5.2 THE WEDDING RITE

            The wedding, like every rite, had a strictly defined scenario that had to be followed. It consisted of several consecutive sequences of ritual actions, for example: collusion („zmówin”), panicle(„wiechowin”), „swaszczyn”, etc. Despite the fact that such a scenario is generally the same everywhere in different parts of Poland, it is possible to find various variations, for example, a Lasowiak wedding.

 

1. Collusion („zmówiny”)

Preparations for the wedding were preceded by collusions, otherwise known as „rękowinami” or matchmakers.

A few weeks before the wedding, the boy's parents or matchmakers would come to the bride's house, often with the bride, to discuss property matters. Sometimes it happened that the young people got married and then such collusions were only a formality, but mostly it was the parents who decided about the fate of their children. In this case, "matchmakers like the field were without furrows" - that is, where the fields of the families were next to each other - or when both sides were satisfied with the dowry and what they managed to "bargain", for example: a cow, a horse, a field, a meadow or a piece of forest. Sometimes they met and twice because they did not come to an agreement the first time. The market was finished by drinking a glass of vodka, then there was a snack. The date of the wedding was also agreed then.

1. Asking

            Even at the end of the 19th century, young people went to ask for a wedding the day before the wedding. The young man went to invite with the older best man - they invited matchmakers (groomsmen) - sometimes they rode horses and asked for the wedding without dismounting. The bride went out with an elderly bridesmaid and invited the other bridesmaids and wedding guests. Usually, the older bridesmaid invited us to the wedding, and the young one asked for a blessing. Older people and whole families, the young went to ask together. Over time, invitations to the wedding were started earlier.

            On the occasion of asking, there was a small snack in the houses. They were all dressed in festive costumes. When inviting, chants - often humorous - were also an important element. They were still performed in the 1950s, e.g. sung in Brzóza Królewska:

„Open that to me, open it

these gates in (d) rubble.

If you don't open it to me

Break your walls down. "

1. Panicle („Wiechowiny”)

            Wiechowiny or otherwise rózgowiny - this is an old bachelorette party. However, this custom was quickly forgotten. The bridesmaids met with the bride or the older bridesmaid and arranged a panicle - usually a spruce or fir tree. They dressed her in feathers, apples, ribbons or gingerbread cookies. At the same time, they also made bouquets for the groom, staroste and groomsmen, and weaving a wreath for the bride. The panicle was an essential element of every wedding. On the wedding day, she was brought to the bride's house, she was danced with her before going to church, and she accompanied the bride and groom on their way to and from church.

1. „Rozpleciny”

            „Rozpleciny” - they were treated like panicles - as a bachelorette party, which very quickly disappeared in the lasowiaks village.

            The day before the wedding, in the evening, all the wedding guests came to the groom together with the musicians. There was refreshment and dancing. Later, the whole thing was repeated with: the best man, the staroste, and finally with the bride. After the meal at the bride's, first the bridesmaids danced with the young one, it was the so-called bachelorette dance. The dances were interrupted by matchmakers. This was followed by the beginning of the proper interweaving. The groomsman called the young one, but she came only after the third call and danced with him. At that time, the ensign was following them on a stool and wanted to kidnap the young best man. The young, however, did not care to catch herself and ran away three times to the chamber. Only the third time did the ensign manage to catch her. Then the ensign, together with the rest of the groomsmen, unraveled the braid of the bride, which was not easy because the bridesmaids did not want to give the bride back and he could not cope with untying the ribbon in his hair, because it was tied with a dozen bumps. This situation aroused laughter among bridesmaids. Once the braid had been successfully undone, the groomsman tied a ribbon to the hairpin for the ensign, and that was where the braids ended. Everyone went home.

1. „Wygrywiny”

            In the evening, the day before the wedding, the band was playing at the bride's window - sad melodies, the so-called "Cat's lament". It was the „wygrywiny”. After them, the bride paid the musicians and the band went to „swaszka” for the whole night.

1. „Swaszczyny”

            „Swaszczyny” took place at the „swaszka” house - who was the hostess at the wedding. All the wedding guests and music came to her. First there was refreshment and then the dancing which lasted until midnight. It happened that the fun lasted until the morning. „Swaszka” then gave everyone breakfast, and then they went straight to the wedding.

1. Wedding day - arrival at the bride and her "buyout"

            On the morning of the wedding, all the guests first came to the senior bridesmaid, where the bridesmaids pinned bouquets on the matchmakers, and the ensign took a panicle from the chamber. After that, everyone went to the bride's house, where the young people and their parents were waiting. In front of the house it was usually sung:

"Come Marysia to us, greet us,

Come out to us, Marysia, greet us,

She did not come out, did not greet,

She probably didn't recognize us. "

First, however, the young had to "buy" the bride. It usually cost him a few bottles of vodka. Chants were also sung during the bargaining. After buying it, the bride went out and greeted all the wedding guests. After that, people entered the room and the next stage of the wedding ceremony took place.

1. Apologies and Blessing

            One of the most important stages of the wedding was the blessing. The parents of the young usually sat on the bench at the table, and the young stood in front of them. The apologies that were just before the blessing (it was an element of the blessing) also deserve attention. The young couple first addressed their parents with words of apology:

“Dear daddy, maybe in my life I offended you with some indecent word,

I am asking you for this, forgive me and give me (...) "

            This was followed by the staroste's speech in which he addressed the young people, parents and wedding guests. He gave the young people a new way of life and asked their parents for their blessing on behalf of the young. Excerpt from the original speech from the beginning of the 20th century:

"(...) Marital love

You will love your wife

Other frightened virgins

You sign up for the aside.

And the bride

The moment has come

That you would leave the state of virgins,

She became a spouse, (...) "

            After the speech, there was a blessing during which "Cordial Mother" was played or sung. Women usually cried because it was the children saying goodbye to their parents. Then the young people went around the table on which the bread was lying three times. Everything was accompanied by chants, for example: "White flowers on the table".

            The bride said goodbye to her siblings and then a wedding procession was formed and they all went to the church for the wedding. The bride was accompanied by two matchmakers and the groom was accompanied by two bridesmaids. All the way to and from the church, marches were played by music and wedding guests sang.

1.   Return from the church and the wedding gates

            After leaving the church, the wedding guests went to the party. The young people walked or rode together. Weddings were usually held at the bride's house or at her place, and at the same time in a house rented for dancing. On the way back, obstacles in the form of wedding gates were often encountered. The number of such gates depended on the rank of the wedding. Despite the fact that each such gate cost a young minimum of half a liter of vodka, the young people were glad that there were a lot of them. Usually, the wedding gate was a rope or rope held by someone or tied to a tree, for example. Over time, the gates began to take on the character of a show. Men dressed up as grandfather, woman or Gypsy with a child, they painted themselves. It was popular to thresh straw with flails. These scenes were humorous, there were bargains for a "ransom".

            Gates were made on the way from the church to the wedding. It was known that it would be a misfortune for the young to make a gate on the way to the church.

1. Welcoming the young and the beginning of the wedding

           Young people were greeted by their parents in front of the house with bread and milk, beer or vodka. The bride, however, did not drink to the end, but poured out on her own, on the bridesmaids. The one who was the most drenched was to get married that same year. Then the young people were covered with a cloth, also known as a rancor, and entered the house. Guests were invited to breakfast. The eldest and the young couple with their parents and "officials" sat at the tables. If there was not enough space at the table and to sit, the youth had to stand. After the snack, the fun began.

            "They played until blood was splashing down the walls." Fights were also a regular element of weddings. They happened between guests from other villages or between guests and uninvited people who broke into a wedding to dance. The most common reason, however, was an argument over the girl.

1. The panicle

            The panicle was a very important attribute during the wedding. She accompanied the wedding guests on the way to and from the church. During the wedding, the bridesmaids stripped her of decorations, and the ensign took her and danced with her. After that, everyone left the house, and the ensign was going up on the roof with a panicle to fasten her there. However, it was not an easy task - the young man had to take vodka there as well to water the pan - because it would wither. The ensign then drank one glass on the roof, then descended and offered the others. While the panicle was being put up, other wedding guests sang, for example:

"I will water you so that you will grow great,

That the older bridesmaid would get married quickly. "

            Sources often say that the panicle was placed on the roof after the cap or white wreath - that is, at the end of the wedding.

1. Grafting and lameness of the bride

            In the evening itself, there were „oczepiny” – „zaczepiny”, „czepiny”. In the center of the room there was a bowl or a stool on which the young girl was supposed to sit. However, she ran away three times because she did not want to be accosted. The third time she was seated on the bowl. Forewoman took off the young wreath from her head and put on, in turn: „chamełka”, a linen flail (cap) and a white headscarf. The grafts were a symbolic transition from the maiden state to the state of married women. It was accompanied by singing of the women themselves, e.g .:

"Hops, hop wide leaves,

You accosted our Kasieńka. "

            At the time when they danced at the wedding, the groomsmen and the old man clung to the bride in the chamber. When she was brought in, all the women and brides would dance with each other. The bride danced with the best man. The young one watched all the time and laughed at it. Eventually, the impatient matchmakers stopped dancing and began to sing too. After the singing, the bridesmaids sang to the youngster that it was time for him to buy his wife from them. The groomsmen and the old lady stood in the middle of the room with the bride. The groom would come to them and they started to haggle. The young one did not recognize his wife because he claimed that he did not marry such a woman, but a bride in a wreath and was leaving. In such a case, Forewoman called merchants, because the groomsman wanted to sell "the goods". She also promised that she would not sell the young one, even if he wanted to. Merchants would come, promising good rum in exchange for young. They ordered to show the "merchandise" because they did not know if they had come for free. The groomsman was bringing the young one, but she was limping. The merchants walked away with nothing but the matchmaker he wanted to buy appeared. The groomsman promised that the young one was only pretending. The matchmaker checked whether the young woman had horseshoes, and she kicked him until he fell over. At that moment, the young man stated that it was his wife, because he recognized the shoes he had bought for her for the wedding, "only his head is not like that" and he did not recognize it. He also apologized to the groomsman and the old lady and gave them a pitcher of beer and a liter of rum. The bride was bought out and went to dance with her husband. The groomsmen and the old lady offered drinks, everyone went back to having fun.

1. „Korowal”

            „Korowal” is another very important wedding attribute. It was a yeast, round baking, richly decorated with, for example, tissue paper flowers, green twigs and dough birds. It was baked by a „swaszka”. He was kept in a chamber at the wedding. It was only the foreman who announced that he would dance with the „korowal” and took him to the room, and then he danced with him. After this dance, decorations were removed from it and it was cut. It sometimes happened that someone hid the „korowal” for a joke and then the foreman had to buy it with a bottle of vodka.

At that time, such a chant was sung:

"And our best man was stolen the „korowal”,

They did him good for the rich man fell. "

„Korowal” weddings were cut at different times depending on the town. It could have been the end of the wedding or the moment before the white wreath. Sometimes it was only cut at the party day after wedding.

1. White wreath

            The wedding ended with a white wreath, during which the guests sang a song one by one, then danced with the bride around the table. If someone didn't know how to dance, they just walked around. On the table stood a chopped „korowal”, a jug of beer and two plates covered with each other, in which the dancers put money for a new farm for the bride. Instead, they got a piece of „korowal” and a glass of beer.

            At the end of the wedding, the music began to play "Serdeczna Matko" and the guests joined in with singing. Everyone said goodbye, thanked the young people for their hospitality, and the young guests for coming, and everyone left.

1. Moving

            The transfers were made the day after the wedding or at a later date. As a rule, it was the wedding guests who escorted the bride to her new farm. The guests took everything from the bride's house that they could get their hands on. These were bowls, kettles and pots. That is why the father of the bride would lock everything in the chamber beforehand. The bride's entire dowry was packed on a ladder wagon. These were pots, pillows, a duvet, a bowl and a garland chest with clothes and various trinkets. For example, a heifer was tied to the cart. After the young, the young's parents came out to greet the young.

1. Aftermath

            They usually took place at the bride's house on Sunday afternoon. The musicians were paid by the groom and the groomsmen provided beer and vodka. It was like a wedding. The young couple prepared a meal and they had fun until the morning. At the moment when the music began to play "When the morning dawns rise" - the aftermath was over. Everyone went away, singing and awakening others in their homes. In later years, aftermaths took place in the young's home, after the move.

SOURCE:

Kula M., Wesele wsi leżajskiej z przełomu XIX/XX wieku, in: Kraj-obraz niepodległości. Życie codzienne u progu wolnej Polski, 2019.

1969. Kotula, Folklor słowny osobliwy Lasowiaków, Rzeszowiaków i Podgórzan, Lublin 1969.

Ruszel K., Lasowiacy. Materiały do monografii etnograficznej, Rzeszów: Regional Museum in Rzeszów, 1994.