Dożynki (''Dozhinki'', , , ; , ''
Prachystaya''; ; ; ''
Dormition'') is a
Slavic harvest festival. In pre-Christian times the feast usually fell on the
autumn equinox,
in modern times it is usually celebrated on one of the Sundays following the end of the
harvest season, which fall on different days in different regions of Europe.
The feast was initially associated with the
pagan Slavic cult of plants, trees and agriculture. In the 16th century in Central and Eastern Europe it gained a Christian character and started to be organised by the
landed gentry and more affluent
peasants as a means to thank the reapers and their families for their work, both during the harvest and during the past year.
While there are many regional varieties and traditions, most have some aspects in common. Often the peasants or farmers celebrating ''dożynki'' gather in the fields outside their village, form a
procession and bring back a
sheaf or the last batch of cereal reaped from nearby fields. The women would then turn it into a wreath and offer it to the guest of honour (usually the organiser of the celebration: a local noble, the richest farmer in the village or – in modern times – the
wójt or other representative of the authorities).
Names
In Poland, where the tradition survived to modern times, the feast and accompanying rituals are known under a variety of names depending on the region. The prevalent term is ''dożynki'', but ''wyżynki'', ''obrzynki'', ''wieniec'', ''wieńcowe'', ''żniwniok'' or ''okrężne'' are also used in some areas.
Similarly, in Belarus there are a variety of names in use, including the Feast of the
Most Pure One (), Aspazha (), Haspazha (), Great Spazha (), Zelnya (), Talaka () and Dazhynki (). In Belarusian culture it is often associated and intermixed with the feasts of the
Assumption of Mary
The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Catholic Mariology#Dogmatic teachings, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution as follows:
It leaves open the question of w ...
(often dubbed the feast of the Mother of God of the Herbs in both Polish and Belarusian), hence the names of Green Feast () and
Dormition () are also used.
History
As with many other Slavic feasts and rites, the origins of Slavic harvest festivals are unclear, in large part due to lack of historical documents from pre-Christian times. It is certain however, that
North Slavs (both
West and
East Slavs) formed mostly agricultural cultures and worshipped deities associated with working the land and passage of seasons. For instance every year at the end of the harvest the West Slavic tribe of
Rani would gather around the temple in
Arkona. Among the offerings to the god
Svetovid was a large, human-sized pancake made of newly threshed grain from that year's harvest. If the pancake was large enough for the priest to hide behind it, the Slavs believed next year's harvest would be equally rich. Apparently a wreath made of the last straws left on the field at the end of the harvest was also believed to possess magical powers.
Common features
The wreath is a central feature of most celebrations associated with ''dożynki'', as it symbolises a rich harvest, the prospect of wealth and the power of new life vested in the grain gathered during the Summer. The latter probably explains why in many regions the grain from the wreath is used as the first batch of grain threshed and set aside for next year's sowing (for instance this practice is common in the
Holy Cross Mountains of Central Poland).
Originally the wreath was in fact a decorated sheaf of grain, decorated with field flowers, ribbons and braided straws. In fact such wreaths were still being made in Poland in the 1930s. However, with time other forms of wreath became more popular, including the now-typical round wreath, but crown-shaped, oval or rectangular wreaths are also popular in various regions.
The sheaf or the wreath is usually brought back into the village by a ceremonial procession. It is often blessed, either by a Christian priest, or in an extra-religious way. For instance in
Masovia the wreath is usually brought to the church for the Catholic priest to bless it with
holy water. In other regions however it is the priest (Catholic, Orthodox or Greek Catholic) who is brought to the site where the final celebrations take place.
Time frame
Originally the pre-Christian rite was performed on the autumn equinox (23 September). With time the rite became more closely associated with the actual end of fieldwork in the particular region. However, the time between the end of harvest and the festivities varies from area to area. For instance, in the vicinity of
Kielce
Kielce (; ) is a city in south-central Poland and the capital of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. In 2021, it had 192,468 inhabitants. The city is in the middle of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains (Holy Cross Mountains), on the banks of the Silnic ...
in central Poland and
Kraków
, officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...
in southern Poland the wreath was traditionally blessed already on the Feast of the
Assumption of Mary
The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Catholic Mariology#Dogmatic teachings, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution as follows:
It leaves open the question of w ...
(15 August); it was then stored for a night or two in the house of the
elder and the manor, before being threshed and the grain immediately sowed in the fields.
In Poland
In Poland, where the tradition has survived since pre-Christian times, it is known as the largest agricultural holiday and a time for celebrating the hard work of peasantry throughout the whole year.
It has been observed after the harvest since the time of the
feudal systems of the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
. While many regional variants of this festival have existed throughout the history of the Polish nation, there were three elements that could be found everywhere: ritual cutting of the last ears of crops, making a wreath and marching with it to the
''chata'' cottage house or the
''dwór'' manor house, and finally a feast and entertainment with traditional dances.
After 1945, ''dożynki'' in the
Polish People's Republic took on a more political character and were used for propaganda efforts to highlight the strength of the ''workers' and peasants' alliance'', but folk customs remained an integral part of these celebrations; in the 1990s, following the collapse of the
Eastern Bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...
, authorities restored the more religious meaning of the festival that was present in
Interwar Poland while upholding the usual folk traditions.
In present-day Poland, a nationwide "Presidential Harvest Festival" (''Dożynki Prezydenckie'') has been intermittently observed since its creation in 1927 by president
Ignacy Mościcki in
Spała. Modern celebrations of ''dożynki'' can have a religious or secular character, but they always involve observing traditional customs associated with the end of the harvest season. In the case of a harvest festival of a religious nature, thanks for the crops are usually given to
God
In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
and the
Mother of God. However, in some parts of Poland it is ethnic Slavic gods who are revered during ''dożynki''; these celebrations are cultivated mostly by neo-pagan religious minorities, referring to the
Slavic Native Faith
The Slavic Native Faith, commonly known as Rodnovery and sometimes as Slavic Neopaganism, is a modern Paganism, modern Pagan religion. Classified as a new religious movement, its practitioners hearken back to the Slavic paganism, historica ...
beliefs attributed to the
Early Slavs.
In Russia
It is the ethnolinguistic phenomenon in the history the day of the and the completion of the harvest ritual, falling in many places August 15 (28), in other places celebrated in September. By mid-August harvest grain ends, hence the name of the holiday. Includes the rituals associated with last (dozhinochnym)
sheaf, the ritual of "curling beard" and a celebratory meal. In the Russian North, a meal made from
tolokno marks the end of the harvest and goes by a variety of names, such as (). In the
Kirov Oblast
Kirov Oblast ( rus, Кировская область, p=ˈkʲirəfskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) located in Eastern Europe. Its administrative center is the city of Kirov. As of the 2010 census, the population ...
, a soup called () serves as a ritual harvest meal.
[https://кухня43.рф/vyatskaya-kuhnya/supy/dozhinal-nitsa/]
The festival's practice was almost lost in Russia during the Soviet period.
See also
*
Harvest festival
*
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...
References
Citations
Bibliography
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External links
Day of the Divine Mother of Herbs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dozynki
Harvest festivals
Belarusian traditions
Polish traditions
Folk calendar of the East Slavs
Ukrainian traditions
Observances in Russia
Slavic words and phrases
Slavic culture
Observances in Ukraine
Slavic holidays
August observances
September observances
Autumn holidays (Northern Hemisphere)
Autumn equinox