Folk song, death rituals and protective plants

I hope everyone is enjoying this sweet transition from summer to fall. I wanted to share this beautiful conversation I had earlier in the summer with Anna Sitko, a Polish folk singer. My goal was to share this earlier, though being pregnant has been a true test in my endurance! Regardless, it’s finally ready for a listen.

In this episode, we explore the role of song in village ritual, healing, celebration and magic, as well as what makes Polish folk song unique within the Slavic tradition. I highly recommend listening and watching Anna’s music video for the song “Oj czemuż” she created with her band Daj Ognia before playing this episode. There are so many rich representations in the video that we will analyze throughout the episode. You can watch it here.

You can follow more of Anna’s work here:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Situchna
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swistunka/

Notes from Anna as follow up to our conversation:

1. About the plant from the videoclip - the plant we wrapped in a handkerchief alongside with the bass's strings - it's called kalina (Viburnum). We used it as some kind of food offering for the afterlife (also - for the colours ;) ), and its importance in folk culture. In Polish traditional songs kalina symbolized femininity and it appears in majority of songs sang by young women.

2. About my listening recommendations:

   I strongly recommend having a listen to these playlists:

   a) Of modern folk. I called it "Slavic goodies", but it is mostly Polish contemporary folk

   b) Also contemporary Polish folk music but sticking much closer to the traditional source material 

   c) For a taste of Polish trance music and grooves - here are some "oberek" rhythms performed by legendary fiddlers. These are non-stage materials, so they are pretty raw and played for fun rather than for show:

3. About lullabies - I recommend Daj Ognia's "deathly lullaby": 

   It's a mashup of a Polish lullaby (in which a mother wants a cradle to cradle by itself, so she can go out dancing, or wherever she wants, abandoning the child) with an Icelandic one.
   
   The backstory to the Icelandic lullaby (which everyone there knows!) goes like this:

   
   "Once there was a worker woman who had become pregnant. She gave birth in secret, wrapped the child in rags and abandoned outside to freeze to death.”

   Later that year a feast called Vikivaki arrived. The woman felt she could not attend, having no good clothes for it. Once when she was milking the ewes with another woman she told her about this problem. Suddenly, from outside the window, they both heard something sing:
   
   “My mother in the sheep pen
   Don’t you worry I will lend you my rags
   For you to dance in.”
   
   Upon hearing this the woman quickly went insane.

4. The herb I was not sure of the translation ("the mother of all herbs") is called "macierzanka" (aka thyme).

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This will probably be my last podcast episode until after baby comes. If you would like to stay up to date on some more of my writings you can subscribe to The Medicine Garden, another one of my Substacks that I will continue to post on weekly as I can.

cover image by: Władysław Teodor