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Sleep, little one, close your grey eyes
we will sing to you, so don’t cry anymore.
Mama will lull you and comfort you,
you dream us happiness and joyful days…
For many years now, during the Christmas season, we invite family and a group of friends to our home for a gathering by the Christmas tree. There’s bigos, borscht, roasted meat, a glass or two of wine, and… caroling with a guitar, violin, or accordion. In olden times, the old Polish custom dictated starting all balls and parties with a polonaise, so we, too, to honor this pleasant tradition, begin with a loud rendition of “Bóg się rodzi!” (God is Born!), written by Franciszek Karpiński.
Oh, how one would want to dance like our ancestors, who celebrated the birth of Jesus by frolicking merrily to the tune of carols and folk songs. They frolicked and revelled so much that the Church eventually forbade these festivities, calling for “seriousness and reflection”!
As the story goes, the author of the first carol, which was sung in the nativity scene he organized, was Saint Francis of Assisi. Following the example of their patron and founder, the Franciscans continued to create carols and later presented them in their Christmas performances. Italy is therefore considered their homeland, from where carols reached Poland via Western Europe and became very widespread here. It is said that Poles can boast the richest collection of carols and pastorals! When the church authorities banned noisy nativity plays, a folk tradition of caroling quickly emerged. The countryside began to create pastorals, whose main theme became the journey of shepherds to Bethlehem, most often amidst the Polish landscape – from the sea to the Tatra Mountains. Carols and pastorals were written not only by “little” folk artists; they were also written by “greats” such as Andrzej Morsztyn, Feliks Nowowiejski, and Witold Lutosławski. Piotr Skarga himself is credited with the authorship of one of the most important and beautiful Polish carols, “W żłobie leży” (He Lies in a Manger), which was set to the melody of King Władysław IV’s coronation polonaise.
In the liturgy of the Catholic Church, carols were sung from Christmas Day until the Sunday after January 6th. In Polish tradition, it is permissible to sing them until the Feast of Our Lady of the Candlemass, celebrated on February 2nd. So let’s sing, let’s carol! Let’s preserve this beautiful Polish tradition that takes us down memory lane to our childhood, our family home, Christmas Eve with our loved ones…
Hey carol, carol!
Iwona Sikorska – Szczupak
photo by pixabay.com
