Summer Solstice

The Wianki festival associated with nature, water, fire, growth and good fortune was celebrated throughout Europe during the summer solstice – the shortest night of the year. In Poland, during Midsummer Night (also known as ‘Kupala’s Night’), which is considered to be magical and precedes St John’s Day (24 June), girls placed wreaths [wianki] made of flowers and decorated with candles on the river waves. According to a custom, a wreath that went ahead of the others augured the earliest marriage for the girl letting it go. The men, in turn, lit bonfires, over which they subsequently jumped. These customs, initially popular in the villages, became widespread in the cities only in the 19th century. As of the beginning of the 19th century, Wianki in Krakow were associated with a great spectacle, their main attraction being fireworks, which were initially let off from galleys decorated with flags, lanterns and Bengal fires. They also featured various paintings and stagings: Prince Krak with a dragon, the Polish Eagle, Queen Jadwiga, statues of pagan deities and – in 1883 (on the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Vienna) – a battle between a hussar and the Turks. The figures for these representations were designed by a well-known architect Janusz Niedziałkowski over the years. Efforts were made to combine image, light and sound, with military orchestras and the choir of the Music Society responsible for the background music, and eminent Krakow artists, such as Juliusz Kossak, involved in preparation of the visual setting. In 1901, Stanisław Wyspiański was offered the post of artistic director of the show, which the artist ultimately declined. At the time, the main organiser of the Wianki was the Rowing Society and then the rowing branch of the Sokół [Falcon] Society, which received a city grant for this purpose. Although the show was ticketed, the attendance was good – in 1880, audience that gathered on both banks of the Vistula was estimated at 20,000 people! In the 1930s, the Maritime and Colonial League became involved in the organisation of the Wianki, and the spectacle became a Krakow-based part of the celebration of Sea Days, which gave it a militaristic overtone. The participation of the army was evident, with cannon salvos and machine gun series being demonstrated. In the period of 1936–1939, the wreath celebrations were included in the programme of the Days of Krakow festival initiated by Jerzy Dobrzycki, PhD, the head of the Municipal Artistic Propaganda Office, later the director of the Historical Museum of the City of Krakow. After the Second World War, organisations such as the League of Polish Women and the Service to Poland joined the organisation of Wianki celebrations; one of their duties was to throw wreaths onto the Vistula. In the post-war period, military sappers were initially responsible for fireworks. Famous were the waterfalls of fire that “flowed down” from the Dębnicki Bridge. In subsequent years, the organisation of the fireworks show was entrusted to specialists from the Krywałd fireworks factory. In 1960, they prepared flaming images that depicted: Krakow’s coat of arms, the St Florian’s Gate, the inscription ‘25 years of the Polish People’s Republic’, the Lajkonik and Opole’s coat of arms. The timing of the event was no longer linked to the celebration of the eve of St John’s Day – the organisers started scheduling it for the first Saturday after the summer solstice (20/21 June). Between 1971 and 1981, the Wianki celebrations were linked to the Gazeta Krakowska’s festival. They were accompanied by open-air shows referring to Krakow’s legends and history in the type of ‘light and sound’ directed by Krzysztof Jasiński and Edward Chudziński, each of them attracting a few thousand performers, against the background of the Wawel Castle walls illuminated by hundreds of spotlights. ‘Jasiński’s Wianki’ are still fondly remembered by older residents of Krakow. After a decade-long hiatus following the introduction of martial law in 1981, the Wianki in Krakow were resumed as an event of the City of Krakow in the early 1990s. At that time, the profile of the event changed, with musical performances becoming the main focus of the programme – in subsequent years, stars such as Brathanki, Maanam, Kayah, Maryla Rodowicz, Budka Suflera, Lombard, Marillion and Lenny Kravitz appeared on the stage set up in a bend in the Vistula near Wawel. The event culminated in a fireworks display. In 2014, the Wianki, already organised by the Krakow Festival Office at the time, assumed the form of a ‘festival of music’ (fête de la musique), during which music of various genres resounded simultaneously from several stages located in different districts of the city. In recent years, in addition to music, there has been a strong emphasis on the return to the origins – recalling ancient rituals and traditions, as well as handicrafts associated with them. The concerts are accompanied by workshops and wreath weaving or traditional Midsummer song competitions. Local customs and traditions are analysed and documented by the Museum of Krakow’s Intangible Heritage Interpretation Centre of Krakow. In the ongoing exhibition Once in a Blue Moon. Celebrating in Krakow at the Under the Cross House at 21 Szpitalna Street we can also find two works representing the theme of Wianki by Zofia Stryjeńska and Walery Eljasz-Radzikowski.

Prepared on the basis of materials by K. Janik and A. Szoka from the Museum of Krakow

you can find the full program at https://kbf.krakow.pl/en/aktywnosci-articles/wianki/