Uniwersytet Gdański University of Gdańsk

Uniwersytet Gdaski University of Gdask https://repozytorium.bg.ug.edu. pl Publikacja / The Empty Night ritual in the life of modern Kashubians, Publication Gustin Masa, Wyszogrodzka-Liberadzka Natalia Adres publikacji w Repozytorium URL / https://repozytorium.bg.ug.edu.pl/info/article/UOG71232c35c6df4880a3ad53df615a7735/ Publication address in Repository Data opublikowania w 4 sie 2021 Repozytorium / Deposited in Repository on Rodzaj licencji / Type Dozwolony uytek of licence Gustin Masa, Wyszogrodzka-Liberadzka Natalia: The Empty Night ritual in the life of Cytuj t wersj / modern Kashubians, Between the Worlds, Sofia: Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Cite this Studies with Ethnographic Museum Bulgarian Academy of Sciences; Paradigma, no. 2, version 2020, pp. 325-343 THE EMPTY NIGHT RITUAL IN THE LIFE OF MODERN KASHUBIANS Maša Guštin & Natalia Wyszogrodzka-Liberadzka Abstract: Empty Night (Pustô noc) is the Kashubian name for the ritual that takes place on the last night before the funeral of a deceased person when people gather in the dead man’s house to pray. After praying the rosary, they stay to chant special religious songs and watch over them until the morning. According to folk beliefs of the Kashubian region, the deceased stays permanently in the vicinity of his household until the funeral. When farewelled improperly, a person can return in the form of a demon/ghoul (wieszczi, òpi). Therefore, a prayer for the dead secures the peace of the living. The most common explanation for a modern man, who is not so keen on believing in supernatural/magical aspects of life, is that the repetition and monotony of singing bring relief to the participants of an Empty Night Ritual. The ritual, being gradually forgotten in modern times, has been recorded on the pages of belles-lettres and ethnographic books, depicted in documentary films and theatrical events. Additional material was collected from interviews with participants and eyewitnesses of such events. Keywords: Empty Night, Kashubian Custom, Death Rites, Kashubian demonology Kashubia (Kaszëbë, Polish: Kaszuby) is an area in the historic Eastern Pomerania region of northwestern Poland. Located west of Gdańsk (inclusive of all but the easternmost district) it is inhabited by the Kashubian ethnic group. Kashubian is a West Slavic language belonging to the Lechitic group of languages of northern Poland and is thought to be a variation of the original Pomeranian language. Kashubians enjoy legal protection in Poland as an ethnic minority. This is one of the most diverse regions in Poland when culture is concerned1. Pustô noc (Empty Night) is an unusual and still vivid, although gradually overlooked custom in the Kashubian village. It is the last night before the funeral which takes place in the house of the deceased. The ritual is becoming increasingly rare, however occasionally, at the 1 For more information, see for e.g.: Borzyszkowski, 2005, The Kashubs, Pomerania and Gdansk or the Internet page www.rastko.net/rastko-ka/. Pobrano z https://repozytorium.bg.ug.edu.pl / Downloaded from Repository of University of Gdańsk 2021-09-24 request of the family or of the deceased themselves (in their will), the funeral company brings the coffin with the deceased to their house so that the Empty Night can take place (Kozłowska, 2017). The ritual is only intended for adults, never for children (Treder, 2002: 137). Its name probably derives from the emptiness that remains after the death of a community member (Młyńska, 2011a), which means their absence in the common prayers. The guests begin the ritual by saying the rosary and then pray for the deceased. Afterwards, they stay in the house of mourning, singing special Empty Night songs led by the singer/orant or a group of singers. The family of the deceased usually prepares abundant refreshments (App. 1: Kotłowska, Wyszogrodzki) for the participants of the ritual. The main idea of the Empty Night is to say goodbye to the deceased, but it also has an integrating function, strengthening the bonds within the local community. The practical aim of the meeting is to reduce the fear of death or to activate relevant intra-group mechanisms so that fear does not significantly disturb their mental health. Therefore, the main intention of the participants to the ritual is to give the family of the deceased time to come to terms with the painful phenomenon of death. In his documentary Kaszuby (the Kashubia), the President of the Kashubian-Pomeranian Association at that time, Józef Borzyszkowski, emphasises that it is a ‘farewell to the deceased by the whole community’ (Niedbalska, 1991). Historical background The belief in the participation of the deceased in rituals in their honour derives from pagan eschatology and, interestingly, records or archaeological material indicate not only ritual feasting but also dances of various types. Kajkowski (2017: 186) points out there was a Celtic belief that on certain nights the dead come to the surface and dance with the living participants of the ritual, while in Romania when the funeral procession was to cross a bridge, two men took the corpse out of the coffin and danced with it. Dances and carouses during empty night rituals are confirmed by numerous ethnographic sources collected in Slavic lands, not only in northern Poland but also in Ukraine (Kajkowski, 2017: 186). Death was an opportunity to protect the living , , by/with ceremonial rituals which, apart from religious ones, also had magical purposes . One of the most important and well-established rituals of this type, undoubtedly originating from the pre-Christian times, is the Kashubian Pustô noc (Empty Night), which entails watching and singing over the deceased in their house. People from the entire village were invited, often following the will of the deceased. The soul of the deceased would see the Pobrano z https://repozytorium.bg.ug.edu.pl / Downloaded from Repository of University of Gdańsk 2021-09-24 neighbours and thus their presence around the coffin was a kind of neighbourly duty (App. 1: Kotłowska, Treder, Klimczyk). The beginning of this practice dates back to primitive, pre-Christian cultures. Various rituals were supposed to help the soul ‘cross the great divide’, and singing was one of them. Until the Second Vatican Council (11 October 1962-8 December 1965), in Catholic churches chants were sung in Latin, which can explain the need for additional prayer in the native language at home. Bartosz Izbicki suggests the probable influence of the activities of the Jesuit Order on ‘folk’ religious songs, emphasising at the same time the specificity of the performance of the Empty Night songs: To this day, the manner in which the ancient chants of the Catholic Church are performed is the subject of heated polemics among musicologists (...). And here in Poland, we have a deeply-rooted tradition of chants which can be heard at Empty Nights, where people sing with long phrases, where wailing used to this day appears – it seems to me that this is the key to the sacredness of the songs (Szczerbic, 2014). Many elements from pre-Christian times have been preserved in Kashubian beliefs (such as Gwiazdor /starman/, Gwiżdże /carollers/, Dyngus Day in Jastre /Easter/ etc.) and they are still functioning today. In the Kashubian tradition, the concept of the soul is closer to that of the old, pre-Christian one, remaining in a spiritual and physical relationship with the living, which requires performing certain perimortem practices. Such beliefs and actions towards the deceased are, in fact, quite universal and can be found in Gabon, Rhodesia, Kenya, as well as in medieval Denmark and England or Ireland as well as Greece and North Macedonia (Kozłowska, 2017). In Kashubia, as compared with the rest of the country, they have survived for an exceptionally long time, which is related to the cultural isolation of the region from the rest of the Slavdom, and the resistance to Germanization, which manifested itself in its own traditions. Kashubians survived as a large group, in an extensive cluster, where they were not subjected to the assessment by people of different origin – Germans or incomers from other regions of Poland. From death to funeral... and beyond Pobrano z https://repozytorium.bg.ug.edu.pl / Downloaded from Repository of University of Gdańsk 2021-09-24 Funeral has always been one of the most important events for the family and the neighbourhood community in Kashubia, apart from baptism and wedding. Three days before the funeral, family and neighbours would gather in the house of the deceased, or nowadays in the church or a specially prepared room in the funeral home, to say the rosary. On the last evening, the prayers and chants continue beyond midnight or until the morning (Borzyszkowski, 2016: 199). The tendency to shorten the empty night ritual was observed by Piotr Chamier: ‘Gradually, the prayers were shortened. First until midnight, and now until 10:00 p.m., and to some people it still seems too long’ (Kurier Bytowski, 2018 and Patrycja Kotłowska (App. 1: Kotłowska)). Shortly after the death, the eyes of the deceased were closed (Treder, 2002: 135), as it was believed that the eyesight of the deceased could kill. Then all the clocks in the house were stopped until the time of the funeral, which symbolised the end of life. As the greatest authority on Kashubian perimortem spirituality and customs, Father Jan Perszon explains in a documentary Ze śmiercią na Ty /With Death by name/ (Karczewska, 2014), that the minute a member of the household dies, the clock stops so that silence prevails and the body and soul – if the death occurred at home – are left in peace, as Kashubians believe that the soul stays close to the body between death and funeral. Additionally, it is a symbolic gesture for visitors to the house of mourning which informs them of the time at which the deceased died.

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