Traditionally, like every year, during St. John’s Fair you are welcome to take part in competition for the most beautiful garland. The competition will open on Saturday (June 25th) at 11 am. All the necessary materials (flowers, herbs and hair bands), as well as expert florists will be waiting for you at Czerwieński Boulevard. The competition will last until 2 p.m. and the winners will be announced at 3 p.m. The competitors who make the three most beautiful garlands will receive gift sets, including, among others, traditional Benedictine products.
Kupalnocka has been most popular for its long-held tradition of laying garlands on water. Telling one’s fortune from a garland, the symbol of maidenhood, was probably a separate tradition, not really connected with Midsummer Night; it was meant only for bachelors and bachelorettes as it concerned marriage and anticipated love. On that magic night marriageable girls wove garlands and lay them on river waters; thus their fortune was told: whether they were to be married soon or become spinsters. Initially the garlands were made of hay with interwoven fresh flowers; the hay was set on fire before the garland was put on the water. In later days girls wove garlands of herbs and wild flowers and put a candle inside. A Midsummer bouquet was to be made of the seven magic plants: mugwort, sundew, burdock, rue, mullein and Saint-John’s wort. They were to keep evil spirits away, protect the maker from illnesses and guarantee a good marriage.If a garland was floating evenly on the water and the candle was burning brightly, or if the garland was recovered by the maker’s beloved, her fortune was favourable. If the garland was going round in circles, kept floating near the river bank, became tangled in water plants or sank, it augured love complications, misery, bad luck, the end of love, or even death. For young people this night was sometimes the only chance to choose one’s partner freely, without go-betweens or having to obey one’s parents’ will. Nowadays it is just a game and hardly anybody treats it as fortune telling.
You can also take part in the competition if you bring a garland you make yourself beforehand.
Also,in the evening,at Bulwary Wiślane,attendees will have an unique opportunity to listen Wyclef Jean for free!
