Abstinence - Old Polish Tradition

Researching history, especially in the aspect of customs, is no easy task, especially because history is usually written by the victorious, and Poles - apart from a few glorious episodes - haven't been such since 1795AD. Nevertheless, some authentic traces can be discovered where the rewrites of history haven't had time to look at. Besides, genetics doesn't lie. Poles don't have the alcoholism gene, and if left on their own, they will live in sobriety, and they apparently avoid drinking even if they are forced to.

This insight is confirmed by the conflict between King Bolesl`aw the Bold and Bishop Stanisl`aw Szczepnowski of Krako`w. The king was irritated that his knights refused to participate in his drunken revelries and would sneak home. The bishop defended them, which costed him dearly, as the king received too many of his admonitions on various matters earlier, hence he could not stand now the condemnation of his drunkhardness.

In short, although we had many saintly rulers, the above example shows that the princely and royal courts did not always set a particularly good example, and yet the people shunned drinking. The situation improved radically when Wl`adysl`aw Jagiel`l`o, a teetotaling king, ascended the throne. Now the folk abstinence came to grace.

The Rise of Polish Empire

True empire means Tradition, that is politically organizing space, a victorious and creative presence in this world of that which is not "of this world." That is, not militarism, wars, or plunder, but precisely this Tradition.

Polish imperial thought envisioned the Polish Nation as a people living by the labor of their hands, whether from agriculture, crafts, trade, construction, mining, or other branches of economic activity. A free people, living in traditional marriages (slavery and polygamy were abolished with the baptism of Poland), with masculine men defending their homes, wives, daughters, and sisters. Living not from robbery, but from their own labor, caring for the country's defense, infrastructure, and so on. In short, rooted in the Catholic faith. In such a society, there is simply no room for drunkenness, robbery, or licentiousness.

This was precisely the Polish empire that emerged from the Battle of Grunwald and shaped the political scene in Europe for the next several centuries.

The reference to the Battle of Grunwald is crucial here. An abstinent king won the victory, culminating in the pouring of Teutonic wine into a lake by Grunwald. From then on, Grunwald became a symbol of Polish abstinence, and at the same time, of Polish nature. Father Piotr Skarga recalled in his seminal "Sejm Sermons" (published in 1597) that in his youth, young, healthy people drank spring water rather than alcohol. He saw - and rightly so - the drunkenness that came to Poland with Protestantism as the seed of the country's downfall, which indeed occurred, because along with alcohol, demoralization creeps into society: licentiousness, laziness, and all their consequences.

Military attempts to regain independence from occupation by Russia, Prussia and Austria ended in failure. Only the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Gietrzwal`d opened the path to freedom. Sincee 27th till September 16th, 1877AD, almost every day (and from July 24th tree times a day) apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary took place here, a total of 160 apparitions, during which the Blessed Virgin Mary spoke in Polish to our countrymen:

1. you shall pray the rosary daily and fervently,
2. you shall reject alcohol and practice abstinence (drunkenness will be punished),
3. you shall fight for purity of morals, including marital fidelity (moral corruption will be punished).

Poles were moved by these apparitions. The outbreak of the first world war was postponed for 40 years. Purity returned. Marriages became faithful and had numerous offspring. The Polish population doubled in those 40 years. Numerous temperance and rosary brotherhoods were established. When World War I broke out, we were able to seize the opportunity and regain independence.

After regaining independence, Poland became a country of flourishing abstinence - alcohol consumption dropped below one liter per capita.

Unfortunately, this was only an average, inflated by Warsaw, and especially by the central authorities residing there, with all its consequences. World War II thus caught the country unprepared, resulting in defeat and occupation by Germany from 1939 to 1945, and from 1945 onwards, it fell under Soviet control. The Germans meticulously murdered the most prominent abstinence activists, which later made the task easier for the socialist rulers.

The next chapter of fight between abstinence loving Poles and external forces imposing drunkhardness began.

Beaten by Drunkhard Propaganda

Few people today remember that from 1949 to 1990, there were two German states: the GDR and the FRG. How did the East German language differ from the West German language? It was easy to tell: during any given 10-minute radio or television broadcast in the East German language, one of three key words rarely found in the West German language would be heard: Marx, Engels, or Lenin.

Socialist countries at the time were quite similar ideologically. Therefore, even on Polish radio and television at the time, during any given 10-minute slot, one of three keywords characteristic of the socialist system would be mentioned. However, these were not Marx, Engels, and Lenin; instead, the dominant trinity was beer, wine, and vodka. Did the change of regime change anything in this regard? According to statistics for 2016, the media broadcast seven hours of alcoholic beverage advertisements every day. So, if we subtract eight hours for sleep, every third minute of the program consists of an alcohol advertisement.

A common saying is, "A man/Pole is not a camel, he needs a drink." If so, why do money-hungry liquor companies waste so much money on alcohol advertising instead of giving their management another mansion in Florida? After all, there are no "Buy Bread" billboards, and yet bread sells. Or maybe alcohol isn't like bread. If Poles were left to their own devices, they might not drink at all? Maybe they would behave like camels?

To answer this question correctly, let's first consider the stakes involved. Revenue from alcohol sales equals one-tenth of our national budget. That's about one hundred thousand single-family homes annually. And the material losses (damaged property, absenteeism, compensation, benefits, etc.) are many times greater. How would the economy thrive without this waste? And families plagued by alcoholism can answer for themselves what eliminating this problem would mean for them.

So let's not delude ourselves - if we don't have this money, someone else does. Someone is systematically taking it away from us. And who can take money from without a shred of protest? Only a master from his slave.

In our nation, not everyone is passionate about slavery. Quite the opposite. We have a thousand-year tradition behind us, a country where slavery has not existed for over a thousand years. This is where the resistance movement developed.

Sobriety is the Natural Human State

The reasons for this resistance seem to be biological in nature. Some medical experts claim that Slavs dislike the taste of vodka (it "shakes" them) because they lack the alcoholism gene. Therefore, to be "in the mood," they must drink heavily, which is very damaging to the body. Therefore, the body defends itself as best it can, which in behavioral terms generally manifests itself in an aversion to alcohol.

Once a Pole escapes the pressure to drink, he or she stops drinking. There are many historical examples. Let's recall a few:

1. Drunkenness was a real social plague in Upper Silesia (under Prussian occupation) in the first half of the 19th century. On Candlemas Day in 1844, Father Alojzy Ficek, along with Father Szczepan Brzozowski, a Franciscan, announced his desire to introduce abstinence from vodka and spirits in his parish. The result? By the end of 1844, within just a few months, Silesian distillery owners had closed down 300 (!) vodka-producing enterprises, and the crime rate also dropped significantly. (source: http://www.trzezwosc.nonpossumus.pl/)
2. Temperance brotherhoods in the part of Poland under Russian occupation were so successful in promoting sobriety that the infamous Russian Tsar Nicholas I "Pal`kin" ordered their dissolution, justifying his decision with the downright grotesque statement that temperance brotherhoods restrict the freedom of tsar's subjects. Freedom to drink vodka without restrictions was tsar's understnding of civil liberties. (from http://www.polonica.net/Czarna_Legenda_6.htm)
3. Between 1875 and 1914, as a followup of Gietrzwal`d apparitions, alcohol consumption halved, from 9 to 4.5 liters of pure spirit per capita. (Anna Wasak, "Save Poland from Drunkenness," Nasz Dziennik)
4. To some extent confirming the prophecy of Blessed Father Bronisl`aw Markiewicz, "Either Poland will be sober or it will not exist at all," Poland regained independence in 1918 on November 11, the feast day of St. Martin, the patron saint of abstinents.
5. During the interwar period, which was characterized by the dynamic development of Polish capital (the share of Polish capital ownership increased from 20% to 90%), sobriety work led to a situation where alcohol consumption was below 1 liter per capita (0.7 liters in 1937).
6. In 2001, Poland was among the two European countries with the lowest alcohol consumption per capita (consumption in Poland was 6.7 liters of 100% alcohol per capita, and in the European Union only in Sweden it was lower, i.e. 4.9 liters per capita, while in other countries, such as Germany – 10.2 liters, France – 10.5, Ireland – 10.8, Luxembourg – 12.4 liters per capita) (source: http://www.qcm2.quicksilver.pl/img/27/Analiza%20rynku%20spirytusowego%20w%20Polsce%20-%20Raport.pdf, table 17, p. 18, and figure 5, p. 17)
7. Around 2007, the structure of alcohol consumption in Poland was roughly as follows:

   The structure of the adult part of Polish society around 2007

   Area - share in total consumption, width - share in population, height - level of consumption National average liters of pure alcohol per capita = 9.21 see http://www.parpa.pl/index.php/badania-i-informacje-statystyczne/statystyki 0 l alc./pers. 0.4 l alcohol/person 1.8 l alcohol/person 8 l alcohol/person 40.6 l alcohol/person 15% of population 25% of population 20% of population 23% of population 17% of population voluntry abstinents inclined to sobriety low-risk drinkers mean-risk drinkers high-risk drinkers

   Explanations:

   • 15% of the adult population are completely abstinent from alcohol.
   • 25% of the adult population drank less than once every two years (the sober-prone category, approximately 1% of total alcohol consumption).
   • 20% of the adult population drank twice a year (the low-risk category, approximately 4% of total alcohol consumption).
   • 23% of the adult population drank approximately 20% of total alcohol consumption (the medium-risk category, consumption around the national average).
   • 17% of the adult population drank approximately 75% of total alcohol consumption (the high-risk category, consumption at a multiple of the national average).
   This means in plain English that for approximately 60% of the Polish population, alcohol might be completely nonexistent. The first two categories, those leading a sober lifestyle, are similar in size to Radio Maryja's listeners, where alcohol is not advertised either overtly or covertly. Eighty percent of the population drinks significantly below the national average.

Let's recall that the tradition of abstinence in Poland dates back at least to the time of the abstinent king Wl`adysl`aw Jagiel`l`o (1362-1434), who is remembered for pouring Teutonic wine into a lake after the magnificent victory at Grunwald. Even in the youth of the God's servant Piotr Skarga (1536-1612), spring water was the drink of choice for healthy people in Poland.

Non Alcoholic Wddings - Towards Salvation

The reason of Polish state is the salvation of all its citizens. Drinking is hereby the main obstacle, hence the abstinence is the realization of state reason. The abstinence starts with non alcoholic weddings. It is nowadays know that two centuries age Polish bishops called for non alcoholic weddings. Sixty years age Polish bishops obliged the faithful to have non alcoholic weddings. These facts are regrettably not known to general public. Only clever search in old archives reveals these facts. It remains unknown if such calls were issued also earlier. This is due to the fact that recently the history is written by occupiers of our country. So it is the more striking that since late 1980ties there have been more than 20,000 non-alcoholic weddings in Poland. This is simply a grass root movement. And this is a wave of future for Poland.

See also Why Nonalcoholic Wedding

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