This month's feature story

Ogień i Woda:

The Elements of Easter Ritual – Fire and Water

by Staś Kmieć

Easter is the most thoughtful and sacred of Christian holidays. A time of quiet reflection and passionate ritual, it shifts from great sorrow to great joy as a celebration of both resurrection and the promise of new life.

Celebrated by Christians since ancient times, Easter has pre-Christian roots, and it is no coincidence that it occurs at the beginning of spring. Just as Christmas replaced the pagan Festival of Saturnalia in the winter, Easter replaced the Sabbath of Ēostre or Ostara – a pagan goddess of spring. It was a time of renewal, birth and fertility. Rituals, whether Christian or pagan gave people hope – reminding them that the darkness of winter is always followed by life-giving spring.

In Poland, Easter is a fusion of pagan customs intertwined with Christian symbolism, but its name – Wielkanoc (the Great Night), more closely denotes its Christian origin. The church wisely adapted the seasonal calendar to fit the narrative it wanted to tell, and the priests did not show extraordinary imagination by borrowing old Slavic or pagan customs and calling them Catholic. The winter season of scarcity was rebranded as a time of purification and was called “Lent.”

For the people, fire has always been a means of deterring evil forces and a symbol of purification. Blessed fire was brought to homes. According to beliefs, it attracted the home’s guardian spirits – the souls of deceased ancestors.

Water was used to cleanse the winter dirt and to awaken nature back to life. It was also utilized to enhance vital fertility forces, as evidenced in the custom of pouring water on Easter Monday. The cleansing power of spring’s water was replaced by the power of holy water. In the old tradition on Holy Saturday, the priest blessed water in the morning, food at noon, and fire in the evening.

The Power of Fire

In Slavic mythology, fire was revered above all the other elements. It was opposed to water, which, like the forest, was perceived by the Slavs as a mysterious and dangerous space – abstracted from the human world by its inability to know and domesticate it. As in most primary religions, fire played the most important role in the life of the Slavs, and the deities representing its strength came to the forefront.

The Slavs developed a cult of three types of fire – atmospheric, earthly and heavenly, and it was an essential part of most rites. Fire was considered sacred, as it purified and healed illness.

The heavenly fire – the benevolent power of the sun, required its own ritual. In Poland, sunrise was greeted with prayer. It was thought to be God’s face or eye. Therefore, it was forbidden to point a finger at it, and during the harvest to turn one’s back to it.

With the arrival of Ash Wednesday (Popielec, Wstępna Środa), the repentant revelers from Pre-Lenten pagan festivities would go to church for a mass that marked the beginning of a 40-day period of fasting and reflection, as Christendom prepared for Easter. Priests marked each worshipper’s forehead with ash, which symbolizes purification by fire.

Due to the pagan custom of lighting many candles and fires at a funeral – in order to ward off demons, Christianity was initially distrustful of fire. In time, it was viewed as a sign of Christ – the light to dispel darkness.

The Slavic ritual of lighting bonfires on hilltops to celebrate the coming of spring coincided with the kindled fire and outdoor sunrise service celebrating the resurrection. During the solemn Easter Vigil celebration held after sunset on Holy Saturday, which concludes the Paschal Triduum, the ordination of fire and water takes place.

At the opening of the Easter Vigil a “new fire” is lit and blessed. The Paschal candle is the first candle to be lit with a flame from this sacred fire. Representing the light of Christ coming into the world, it represents the risen Christ – a symbol of light and life. In front of the church, the priest lights a fire and says the words of the prayer in which Christ is called prawdziwym kamieniem węgielnym (the true cornerstone), giving the faithful ognia światłości (fire of light).

The “holy fire” is a light said to miraculously emanate from what is traditionally believed to be the Tomb of Christ on the day before Easter. The light is said to grow strong enough to set candles aflame, and its appearance is one of the most sacred rituals of Easter.

From the blessed fire, the Paschal candle is lit. After being brought into the church, from the Paschal candle, all lamps and candles are lit. Following 40 days of silence, the church bells are rung. Out of the solemnity of Lent, the joyous, culturally distinctive Polish Easter songs burst forth and Mass begins. Upon the conclusion, the faithful bring the blessed fire with burning candles to their homes to light candles, furnaces and stoves.

Blessing of Water

The symbolism of water in Christianity is eloquent and rich in content. Water is a source of life – a sign of rebirth of spirit and body, purification, truth, grace and salvation.

In antiquity, Holy Saturday was without liturgy – a Day of Silence and fasting reflecting the mourning of the apostles. With the ancient custom of Święconka, food is blessed with holy water by a priest, who would either visit the home, or have samplings of dishes brought to the church for a communal blessing. “Święcone” was the name of both the foods blessed by the priest on Easter Saturday and the ceremonial breakfast of those blessed foods on Easter morning.

In the Christian tradition, the custom dates to the 7th century; in Poland it has been present since the Middle Ages, around the 14th century, but the water that priests use to bless food has its roots in pagan times. The consumption of blessed foods was to bring happiness, health and peace. The traditional dishes that are put in the Święconka basket have symbolic meaning. It should be remembered that the choice of food was never accidental.

Thorns and other plants that had thorns, for example gooseberry twigs or blackthorn were also blessed in church. They were used to secure the hut and the entire farm against attacks by unclean forces.

On the Easter Vigil, the priest blesses the water and says a special prayer in which he recalls the transformation of water into wine at a wedding in Cana in Galilee and Christ’s passage across the lake. He speaks of the blood and water that flowed from the side of the crucified Jesus, as well as the command to baptize.

The Paschal candle is immersed in the baptismal water and the signs of the transformation of water into a sacramental symbol are made. The meanings of which are in the written sentence spoken by Christ to the Samaritan woman: "Whoever drinks the water that I give him will never thirst.” After the Vigil Mass, the blessed water is made available and brought home.

In the Podhale mountain region, shepherds have their sheep blessed at the church. They take with them, holy water to sprinkle and pieces of the Great Saturday wood, with which they set fire to on the mountain pastures.

Śmigus-Dyngus

We generally associate Śmigus-Dyngus with pouring water on each other on the second day of Easter, the so-called Lany Poniedziałek (Wet Monday). It was also during the pagan equinox festival - Jare Gody, where such dousing took place.

Śmigus and Dyngus were once two separate rites, derived from pre-Christian traditions accompanying the anticipation of spring. In these rituals, water played an important role as a symbol of life, as well as purification followed by rebirth.

The etymology of this word is not entirely clear, but it is recognized that “Śmigus” comes from the Old Polish word “to whip” – “to lash” or “splash.” “Dyngus” may have derived from the German word “dingen” (redeem yourself), or “dingnis” – meaning "ransom.” It was about social visits and giving gifts in the form of eggs.

Whipping with willow twigs, a tree associated with fertility, as well as drenching with water occurred. In the church’s view, the custom of lashing was associated with the scourging of Christ.

Both rituals were cleansing and matrimonial. The Slavs believed that water promotes fertility, and the girls doused with it could find which boys they caught the eye of, and which they could express their mutual interest in by giving a gift of eggs.

The first mention of this Easter tradition in Poland come from the fifteenth century, and the Synod of the Diocese of Poznań warned of its sinful character. The Catholic Church, unable to remove this custom from the culture of the people, has associated it with the cleansing power of holy water. After syncretism with Christianity in some regions, it was established that on Easter Tuesday (Wtorek Wielkanocny), brides and girls have the right to a reciprocal rematch for the dousing they received the day before.

Blessing the fields with holy water on the Easter Monday in order to ensure the fertility of crops for the coming year is observed in the village of Białoboki in the Przeworsk region. The fields are sprinkled with water, and eggs are buried in the earth in order to protect it from being sown by the Devil.

At one time during the Vigil, there were bonfires in the front of churches, in which głowienki (hazel sticks folded into crosses) were fired in the holy flames. The choice of hazel was not accidental, according to legend, it was under the hazel that the Holy Family hid during their escape to Egypt. To ensure their farm’s fertility, the peasants took ashes from the fire and spread it over the first spring plowing. On the second day of Easter, fragments of burnt wood were stuck in the ground in the corners of the field to protect from hail, drought and other natural disasters.

Health, strength and happiness were guaranteed by drinking the holy water on that Easter Monday. Only a small amount was tasted, fields were sprinkled with it and the rest was carefully preserved and used in various rituals.

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Easter emphasizes Poland’s national character and deep piety, in which religion and custom mix and merge together. Few people consider the meaning and origin of Poland’s Easter customs – assuming that’s just the way it’s always done. Some non-believers would gladly abandon the cultivation of most traditions, treating them as a superstition devoid of symbolism. However, it should be remembered that tradition has always had a social bond – a cultural connection that is worthy to maintain and observe.