Zaślubiny we współczesnym folklorze słownym Polaków

ESPOUSALS IN CONTEMPORARY POLISH ORAL FOLKLORE This article focuses on contemporary oral accounts related to espousals.The sources analyzed herein are ca. 2000 narratives recorded in the years 2010-2012 in central and northern Poland. The discussed material can be divided into two groups of accounts. The first one, which is a projection of magical thinking, includes simple pieces of information about situations to be avoided and means to be taken to get married quickly and happily. The second group includes longer stories about tragic fates of brides who die during wedding partiesThe author stresses that contemporary folklore related to espousals is not a continuation of past folk beliefs.The common elements connecting traditional beliefs with the new ones are the young girl—who has become the central part of oral stories—and the motif of death related to the liminality of the wedding as a ritual of passage.