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Spring

Calendar year is 365 days long and the leap year - 366. People`s lives depend on the seasons which are somehow written into the calendar. Spring, summer, autumn and winter always told and still tell people how to live, what to eat and what to wear. Sometimes different customs and traditions also depend on them.
Spring - the first season - is a time of joy and happiness. People were happy to see the winter leaving the world and to see that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Spring brought hope for a new life so you were supposed to look after it and protect it (protect the humans` as well as animals` lives). A special care was given to swallows and storks. The first person to see a flying bird was believed to have prosperity in life. On the other hand the person who was much too curious to observe a swallow flying back to the nest - could go blind. The one who hurt a bird (a winged friend) could expect a severe punishment (different pains and illnesses). To make it possible for a swallow to come to our house, first you had to bid the winter good-bye. The symbol of winter was a special doll made of straw and dressed in old clothes called Marzanna, Morena, Marzanioch, Śmierciucha (it was also known as a woman of straw). That special doll was taken in a special procession beyond the village and there it was drowned or burned. That act was supposed to call the spring back.
All activities which are done during the procession even when they are only fun also have certain bans. It is better not to risk with an inapropriate behaviour, for it might bring bad luck. You are not allowed to touch that woman of straw during the procession because your hand might wither. However, if somebody touches it, the person has to go straight ahead in order not to get ill. You must also be very careful and do not fall down because it means death in the same year.
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"Gaik" and walking with it in the village is another spring custom. "Gaik" is a pine or fir-tree twig which is decorated with ribbons, tinsels and beads. People held "Gaik", visited different houses and sang:

"We enter this house visiting you
Health, happiness and all the best wishing you
From Jesus Christ the One and Only
For this new year
Which is given to us by God."

People were slowly getting ready for the Easter holidays. The Palm Sunday (also called the Sunday of flowers or willows) is a beginning of the Holy Week. The Easter Palm (made of catkins) was supposed to protect people and animals, houses and fields against witchcraft and wizardy and the whole evil of this world. The palms were blessed. After getting back home catkins were swallowed as a remedy against headache and a sore throat.
On Good Friday the girls went to the nearest river to wash their faces there to have a beautiful complexion throughout the whole year. On Holy Saturday fire, water and food was blessed with water from a baptismal font. Bread, salt, sausage, horse-raddish, little rams made of sugar, eggs (dyed in some oak tree bark or onion decoction) were also blessed in church. And just in case - people didn`t invite their neighbours into their cow-sheds on that day. They were afraid that a bad neighbour might cast a spell upon the cattle. People didn`t light a fire and ate only cold meals on Holy Sunday.
Traditional custom of Śmigus-dyngus (dousing womenfolk on Easter Monday). Boys and men poured water on every woman - married and not married. Farmers also remembered to sprinkle holy water around their farmyards at sunrise.

Corpus-Christi Day and St. John`s Eve
The girls plaited small wreaths using mugworts, ferns, cornflowers, different herbs and flowers. People warned that it was important to have an even number of them. On the Corpus-Christi Day all wreaths were put in church. After the procession at Corpus-Christi Octave they were blessed by the priest. Later, some of the wreaths were hung on the frontal wall of the house. They protected the house against lightnings and when needed - they were broken into pieces and thrown into the fire to make the hail clouds disappear. The rest of the wreaths left after the procession during the Octave was buried in the middle of the field and its four corners in order to protect the harvest against the hail, storms and floods. The broken wreaths were put into grains (which was meant for the first sowing) in order to have a better harvest.
At sunrise of St. John`s Eve, girls picked the mugwort and put it around their weists wearing it all day. It was believed to bring them good health in the coming year. The mugwort was also used to decorate houses (mainly paintings with Saints and people carrying different things).
St. John`s Day was also good for different fortune-telling mainly concerning marriage. The girls made wreaths, so called "crowns" which were thrown into the water. If there wasn`t a river or a pond nearby, they stood with their backs to the house and threw the wreaths onto the roof. The number of trials needed to throw the wreath before it was hung onto the thatched roof - meant the years the girl had to wait to get married. While plaiting the wreaths the girls sang songs.
St. John`s Day was also suitable for different magic tricks which were helpful for the girls in getting their beloved. Sometimes they used the fortune teller`s or wizard`s help. The boys also had their own tricks to gain girls` feelings. To achieve that a boy had to mix his own sweat with some vodka, then rub it into some bread and offer it to a chosen girl. A similar effect to the one described above was achieved after mixing vodka with some special herb seeds (called the "mad herb").
It was also possible to have your revenge on an unfaithful girl. However, it was rather difficult to do it and some help of a wizard was needed. At sunset, a wizard together with a trusted man went to a place where a special herb called "mad herb" grew, because its seeds were essential. They picked the seeds and then the wizard and his companion went to the cemetery or other secluded place at midnight somewhere in the country. There, one of them started smashing and grinding the seeds in a special bowl. The other one was dancing, jumping, turning around, making violent movements and taking his clothes off at the same time. He took off his peasant`s russet overcoat, then a waistcoat, trousers and a shirt. Then he put the crushed seedsinto the vodka and left the mixture at least for 24 hours. Such vodka was supposed to be offered to a girl. The result was that the girl started to dance just like the boy did while smashing and grinding the seeds.
At that night all daredevils went to look for the crock of gold. There were certain conditions which had to be fulfilled: their hearts had to be pure and they had to go alone. The crock of gold brought wealth, happiness, a gift of foretelling the future and becoming invisible and the skill of healing people and animals. The finder of that wonderful flower could become a wizard or a witch. This custom disappeared in the shadows of the past.
If a boy had any doubts to choose or even to sue for a woman`s hand, he climbed some hills surrounding the neighbourhood and dropped down some barrels with beer. A bachelor followed a given barrel and looked for a girl. When they met and liked each other a lot, first they got engaged, then they got married and had a wedding party. The bride`s house as well as the bridegroom`s were decorated with a special wreaths made of pine twigs and flowers. When a young couple had a baby, a godmother brought special meals prepared for a young mother (who stayed in bed after the child-birth), for example: chicken soup, white meat, "kreple" (raised dough with cheese or poppy seed which is cooked with milk) even chocolate and sweets. Godmother and godfather visited a young couple in the evening.