Edited by MCK Sokół | Lesser Poland
Ash Wednesday goes, stands in the alder, makes many a girl weep
Country: Poland
Region: Lesser Poland
Type of inspiration: Cultural customs
Inspiracja
In folk culture, the carnival was a time for pair-bonding and marrying, so after it ended - often on Ash Wednesday - those who had not managed to find a partner despite being of an appropriate age were symbolically accounted for. A remnant of such practices was the custom of welcoming cross-dressers. One of them was the Preening Wednesday known among the Highlanders from the area of Piwniczna, Łomnica and Kokuszka. Traditionally it was a woman, usually some sort of heckuva housewife or local poor girl. She would come early in the morning to selected houses. She was smeared with soot and bedraggled, and usually had a bag with her in which she collected eggs; sometimes she was also given bread or small money. At home, she would spill the ashes from the cooker and "make shante", or messy. She smeared the maids she found still in bed with soot and wanted to dance with the host. Later on, children would go as Preliminary Wednesdays. There were also bachelors pretending to be grandfathers and gypsies among the masqueraders, and in some houses on Ash Wednesday a man appeared with a birch broom with which he swept the room to "sweep out the dust". He would leave a potato shaker as a gift.
The original meaning of Preliminary Wednesday's visits, still alive in the mid-1960s, was evidenced by the texts of the orations he delivered or sang: "Preliminary Wednesday goes, she stood in the alder, she made many a girl cry" or the more blunt: "Preliminary Wednesday is on its way, it's already over the mountains who hasn't married, won't marry". However, the custom of Pre-Wedding Wednesday was seen primarily as a symbolic start to fasting. Soot and ashes reminded people of the ritual and liturgical meaning of Ash Wednesday - purification and penance. A proper introduction to the rituals of Lent was the sprinkling of ashes on heads from last year's burnt Easter palms. In turn, pots were scrubbed with ash from the oven to thoroughly wash away any remaining grease. This was a sign that a time of severe fasting and renunciation, lasting over 40 days, was beginning.
The custom of the Pre-Wedding Wednesdays, which is little known today, will be recalled in the project "The Carpathian Calendar a source of activity" implemented in 2021-2022 by the Association of Carpathian Highlanders in cooperation with the Poprad Valley Complex.
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