Edited by MCK Sokół | Lesser Poland
On the importance of the midday break
Country: Poland
Region: Lesser Poland
Type of inspiration: Cultural customs
Inspiracja
In folk beliefs, the twelve o'clock hour, both day and night, as a limiting moment, was considered a time of activity of evil spirits, dangerous for humans. This was the origin of, among other things, the formerly widespread custom of celebrating the meridian, also known as midday prayers. It consisted of stopping work at noon for at least half an hour to pray the Angelus. Midday prayers were strictly observed when working in the fields, especially during the summer haymaking and harvesting season. Women going to the fields sometimes took a rosary with them. Hung around their necks or at the waist by the hem of their skirts, it reminded them of the requirement to pray, but at the same time protected them from evil.
People were warned that anyone who did not stop working in the fields despite the ban could fall victim to the field demon, meridian. In the villages of the Beskid Sądecki region, it was said that the meridians looked like old ladies, had large, long teeth, yellow as wax, were carelessly dressed and dishevelled. They would hide in the grain or in the bushes, from where they would come out at midday to force those working in the fields to catch and kill insects, all of which they had in their hair and were extremely large. Many times a person sparked by a meridian would fall asleep in the sun, causing a headache or stroke, so meridians were believed to damage health. The meridians were also dangerous for the midwife who, in spite of the prohibitions in force, went out into the field before undergoing the ecclesiastical discharge, i.e. the customary purification. A meridian would then immediately appear at her side and tease her. The woman, controlled by the demon, became weaker and had to do whatever the demon told her to do. The meridian could cause the woman to faint, and bring death to a child she had unwisely taken with her. Fortunately, the demon could be easily driven away, simply by calling out its name to the person it was attacking.
Some researchers derive the meridians from the demon of the south (demon meridianum), the personification of the violent wind and air whirlpools that appear at midday on summer days. In folklore, the wind was often imagined in human form. According to a account recorded at the end of the 19th century in Zabrzeža, 'wiater is a very strong peasant. He is wearing an octus (sheet) and like a tajcy this tom oktusąm makes such a whirl'. The air whirlwind could be defended against with a sharp tool. Stories are known in which a knife pressed into the whirlwind disappeared and was returned some time later by an unknown man with a blade scar.
Resting on the Angelus is the subject of, among others, a painting by Aleksander Gierymski.
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