'Drown the winter': Polish tradition in Edmonton welcomes spring

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A straw woman was burned in effigy at Emily Murphy Park last weekend, but no need for alarm.

It’s just “Topienie Marzanny.”

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An upbeat gathering of a couple dozen members of Edmonton’s Polish-Canadian community took a Polish approach to telling winter “Bye-bye,” “Scram,” and “Do widzenia.”

Polish tradition is to make an effigy of ‘Winter,’ dance around with her, then burn her and drown her in the river.

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“It’s a very ancient tradition to say goodbye to the wintertime we celebrate every year,” said Jack Maciaszyk.

“We drown the winter,” he said.

Dancing around the fire, sometimes holding hands, participants last Sunday wore costumes ranging from traditional floral crowns for the girls to neon bikinis worn over thermal underwear.

A leader carried the Marzanna — or sometimes Morana, goddess of winter — hand-decorated and made with straw and skirt of newspaper, before finally flinging her into the flames to the cheers of the others.

“So hopefully tomorrow we may have nice springlike weather,” said Maciaszyk.

“That’s why we sacrifice ourselves here for the name of tradition.”

A popular way to welcome spring in eastern Europe, Topienie Marzanny is typically linked to the fourth Sunday of Lent. It’s also embraced by some in the Czech Republic, Lithuania, and Slovakia.

According to the Alberta government, there’s about 171,000 Albertans of Polish descent; it’s the seventh-largest ethnic group in the province.

Edmonton has been a magnet for Eastern European immigrants, and has the second-largest Polish community in Canada, exceeded only by Toronto.

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