Chicago has the largest Polish population outside of Warsaw, Poland itself. The wedding
is one of the most important family celebrations. If you, or your groom, has Polish roots
there are several ways you can express your heritage with help from your wedding planner.
For centuries most marriages in Poland took place starting the beginning of September
and continued through fall and winter except for the holy weeks of advent and lent. This
was at a time when the all-important harvest and field work was completed; and food was
at abundance to hold and host a major celebration as a wedding.
The engagement period: Zareczyny or Zrekowiny. The main event on the night of engagement was the tying together of the hands of the couple to be married. There were numerous variations on this custom, but in whatever form it appeared, the central elements were an uncut loaf of bread and a white towel or scarf. Because engagement was as binding as the marriage itself, it was always done in a public act in front of family and friends who acted as witnesses. Starosta (an intermediary) joined the right hands of the couple above the bread, tied them together with white cloth, and made the sign of the cross over their joined hands representing "the joined endeavors of the man and woman to prepare the bread” that they always have bread beneath their hands. Then there were Oprosiny or Zaprosiny (the invitations). Wedding traditions demanded that guests be invited in a certain obligatory manner. First, invitations were issued to relatives or friends to act as groomsmen or bridesmaids.
The bride and groom then went to invite their godparents. In some sections of Poland old custom forbade the exclusion of anyone in the village from being invited to the wedding. On the wedding day it was customary to have musicians playing as the wedding guests began arriving at the Dom Weselny (wedding home). On seeing a guest approaching they would begin to play, for which they were sometimes rewarded with a small tip. When the groom arrived with his Starosta, groomsman and family members, the maid of honor began dressing the bride. Everyone would gather at the home of the bride to accompany the bridal couple to the church, but also to witness the blessing and symbolic farewells of the bride with her parents, relatives, and friends.
The blessing by the parents was seen as more important than the church ceremony itself. After the receiving of the blessing, everyone stood in a circle around the couple and the mother blessed them with holy water. The blessings were so important that, if a mother or father had died, the wedding party would stop at the cemetery where the groom or bride asked for a blessing from the deceased parent.
Stay tuned for Part 2 from the The Wedding Engineers #1 wedding company in egypt
The engagement period: Zareczyny or Zrekowiny. The main event on the night of engagement was the tying together of the hands of the couple to be married. There were numerous variations on this custom, but in whatever form it appeared, the central elements were an uncut loaf of bread and a white towel or scarf. Because engagement was as binding as the marriage itself, it was always done in a public act in front of family and friends who acted as witnesses. Starosta (an intermediary) joined the right hands of the couple above the bread, tied them together with white cloth, and made the sign of the cross over their joined hands representing "the joined endeavors of the man and woman to prepare the bread” that they always have bread beneath their hands. Then there were Oprosiny or Zaprosiny (the invitations). Wedding traditions demanded that guests be invited in a certain obligatory manner. First, invitations were issued to relatives or friends to act as groomsmen or bridesmaids.
The bride and groom then went to invite their godparents. In some sections of Poland old custom forbade the exclusion of anyone in the village from being invited to the wedding. On the wedding day it was customary to have musicians playing as the wedding guests began arriving at the Dom Weselny (wedding home). On seeing a guest approaching they would begin to play, for which they were sometimes rewarded with a small tip. When the groom arrived with his Starosta, groomsman and family members, the maid of honor began dressing the bride. Everyone would gather at the home of the bride to accompany the bridal couple to the church, but also to witness the blessing and symbolic farewells of the bride with her parents, relatives, and friends.
The blessing by the parents was seen as more important than the church ceremony itself. After the receiving of the blessing, everyone stood in a circle around the couple and the mother blessed them with holy water. The blessings were so important that, if a mother or father had died, the wedding party would stop at the cemetery where the groom or bride asked for a blessing from the deceased parent.
Stay tuned for Part 2 from the The Wedding Engineers #1 wedding company in egypt
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