Edited by MCK Sokół | Lesser Poland
The baptism was an expensive gift
Country: Poland
Region: Lesser Poland
Type of inspiration: Cultural customs
Inspiracja
In Podegrodzie and the neighbouring villages of the Sącz Lachs, a week or two after the baptism a bouquet was held, i.e. a ritual gifting of the child by the godparents. The most important gift was a bun, also known as a plait. It was a large sweet bun baked especially for the occasion from yeast dough, up to one and a half metres long. The cuckoo was not bought. You could bake it yourself or ask a neighbour to do so. If the godparents, or cousins, donated one puppet together, the cost of preparing it was borne by both of them. Sometimes each cum brought a braid separately from the other, trying to make it as big as possible, because the bigger the cum, the more honourable the cum.
The puppet was an expensive gift and not everyone could afford it. The bread roll used up to 20 kg of white wheat flour, ground in a mill, about 30 eggs, milk, butter and store-bought yeast and sugar, sometimes sultanas were added. It was baked on a large baking tray. It had to be at least child's length. Efforts were made to shape it beautifully and decorate the top with braids, sometimes arranged in several layers, and patterns of dough. Smaller puppets were woven like challah. Sometimes a dumpling grew so big that the bread oven had to be dismantled to get it out of its depths.
Sometimes the puppets had to be carried on a board by two people. Often the cougars sent the gift the day before by a farmhand or servant girl. If they came from another village they carried the braid by cart on the day of the meeting. On arrival at the godchild's home, they would place the cushion on the cradle - so that the child would grow well. In the corner of the cushion on which it lay they would tie money, wishing the infant health and wealth. With the cradle cut into pieces, the hostess served all the participants of the meeting - for the health and prosperity of the child. To this he served white cereal coffee.
A sweet braid, already smaller and often bought, was also given to the child by the godparents on his or her first birthday. The wealthier cummerbunds continued to give their godchildren for several years on the occasion of the new year, i.e. for the new summer.
The puppet toads were photographed by Wojciech Migacz. In the 1980s, the staging of the elm wreaths was recorded in the Sącz Ethnographic Park by TVP Kraków. The ritual was also recreated and recorded by GOK in Podegrodzie.
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Nowy Sącz
Poland Lesser Poland
