Dziady: the ritual of feeding souls and Mickiewicz's masterpiece
"Dark everywhere, hushed everywhere, what will come, what will come?" Every person in Poland knows these words. Behind them stands a genuine rite that survived in villages until the nineteenth century.
Ezostylia Editorial Team · facts checked in sources · updated 31.10.2026
What the Dziady were
The word "dziady" meant ancestors — the deceased forebears of a family. The rite was observed several times a year; the most important were the autumn Dziady, at the turn of October and November, and the spring ones. It survived longest in the eastern lands of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: in Belarus, Lithuania and Podlasie.
How souls were fed
It was believed that on these nights souls returned to their homes. A supper was prepared for them: kasha, honey, kutia, blini, vodka. Places were laid for the dead, doors were left unlocked, and any food that fell to the floor was left for the souls. Outside, bonfires were lit so that wandering souls might warm themselves.
In some places the rite was held in a cemetery chapel or an abandoned building, and was conducted by a guślarz, who summoned spirits and offered them food.
Mickiewicz and his Dziady
Adam Mickiewicz published Parts II and IV of "Dziady" in 1823 in Vilnius, in the second volume of "Poezje." In Part II the guślarz summons three kinds of spirits: light ones (the children Józio and Rózia, who never tasted bitterness), heavy ones (the cruel Zły Pan, whom birds prevent from eating) and middling ones (the shepherdess Zosia, who never loved and cannot touch the earth).
From this arrangement comes the moral, voiced by the chorus: in life one must experience both bitterness and human feeling, and one must be good to others. "Who has not once tasted bitterness shall not taste sweetness in heaven."
Dziady today
Today rites drawing on the Dziady are performed by adherents of the native faith, and theatres continue to stage Mickiewicz's drama, sometimes precisely at the turn of October and November. It is one of the most distinctively Polish ways of thinking about death: with dread, yet also with tenderness towards one's ancestors.
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Sources
Frequently asked questions
When were the Dziady celebrated?
Several times a year; the most important were the autumn Dziady at the turn of October and November, and the spring ones.
When did Mickiewicz publish Dziady?
Parts II and IV appeared in 1823 in Vilnius, and Part III in 1832 in Dresden.