Polish Easter

1. PolishEaster

2. Easter in Poland!Easter is a holiday which begins spring. What does it mean for Polish people and how do we celebrate this event? Here is a short presentation

3. Easter is very important for Polish people from the religious point of view, as Poland is a veryCatholic country. It is preceded, according to the religious tradition, by the Lent, which lasts for 40 days.

4. The week preceding Easter is the time of the intensive preparations, at the religious level and on the practical side. It all starts with Branch Sunday (Palm Sunday). On this day people go to churches with colourful palms in their hands to have them blessed by the priest. This tradition is very alive in certain parts ofPoland. There are even some contests organised, where the longest palm wins.

5. Palm Sunday is the beginning of Holy Week. This week is time of deep reflection, therefore some parishesorganise theso called „Rekolekcje” when the Catholics can go to church on specialMasses to prepare spiritually to Easter. On Holy Fridayan exceptional Mass takes place - „Way of the Cross” - then the last moments of Jesus Christ`s life is read out from the Bible.

6. Saturday, according to the old Polish tradition, is the day when the so called„holy menu” is blessed by the priest at church. That is the final point of Easter preparation: houses arealready cleanand all the dishes for 2-day-feast should be ready, as when the „blessed food" is in the house, there is not any more right to do preparation work. It is the time of reflection and vigil in church at the symbolic tomb of Jesus Christ.

7. What is it the „holy menu”? It is called „święconka”, in English „blessed food”. It a small garnished basket, where people put some hard-boiled eggs, bread, salt, meat, fruit and an Easter bunny, and they take it to churchto have it blessed.The „blessed food” will start breakfast on Holy Sunday.

9. Polish people also observe the habit of decorating eggs. These eggs are called in Polish „Pisanki” or „Kraszanki”. They are usually colourfully painted or dyed. They can be also embellished with wax designs or the patterns can be carved in the shell with the use of a sharp tool. These beautiful eggs will be then a decoration of the table!

10. Easter Sunday starts with Resurrection Mass at 6 a.m. After that, the whole family gathers at the table full of delicious things and have breakfast, which starts with a prayer. Then, the „holy food” is divided into chunks andevery member of the family gets a small piece of it. Only then people can savour the rest of the dishes. Such breakfast can last long hours, as Polish people like to feast.

12. Easter Monday in Poland is known as Wet Monday or Śmigus-Dyngus. During that day, it is allowed to pour water on others, even some unknown! So the best thing you can do, if you want to have dry clothes, is to stay at home, otherwise you have to take into account that you may get soaking wet! Formerly, pouring water on unmarried girls was the way of showing them men`s inerest. The more water the man poured on the girl, the more he liked her! Then the girl used to thank the boy for choosing her by offeringhim some decorated eggs!