In Poland, the Midsummer celebration is also called Sobótka, a diminutive form connected with the word for Saturday.
Sobótka is one of several Polish names associated with the summer-solstice or Saint John’s celebrations. The word is related to sobota, “Saturday,” and is commonly explained as meaning “little Saturday.” In traditional reckoning, the festivities took place on the eve of Saint John’s Day, around June 23–24, when the night was linked with bonfires, water, flowers and supernatural beliefs.
Regional names and customs differ. Noc Świętojańska means Saint John’s Night, while Noc Kupały or Kupalnocka is another name found in Polish and wider Slavic contexts. In Kraków, Wianki refers especially to a wreath-floating festival, not necessarily the universal name for the entire holiday. Traditional activities included lighting fires, jumping over them, floating flower garlands on rivers and searching symbolically for the fern flower, a legendary plant said to bloom only on Midsummer night. Thus Sobótka is the answer sought by the etymological clue, even though Polish Midsummer has several legitimate names.