Do you want to perfect your polonitude? Have you always dreamed of trying your hand at witchcraft or participating in a pagan celebration with friends? Do you want to know if Ania or Bartek will finally declare your love to you? So look no further! This article will tell you everything there is to know about the feast of Saint Andrew!
Saint Andrew (Andrzejki) falls on the first day of Advent, it is the starting point for Christmas festivities and the beginning and end of the liturgical year. Andrzejki is celebrated in Poland on the night of November 29 to 30, but can also be celebrated on the day of 30. Some claim that this celebration dates back to ancient Greece, and recall the etymology of the name André (from the Greek andros, “l man”). Others see in it the influence of the Nordic cult of Freyer, god of fertility and abundance.
An Eastern tradition
Traditionally Andrzejki’s celebrations were addressed only to unmarried young girls and were intended to identify their future husband. The business was serious and there was little doubt about the effectiveness of the divinatory arts. The different rituals were sometimes practiced in groups, but more generally alone.
In Romania, tradition dictates that young girls place 41 grains of wheat under their pillow before bedtime. If they dream that someone comes to steal these grains, they will be married within a year. In ancient Czechoslovakia, young women wrote the name of their suitor on pieces of paper and then slipped them into dough. They were then thrown into boiling water and the first name that came to the surface was the right one.
In Poland today
Today, this holiday in Poland is still practiced by the youngest, but as a folk curiosity, obsolete and good-natured. Compete by two more commercial celebrations: Halloween (more festive) and Valentine’s Day (more romantic), and especially victim of the decline of superstitions, Saint André finds it difficult to exist. The party tends to normalize, with the presence of music, boys and alcohol. It often becomes a simple nightclub outing.
To take full advantage of this cultural experience, we suggest that you invite friends home. Don’t forget to bring some essential items (but easy to find): candles, a key, and a bowl
The most popular game
Fill a bowl with cold water, light a large candle and run a large amount of wax through the “eye” of a key. The shape obtained or the projection of its shadow on a wall should give a clue to the profession of the groom (today the interpretation is more liberal). To shine in front of your friends, you can slip into the conversation that divination by melted wax is called Ciromancy (or Keromancy) and that in the German countryside we sometimes still use its ancestor, molydomancy, where wax is replaced by molten lead.
To find the right person
Another very common game consists in aligning the participants’ shoes (left, for purists), one after the other, to the threshold of the house, the owner of the shoe who first reaches the landing will be the next married (which suggests that Polish women with big feet get married faster than the others).
A final game requires a bowl and walnut shells. A candle is placed in this makeshift boat and the names of the suitors are placed on the edges of the basin: the first to burn will be the right one. In another version (mixed and more modern) each participant places his nut shell in the bowl. Coming into contact with the boat of a participant of the opposite sex indicates the beginning of a relationship. You can always breathe to give destiny a boost.
We wish you a very happy Saint-André feast, hoping that all your predictions will come true soon!
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