The Midsummer Night is coming. Between the tradition of a water festival and modern-day entertainment

Celebrated on 23 June, Midsummer Night is a wonderful opportunity to gather outdoors and revive old Slavic customs. In many places across Poland, concerts, fairs and bonfires will be organised, unfortunately not always with respect for the nature that surrounds us.

Since when has Midsummer Night been celebrated?

As explained by Agnieszka Szepetiuk-Barańska from the Ethnographic Museum in Wrocław, Midsummer Night, also known as Palinocka, Sobótka and Kupala, is one of the oldest annual festivals, practised throughout much of Europe even before the spread of Christianity. Its traditions are linked to the arrival of summer and the associated worship of the sun, the purifying rituals of fire and water, and ceremonies connected with love and fertility.

The Church disapproved of the pagan custom of lighting bonfires, which were believed to ward off demons and witches. In an effort to Christianise the Sobótka rituals, it established 24 June as the feast of the birth of St. John the Baptist, hoping that people would gather for prayer instead of floating flower wreaths on the water. Kupala Night became St. John’s Night, but the traditions endured.

Marcin of Urzędów, a canon from Sandomierz who lived in the second half of the 16th century, wrote with dismay: On the eve of St. John’s Day, women among us lit fires, danced, sang, and paid homage and prayers to the devil; they do not wish to abandon this pagan custom in Poland to this day, making offerings of mugwort, hanging it in their homes and girding themselves with it while celebrating Sobótka.

Between fire and water

The arrival of Christianity introduced a new element into the Sobótka rituals: religion itself became a weapon in the fight against unclean forces. On St. John’s Night, the sign of the cross was traced above the heads of horses and cows with a lit blessed candle, while church bells were rung to drive away roaming witches.

Bathing in rivers before 24 June was considered dangerous because of the presence of water spirits believed to drown people. Only the baptism of the waters by St. John was thought to remove this threat. For the same reason, wells were emptied before Kupala Night, as people believed the water needed time to regenerate.

Years passed, the Church continued to condemn the customs, yet the bonfires survived, as did the flower wreaths that young unmarried women floated on the water to learn about their chances of marriage. In folk tradition, St. John’s Night remained a time of courtship and matchmaking, often accompanied by romantic adventures. For many centuries, the legend of the fern flower also endured. It was said to bloom only on this one night of the year, granting its finder happiness, wealth and the power of invisibility.

Today’s Sobótka: noise, plastic and PAHs

Midsummer Night is one of the most valuable treasures of our Slavic cultural heritage, and it is worth preserving this tradition, but with common sense.

Large events organised on the shores of rivers and lakes usually mean noise, which can be devastating for birds that are currently raising their young. After the festivities, enormous amounts of plastic waste remain behind, and unfortunately not all of it ends up in rubbish bins. A single small plastic cup can break down into thousands of microplastic particles that will continue to pollute aquatic ecosystems for years.

Lighting bonfires less than 100 metres from the shoreline also increases the risk of highly toxic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) entering the water. Fish, amphibians, invertebrates and water birds will ultimately pay the price for this aspect of the celebration.

If you would like to learn more about how to enjoy time by the sea, rivers and lakes without harming the environment, join our campaign The 10 Deadly Sins of the Unaware Tourist, which this year is being held under the slogan Your Holidays Affect Water. Have fun without causing harm!