tradition that goes back as far as the 16th century. Traditionally, farmers would celebrate the year's labour with a holiday, after the crops (mainly grain) had been harvested. Landowners would organise festivals to reward their labourers and to celebrate bountiful crops. The festivals usually involved eating, drinking, dancing and other forms of merriment.

The symbol of Dożynki is the 'wieniec', (harvest wreath) which was traditionally presented to the landowner. This large wreath was made of a mixture of wheat and rye, as these grains were considered the most important. Crafted from the most beautiful ears of grain, the Dożynki wreath would be fashioned into a dome-shaped crown. It was decorated with flowers, ribbons, hazelnuts, and the fruit of the mountain ash tree.

The wreath would be blessed in the local church before heading a procession which would moved to the manor house of the host of the harvest festival. Harvesters would sing about the hardships of their work, wished for future crops to be plentiful and an expectation of hope for the fun and treats to come. The harvest wreath was traditionally then kept in a barn until the next sowing.

Bread baked from the flour of the harvest was presented to the elder of the village. Here, in South Australia, the bread is presented to the State Leader or their representative.

The inaugural Dożynki festival was held in 1979. The first few festivals were called 'Polish Day' and were held for several years at the Parks Community Centre, before transferring to Regency Park TAFE College, Rymill Park, Elder Park, Polonia Soccer Grounds and this year at Tulya Warrdli (Bonython Park).

Over the years, Dożynki has hosted numerous artists and dignitaries from Poland, including former President of the Republic of Poland and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Lech Walesa.

This year's officials guest included: the Hon Joe Szakacs MP Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services representing the Premier the Hon Peter Malinauskas MP, Mr John Fulbrook MP Member for Playford, Councilor Henry Davis representing the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor Dr Jane Lomax-Smith AO, Mr John Gardner MP Shadow Minister for Arts and Festivals, Shadow Minister for Education representing the Leader of the Opposition Mr David Speirs MP, Hon Jing Lee MLC Shadow Minister for Multicultural SA, Mr Marcin Kawalowki First Counsellor Deputy Head of Mission Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Canberra, Mrs Miriam Cocking President Multicultural Communities Council of SA, Mr Henryk Kuryklewski President Polish Community Council of Australia.

As usual, this year’s Dożynki festivities commenced with a Mass, celebrated by Father Michal Skiba SChr with choral performances by the Polanki choir who are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year.

The official opening, included a parade of over 150 dances in various Polish regional costumes carrying a 2 metre beautifully decorated "wieniec" and presented the Hon Joe Szakacs with the tradional first bread of the harvest.

During the day, the public was entertained by our fabulous, award-winning, internationally renowned local Tatry Folkloric Ensemble (the largest Polish ensemble in Australia)with operformances by the junior, intermediate and senior groups, visiting Sydney Folkloric Ensemble ‘Syrenka’ with an entourage of more than 30 dancers who came especially for the festival, Woodville High Concert Band, and Lemko Band whose members come from Ukrainian, Hungarian, Slovak and Italian backgrounds and performed music from the Carpathian region. The Kids Zone included a petting zoo, RFDS simulator, Polish art and craft activities and the inaugural Andrecki Art competition for children in honour of the founders of Dozynki husband and wife team Krystyna and Jurek (George) Andreck AM who stilll remain active in Dożynki. Once again, the exhibition by the Polish Australian Arts Society was very popular with numerous art works sold.

The ‘snopek’ (wheat sheaf) tossing competition is always popular with the crowd. The Polish word pronunciation competition was great fun and a challenging tongue twister for those who participated in trying to pronounce "chrzciny"(baptism).

This year’s Dożynki was blessed with a perfect sunny spring day, the near 5,000 crowd was able to enjoy a delicious variety of Polish cuisine - pierogi, pączki, kranski, kluski, gołąbki, rolady śląskie , along with refreshing Polish beer as well as the best of Polish culture and tradition.

The smallest committee in Dożynki history worked tirelessly and super hard with passion, dedication and energy under the sterling leadership of Josie JaszczConradi, to showcase Polish culture and traditons to the wider community with a focus on inclusivity. The festival organising committee wish to acknolwledge and thank the numerous volunteers who assist in the lead up to the festival as well as on the day.

The organising committee is grateful for the financial assistance received from the State Government, the Adelaide City Council, the Federation of Polish Organisations in SA Inc, and all of this year’s generous sponsors and supporters.

Those who were not able to join us this year, we hope to see you at our next Dożynki Harvest Festival when you will be able to create your own Polish memories.

Photos: Left: 'wieniec' (harvest wreath); Right: Hon Joe Szakacs receiving the first bread of the harvest

Photos: Left: L-R Mr. Edward Dudzinski, President of the Federation of Polish Organisations in SA, Mr. Henryk Kurylewski, President of the Polish Community Council of Australia, Mr. Marcin Kawalowski, First Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Canberra, Hon. Joe Szakacs MP (@joeszakacsmp), Member for Cheltenham, Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Representing the Premier, Mr. John Fulbrook MP (@johnfulbrookmp), Member for Playford, Mrs. Miriam Cocking, Chairperson of Multicultural Communities Council of SA; Right: Polish Family presenting the first bread of the harvest