сполезник

The tradition & historical record

In Slavic traditions, a Polaznik is the first guest (sometimes called the "divine guest") who comes to a house at Christmas or on some holiday between St. Demetrius day and Epiphany to bring luck, prosperity, health, and wealth for the coming year. Less frequently, the role of the polaznik is taken over by an animal, which is brought into the house, which is also supposed to bring luck. The ritual is known mainly to Ukrainians, Poles, Slovaks, Slovenes, Serbs, Croats, and Bulgarians. It is believed that the polaznik is a messenger of the ancestors, which connects the world of the living and the dead. ¹

In Poland, polaznik visited homes and gave residents green twigs decorated with colored paper cutouts (wycinanki), called podłaźniczka. Podlaznik also wished the residents well. This bypass custom was called połazy or podłazy. In Cieszyn Silesia second day of holidays is called podłazy. In southern Poland polaznik used to come on St. Stephen's Day. Priests often forbade podłazy during Christmas. Men who came to visit relatives and neighbors sprinkled oats on the house and all those present. ¹

In Slovakia, the visit of a polaznik in the home is a form of koledari. The arrival of young, healthy children with green fir branches means that the person who sent them on St. Thomas' Day (December 21) wishes the household members to be happy, healthy, and young as children. At the same time, the elderly and sick polazniki were feared, as it was supposed to herald death and illness. In Slovak villages, it was forbidden for women to be polaznik because it was believed to bring bad luck. In central Slovakia, the polaznik came to the house with a green branch, which he stuck behind the ceiling beam to make the bread and flax grow as high as possible. The first guest who entered the house on Christmas Day was given bread so that the cattle could graze well in the summer. In the Zvolen region, also winemakers were polazniki. The shepherd could also be a polaznik who came on the first day of the New Year with two branches – spruce and birch. Then he flogged the household members with the branches, which was supposed to bring them health. The homeowners kept these twigs until spring, until they first drove their cattle to pasture.