CLASSICAL HOSPITALITY

Sociability, hospitality, politeness, cheerfulness and kind open-hearted frankness was once called, in old Polish, "humaneness". It was generally expressed in accepted ways which together formed a whole range of social morals. To observe this code was to display one's social polish and humanitarianism. The code was binding for the nobility, several times more numerous than in other European countries, but through imitation it penetrated to other classes of society. What came from the manor was thought to be better and became the object of the ambitions of the young rural generations.¹ In towns, too, the way of life of the nobleman's, and later of the post-nobility, along with its forms of social customs, was a leading model.² Thus, the humane behavior of today may be considered a model of old Polish culture functioning in the common consciousness. It was also very attractive for newcomers travelling from other countries.

Recluses were not liked, nor were reserved and sullen people. Every opportunity was eagerly used for social purposes. People feasted, held councils and prayed together, while work and amusement were shared with others. Great holidays of church and family were numerous,³ and it was always the senior's duty to see that everything was done according to custom.

A guest was warmly greeted in a Polish house as he brought news from the world or, at least, from the neighborhood--new tales and jokes, and a fresh spirit for amusement. Zygmunt Gloger wrote that:

There was an old and widespread custom in the Polish nation that both in the lord's dayroom and in the villager's hut the table was covered--with a white tablecloth or a colorful carpet in the manor house or, with a towel, in the hut; bread and salt were always lying ready to be offered to guests on the doorstep according to the ancient custom. Later, when in noblemen's houses bread was no longer kept on the table in the parlor, there still remained the traditional haste in serving a meal immediately after the guest's arrival. In many villages of the Mazovian and Podlasian regions country people still keep the old custom: the bread is always on the table, covered with a white or grey homespun tablecloth.⁴

It was also a common custom in Polish manors to leave a few empty seats at the table for guests "from beyond the mountains", i.e., those likely to arrive. The same author says:

At whatever time you came to a nobleman's house you were always treated; a leftover part of the dinner or an already dressed hen was waiting for you, and the prompt preparation of food for the guest reflected the order of the house, the haste of the servants, the kindness of the host and the hostess. If someone was invited to your house, he had the right to bring along some friends and though, in this way, some scores of people arrived instead of a dozen, it did not cause disorder or the host's anger. . . . And if something was lacking, e.g., bedclothes, people slept side by side on hay and nobody ever thought of complaining of discomfort where heartiness overabounded. In peaceful times the manor gates were always wide open according to the well-known motto: "The wide-open gate tells passersby of the hospitality, and invites them all."⁵

"In Poland, you can hardly find a case of anybody refusing help to a traveller if he needs it", wrote J.J. Kausch,⁶ a German travelling in Poland in the later part of the eighteenth century.

Sometimes hospitality became importunate and immoderate. According to the anecdote, detaching the wheels of the guest's carriage, hiding his luggage, making the driver drunk, etc., forced chance travellers to come to the house in spite of their reluctance and violent resistance. Such doings were criticized by Krasicki in his "Lord High Steward". In the middle of the seventeenth century importunate hosts were even prosecuted as, for instance, the nobleman Golski who "holds up honest people on their free way, turns them back, catches them and compels them to stay, making them prisoners." Such behavior and excesses were, of course, exceptional; the majority practiced the virtue of hospitality with Apolline moderation.

Ludwik Krzywicki explained its commonness by the fact that in an epoch when agricultural products were not sold, but stored in granaries and larders, "economy often became waste since not people but worms devoured nature's gifts."⁷ Maybe that factor played some part, but certainly other factors were important, e.g., the need of entertainment and common amusement, the want of news from the wider world, etc.

Old Polish hospitality was strongly supported by religion. This can be seen, for instance, in the popular saying "guest in the house, God in the house". This may be based on the ancient, pre-Christian foundations of the Slavonic culture and on old beliefs and legends of wandering gods and their mysterious messengers. All Polish customs were strictly connected with religion and also, in the case when customs related to holidays, with the liturgy of the Catholic Church. A guest in the Polish house was a sacred person who was to be entertained with respect and generosity even if he was a personal enemy of the host. Alexander Fredo has presented it remarkably well in "The Vengeance", in the scene where two quarreling neighbors meet in the house of one of them:

Don't lead me into temptation

Great God of my ancestors!

Since he has crossed my threshold

Not a hair of his head can be touched.

Old Polish hospitality is not the exception in this cultural sphere. I may cite, as an example, a Modavian farm in the Bucharest Scansen museum where, at the entrance, near the gate, there is a little wooden roofed hut on a post with a shelf for bread and cheese and a jug of water or milk. In this way, the farmer going to work in his field ensured help for any tired strangers passing through the village. Thus they could appease their hunger and thirst though the cottage was temporarily deserted.

Neighbors were the most frequent guests both to the cottage and the manorhouse. The nobleman's neighbor came from "the small neighborhood" or from the "large neighborhood" beyond the locale. The nobleman's republic was a federation of neighborhoods and the informal bonds of neighbors were strong and very important from the sociological point of view.⁸ In the remote countryside neighbors were a very important factor in comfort and contentment.⁹ "Don't buy an estate, buy a neighbor", a "close neighbor is better than a distant brother", a "bad neighbor is an enemy", and "buy out a bad neighbor or escape"--such proverbs and many others illustrated that point distinctly.

A kind, friendly neighbor was always welcomed sincerely and heartily, and generously treated. But also any brother-nobleman, if he had difficulties in finding accommodation in an inn, which was scarce in the old times, was put up at the nearest manorhouse and found there a hearty welcome. Sometimes it happened that such a chance guest became attached to the house where he felt as comfortable as if he were a member of the host's family, and stayed there longer or even for a very long time. Lonely people, having no family of their own gladly prolonged their stay or even remained for good as so-called residents. They were treated as permanent guests with no particular duties, but they usually acted as masters of ceremonies during important celebrations, or taught the young riding, fencing or languages.¹⁰

If the arrival of the guest had a formal character, then the welcome, the whole visit, and the farewell were determined by many conventions. The infringement of those rules of hospitality could hurt the guest's feelings painfully. Guests were to be awaited, looked out for from afar, and welcomed on the doorstep by the family in festive attire. Then, among compliments and ceremonies they were introduced into the parlor. Frequently a welcome speech was pronounced and the guest was expected to answer in the same ceremonious manner. The same took place upon his departure.

It was the guest's duty not to abuse the host's hospitality and not to take advantage of his or her privileged situation, ensured by customs. This was sometimes extremely troublesome for the household. Popular proverbs show the troubles and pains of some hospitable hosts:

A frequent and longstaying guest soon makes you tired.

The guest and the fish stink on the third day.

Guest, do not poke your nose into the host's affairs:

mind your own business.

But generally, yielding to the pressure of customs, people endured those toils and troubles, avoiding open conflicts, though sometimes it happened that "guests ransacked the house with impunity".¹¹

Social contacts required consideration in treating everyone with due honor:

. . . Courtesy, I deem

Is neither easy nor of small esteem.

Not easy, for there's more in it than's done

By clever bows and smiles for everyone.

Such manners suit a merchant better than

Old Poland or a true-born gentleman.

To all men courtesy, but to each his own.

To parents in their children's love is shown,

To wives by husbands in society,

To servants too--in due variety.

But one must study long not to neglect

To pay to everyone his due respect.

. . . Courtesy is nothing small,

For while we learn to pay respect to all

According to their virtues, birth and age,

We also learn our own dessert to gauge,

Just as, if we desire to know our weight,

We must put someone in the other plate.

But most important is that you should know

The courtesy young men to women owe. . . .¹²

But "the fair sex" also had to be careful in order to deserve politeness. They should not impair their rank, modesty, and manners by using a vulgar vocabulary. Elizabeth Druzbacka who complained:

I feel pain in my heart

Hearing ugly words in a Polish girl's mouth."¹³

Offending someone by not rendering him or her their due honor either through forgetfulness or purposefully--a too familiar welcome, an impolite form of speech, taking a higher seat at table, inviting a lady to dance overlooking social hierarchy--was an insult and often the cause of a quarrel or even of a duel.

There were many opportunities for social contacts, wishes and orations offered by area hunts, by political life (regional councils, civic meetings), by social promotions or by departures and returns from long journeys. Family festivities such as weddings, births, burials, all kinds of anniversaries, jubilees and name-days afforded occasions for social contacts. Among yearly holidays, Christmas and Easter particularly gathered numerous relatives.

It was a special custom on such occasions to give one another gifts. "Gifts were brought as signs of fondness, friendship, affection; they should be reciprocated with another gift which--according to the occasion, the wealth and generosity of people--ranged from trifles received as symbols to handsome fortunes falling to lucky fellows as a magnate's favor."¹⁴

Gifts were given even without any special occasion, e.g., in a sudden flash of gaiety and cheerfulness of a wealthy host who forgot Appoline moderation during a party.

Krasicki wrote in the "Satires":

Long live our host!

The drunk mob wallows, quarrels and yells,

The host is glad, he admits everyone into his house,

One takes his horse with a saddle

The other his forefather's Tartar sword,

Someone drags away a golden carpet . . .

Women and girls offered their courters small presents such as embroidered handkerchiefs, cushions made by themselves, etc., while young men brought them flowers.

Welcome guests were endowed with presents at their departure. Some gifts were very expensive and frequently it happened that a thing praised by the guest was immediately offered to him. People returning from long journeys could distribute inexpensive trifles, but they had to be characteristic of the country where they had been.

"The borderline between a courtesy gift and interest where one gathered partisans by means of gifts was rather imperceptible. No wonder then that in the eighteenth century when there was a lot of money, but much less morality, gifts became more and more expensive and visibly more motivated by interest." This differed much from the symbolic "binding" of the old days when bonds of friendship were confirmed by symbolically tying a straw rope, a belt, a ribbon or a handkerchief round the person entertained.¹⁵

Social life imposed a number of obligations on the members of parties. They were expected to behave in accordance with rules of etiquette required by the social culture of the gentry, to render everyone his due honor and, besides, to be pleasant, interesting, cheerful and enterprising, stimulating others with humor. People chatted for hours on autumn and winter evenings, they played dice, cards or--less frequently--chess and draughts. They enjoyed fortunetelling, raffles, blindman's bluff, and the "green" game. Sometimes masquerades, theater and ballets were organized. In mixed company dancing was the favorite entertainment; these were numerous and varied from dignified "pacing" to the "race": one was danced with stateliness at courts, and the other briskly in pubs. The most beautiful and presentable dance was the "Polish" or, as we call it today, the polonaise.¹⁶

For larger parties musicians from the village or even from town were hired. On smaller occasions music was performed by some dweller of the manor who played the lute, the dulcimer, the violin or viola d'amore, the pipe or piano. Sometimes wandering artists, blind lyricists or singers were invited.

Much time was spent at the table. Very crowded feasts were not popular, according to the old principle: "Fight in a large throng, but eat in a small company". Wladyslaw Lozinski has written of the proverb that "seven make a feast, nine make a quarrel".

The Polish word for feast, biesiada, comes from sitting down in company; originally, however, it meant speech or talk.¹⁷ Zygmunt Glover describes it as "a gay meeting at table with drink and dishes, a feast, a banquet, a festivity, revelling, amusement. Villagers give the name of biesiada to all family festivities such as weddings and baptisms where, as is the old custom, the whole village takes part. In the past, all the neighboring gentry gathered for such occasions in a nobleman's house since the ancient custom was common for the whole nation."¹⁸

Apolline moderation and temperance provided in the old Polish culture and commonly respected customs controlled revellers who became too merry. Later, in the "Saxon" epoch (end of the seventeenth and first half of the eighteenth centuries) they were menaced or even supplanted here and there by unrestrained Dionysiacal¹⁹ licentiousness, though this was not general nor greater than in many European countries of that period.

Still later, in the time of partitions, uprisings and repression, Polish feasting again approached the Apolline model. A Polish feast described by Adam Mickiewicz in "Pan Tadeusz" shows in a masterly way this ideal model. In various circles actual behavior approximated this more or less, though deviations and excesses also occurred.

The feminine members of the feast were particularly expected to show moderation and temperance. "Women never used to drink liquors and they did not listen to indecent jokes and vulgar tales. Women had to demonstrate temperance. So if they were taking part in a banquet, most often in wedding parties, they only touched the filled cup to their lips to show they joined in toasting."²⁰

This, of course, was an ideal model and in reality departures from those principles sometimes occurred. However, this model was noticed by foreigners travelling in Poland, who in their descriptions of the country emphasized the exceptional modesty of women and--surely connected with this--the special gallantry shown them by Polish men.²¹

Z. Kuchowicz writes that:

Against the background of the general discrimination of women at that time Polish customs were progressive. It was often noticed that women played an independent role and exerted a serious influence on the community. The saying "we rule over the world and women rule over us" was formed in Poland in the eighteenth century. Generally all foreigners noticed that feature and considered it peculiar to Polish conditions."²²

In describing Polish customs they mentioned that feature, besides the predilections to sumptuousity, hospitality and the sociable character of Poles, as their art of enjoying life and its everyday charms.

The customs of the nobility spread among other classes and the awareness that they differed from those of other nations became a new element in addition to the bonds of language and religion, in the sense of belonging to the nation. "It was a factor of patriotic consciousness and an essential moment in the formation of the modern Polish nation, a tie uniting the different social classes of old Poland."²³

Old Polish customs were not only the heritage of the nobility, but also the legacy of popular elements of the olden times along with assimilated and often precious foreign models. This inheritance soothed and considerably humanized interhuman relations during the time of partitions. Due to this inheritance, the country, in spite of all its political disasters in the late nineteenth century was inhabited by kind and polite people.²⁴ Poland, though it had been wiped off the maps of Europe, could be proud of its progress in morality, the democratization of both cultural and moral life, and its courageous aspirations for further achievements and transformations.²⁵

CONTEMPORARY HOSPITALITY

Today, however, is a Pole really a humane person? Are we sociable, hospitable, polite, kind, open-hearted and frank toward other people? Today is a time of unparalled progress in technology and science and, at the same time, of growing discrepancy between progress in science and in morals. Today is the longlasting period of dehumanizing power of totalitarian systems. In Poland, this means also a time of hope after the period of "faults and distortions". Hope has not died and Poland has not turned into Dante's hell (Losciate ogni speranza) owing to its strong Christian culture and the "humaneness" handed down from one generation to the other.

The degree of intergenerational coherence in a family is now greater than ever before, although the stable coexistence of generations is smaller.²⁶ This kind of coherence was, and still is, a warrant for an uninterrupted transmission of culture among generations,²⁷ including a model of social life in which the family retains the central position.

Today, foreigners coming to our country extol the same Polish virtues they wrote about in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, namely, sociability, politeness, and kind, openhearted frankness. They no longer talk about cheerfulness, for today people are more tired and nervous; they talk less, sing less, and are more depressed and sad. But by no means do they give way to despair and low spirits. What strikes foreigners is that despite all the difficulties in our country, Poles are the gayest of all people. The ideal model of the "humane" person still lives, even though it escapes us more often than before.

We have remained social, willing to dine together with our relatives, friends, and colleagues, and eager for discussions; we pray in common at school or at work; we treasure good and firm friendships. Amusement shared today is scarce, but it comes immediately to life as soon as the circumstances allow. Great holidays still evoke the same amount of social celebration as before, and seniors see to it that old habits and customs are observed.²⁸

The traditional haste in serving a meal immediately after the guest's arrival has survived to the present, though the pace of our life is considerably faster compared to that of the old days. Unfortunately, however, neurotic haste in serving a meal has become usual and common. There are, however, certain changes and reductions: an empty seat is left at the table for guests "from beyond the mountains" only once a year on Christmas Eve. In the cities, guests announce their arrival by telephone or in other ways, and are entertained very modestly with only tea and pastries; still, they would be offered some kind of meal. It is different when a host is celebrating special occasions such as weddings, name days, birthdays or other family festivities. On such occasions, in spite of an economic slump, our predilections for sumptuousity or "living beyond our means" comes to light. Particularly, foreign guests are to be entertained in a sumptuous and abundant way, at times causing great negligence of the usual course of life and resulting in a heavy burden upon housewives who do not have the necessary help.

Today, if someone is invited, he no longer has the right to bring along friends, especially without earlier confirmation from the host. Yet, there are wide open houses, in which old customs of hospitality are observed. The worst problem with accommodations: the needs of guests are greater, while the possibilities of putting someone up for the night have grown smaller and smaller. The housing problem is responsible for this situation. Particularly in cities our gates are not so wide-open and invite only the chosen ones; contemporary apartment complexes are not the calm and peaceful villages of the old days where robberies and assaults were scarce.

Moreover, instances of immoderate hospitality are not heard of today: guests no longer are forced to stay on against their will for the amusement of the host. Television has become the sole source of news and entertainment. Due to telephones and the modern means of transportation one can communicate with family and friends more frequently than could the previous generations. Close neighbors are not the most frequent guests; it is different in villages where close vicinity plays an important role in social relations. Cities provide an opportunity for the selection of both friends and acquaintances, which is done willingly, but even today a good, friendly neighbor who is ready to offer a helping hand is praised and raises the social status of the place in which we live, in the cities as well as in the villages.

The ceremonious welcome has become less frequent and many old conventions previously deemed obligatory are no longer observed. However, on very formal occasions like weddings, guests should be treated with due honor appropriate to their social status. The formal character of the guest is more often determined by his belonging to the older generation than to his high social position. It is an important and acute problem for the organizer of the wedding ceremony, whether at home or at a restaurant, to place the guests properly at the table.²⁹ This is witnessed by the inquiries included in the letters sent by worried readers, especially younger people who have come from the villages to towns, to editors of so-called "agony aunt" columns. These inquiries concern not only wedding ceremonies, but also the general social tact observed by "high society".

The proverbs, concerning the prolonged stay of guests in the house of a hospitable host, are repeated even today; the most frequent is the analogy between a guest and a fish. These proverbs, on the one hand, provide the evidence of pains and troubles of hospitable hosts and at the same time the overwhelming power of old customs; but, on the other hand, they are also warnings and instructions not to overstay one's visit.

There are great changes in the behavior of the "fair sex". Elizabeth Druzbacka would feel pain in her heart if she heard all the ugly words used by some contemporary women, who do not merely symbolically touch the full cup with their lips.

As before, so today there are many opportunities for social contacts and greetings, especially family festivities and yearly holidays. The range of participants varies, depending on the importance of a holiday or festivity, or the present capacity of the house. The relatives, friends and acquaintances of a host are still included.³⁰

As it was before mainly in the well-to-do classes, so today hospitality is commonly associated with generosity. On such occasions the participants endow each other with many different gifts, particularly in towns where there is easy access to trifles. This custom has penetrated to other classes and age categories. To express love, friendship, gratitude and respect is the only aim of this symbolic behavior, though often a more utilitarian gift goes with the poetic symbolism of a bunch of flowers or even of one flower.

Bunches of flowers were once offered only to women and such symbolic expression was an important element of courtship. Today they are given on many different occasions, even to men. Flowers have become essential accessories, and a bouquet is often given hand to hand. However, the uniformization of many different areas of contemporary culture has affected expression through flowers, where color and species once played an important role. These days it is no longer a complicated, socially formed code of meaning; instead, fashion and what is in stock determines the choice.³¹

Today, as before, the most welcome guests are kind, entertaining, cheerful persons; they are full of initiative and enliven the company with good humor. Once, the art of storytelling was widely appreciated; today, in the age of television, it is no longer so precious. Due to a 40 year period of Sovietization, which disturbed the balance of the cultural model, active entertainment has suffered. This imbalance has become greater and stronger due to the influence of Western materialistic culture. As a result, active entertainment is in crisis: dancing is less common and less frequent, singing which was so popular among previous generations very rarely now unites participants at social festivities and meetings. In some houses, however, carols are sung at Christmas, though more and more often they are played on the cassette player. Of the once numerous festive songs--carillons, couplets--little is left: what has remained is the "Happy Birthday" song. As the background of festivities, mechanical music is used more and more often. Only at suburban or village weddings do people sing new as well as old songs when a "live" orchestra of amateur players provides accompaniment.

"A Pole is a festive man"--even today. In certain circles, however, the lack of active and moral forms of entertainment, which formerly controlled the consumption of alcohol, and the simultaneous lack of cultural aspirations, have stimulated alcohol abuse. This is connected with the intensification of Dionysiacal type festivities, and in some cases, unfortunately, with a deformation of festive customs. "Humaneness", supporting moderation and social order, turns into drunkenness, as it was in some circles in Saxon times.³² Nevertheless, in the last 25 years of the eighteenth century, the abuse of alcohol fell out of fashion as the personal example of King Stanislaus Augustus, who held alcohol abuse in disgust, became very important³³ and moderation and temperance returned to fashion. Unfortunately, today, in an industrial and urbanized country, after the communist oppression and economic slump, there are cases of alcohol abuse in all social classes, including women and teenagers. The problem of preserving the old model of "humaneness" has become critical.

As before, so today, Poles rarely sit at the table in a large company except at weddings or in villages during baptisms. Ordinary festivities are held in small groups. In all social classes, tables should look as beautiful as possible. So, necessarily, there is a tablecloth, tableware or cutlery, and very often flowers in a vase, and during formal celebrations flowers upon each covering.

"Prynuka" or "eating too much" is now out of fashion; overeating during holidays has also disappeared. The spread of knowledge about dieting and the fashion of slim figures, particularly among the younger generation, inclines one to moderation in eating. The tendency to over-drink appears more often, especially in environments where drinking becomes a habit. The possession of cars is a good excuse against "prynuka" in offering alcoholic drinks.

CONCLUSION

Compared with the "old days", or even the twenty year period of independence just before the Second World War, social life has become more homelike. Home, as well as church, has given shelter to many of the virtues endangered by communism. Among them were family life and "humaneness". Today, either because of the changing situation or for economic reasons, all holidays and family festivities are celebrated at home. Friends and acquaintances are invited to one's house. Coffee bars and restaurants are now less numerous than before the war, and prices are too high for the average person. Balls and festivities, once so frequent, are now very exceptional; the price of a ticket prevents the majority of people from taking part in such events. What remains are private meetings in friendly homes.

As the Dutch cultural researcher, Johan Huizinga, has written in his book Homo ludens³⁴, a festivity is neither "ordinary" nor "proper" life. It is more a stepping out of the utilitarian circle into the world of disinterested deeds which give opportunity for artistic expression and at the same time social-civil coexistence. Even today companionship is not without cheerfulness or humor, though it is sometimes grim; it is widely known that Poles like to tell and listen to jokes. Foreigners visiting our country today are astonished when among the dullness, negligence and weariness of everyday life they see kind, openhearted frankness and social politeness. There are, however, at the fringes of society, violations of the rules of good morals and all kinds of derelicts and human wrecks are becoming more and more frequent.

It should be stated in conclusion that, despite external pressure, the "humaneness" of Poles exhibited in hospitality, politeness, cheerfulness and kind, openhearted frankness in favorable circumstances very easily intensifies and enters upon our privacy and considerably enlivens our world with others. Disinterested hospitality, generosity, and the brotherly kindness of people living in towns and villages still manifest themselves, for example, in organizing pilgrimages to Czestochowa and other Polish shrines.

Beyond any doubt, such great vitality of "humaneness" is based on a highly praised tradition, on the social need for continuity and permanence and on the aspirations for preserving national unity and its cultural identity. In spite of all, moderation and temperance are strictly associated with Christianity, which is so deeply rooted in Polish culture.

1. W. Lozinski, Zycie polski w dawnych wiekach, vol. 1 (Warsaw, 1976), pp. 176-77.

2. J.S. Bystron, Dzieje obyczajow w dawnej Polsce, vol. 1 (Warsaw, 1976), p. 248.

3. Ibid.

4. Z. Gloger, Encyklopedia staropolska, vol. 2, pp. 207-8.

5. Ibid, p. 208.

6. J.J. Klausch, "The Image of the Polish Nation", in Polska Stanislawowska w oczach cudzoziemcow, vol. 2 (Warsaw: W. Zawadzki, 1963), pp. 307-308.

7. Z. Gloger, p. 208.

8. A. Zajaczkowski, Glowne elementy kultury szlacheckiej w Polsce. Ideologia a struktury spoleczne (Wroclas-Warszawa-Krakow, 1961), p. 71.

9. J.S. Bystron, vol. 2, p. 160.

10. Ibid. p. 161.

11. Ibid. p. 164.

12. A. Mickiewicz, Pan Tadeusz or the last foray in Lithuania, translated by Kenneth Mackenzie (London, 1966).

13. Quoted after J.S. Bystron, vol. 2, p. 172.

14. J.S. Bystron, p. 175.

15. J.S. Bystron, pp. 175-78.

16. J.S. Bystron, p. 214.

17. A. Bruckner, Slownik etymologiczny polskiego (Warsaw, 1974), pp. 26-7.

18. Z. Gloger, Encyklopedia staropolska, vol. 1, p. 172.

19. Two types of culture are distinguished by R. Benedict, see: Models of Culture (Warsaw, 1965). The Apollinian type is characterized by moderation, self-control and a tendency to eliminate conflicts, while the Dionysiacal type is characterized by vehemence and elation.

20. J.S. Bystron, op cit., vol. 2, p. 186.

21. Z. Kuchowicz, Obyczaje staropolskie XVII-XVIII wieku (Todz, 1975), p. 465.

22. Ibid., p. 467. See also M. Baranski, "Rodzina od czasow najdawniejszych do konca XVIII wieku" and Z. Jablonswska, "Rodzina w XIX i na poczatky XX wieku", in Przemiany rodziny polskiej (Warsaw, 1975), pod red. J. Komorowskiej.

23. Z. Kuchowicz, op. cit., pp. 466-67.

24. A. Kitowicz, Pamietniki czyli Historia Polski. Oprac (Warsaw: P. Matuszewska, 1971), p. 580.

25. Z. Kuchowicz, op cit., p. 473.

26. L. Dyczewski, Wiez pokolen w rodzinie (Warsaw, 1976), p. 161, and by the same author, Rodzina polska i kierunki jej przemian (Warsaw, 1981), pp. 177-93.

27. A. Klosowska, "The Family as a Factor of Cultural Transmission and Creation", in Les functions educatives de la famille dans le monde d'aujourd'hui, pod red., A. Klosowskiej, K. Tyborowskiej, E. Zakoscielnej i M. Ziemskiej (Warsaw, 1972), pp. 145-153; D. Dabrowska, "Wartosci zwiazane z zyciem rodzinnym" in Przemiany rodziny polskiej and L. Dyczewski, Rodzina polska, pp. 207-228.

28. J. Komorowska, Swiateczne zwyczaje domowe w wielkim miescie (Warsaw, 1984) pp. 92 and 96.

29. Ibid., p. 131.

30. Ibid., pp. 86-94.

31. Ibid., pp. 51-55.

32. Ibid., pp. 141-42.

33. Z. Kuchowicz, p. 45.

34. J. Huizinga, Homo ludens (Warsaw, 1967), p. 290.