Traditions and Costoms.
Like with people from all countries, the Polish have their own set of customs and traditions that they like to celebrate.
One cannot deny that the Poles like to have fun and their wonderful sense of merrymaking can be seen in many of their traditional customs. Religious festivals such as Christmas, Easter, Corpus Christi and All Saints Day are celebrated with pomp and splendour.
Some of the most observed events include:
Christmas Eve -- Families gather together to enjoy Wigilia, a feast of 7-12 specially prepared dishes that do not include red meat. Before commencing, oplatek wafers are shared with those present and everyone wishes each other all the best for Christmas and the year to come. The Wigilia dinner usually includes beetroot soup with dumplings, carp, a range of vegetables, dumplings with mushrooms and cabbage, cabbage cooked with wild mushrooms, poppy seed and honey cakes as well as stewed fruit. Hay is placed under the table cloth for good luck and an extra place is often set for any unexpected guest or stranger that might hap by. After dinner carols are sung and gifts are unwrapped.
Fat Thursday – A literal feast, where one has licence to gorge on fat, sweets and cakes before the fasting time of Lent begins. The jam filled doughnut “paczki” is the traditional cake of choice for the last Thursday before Lent.
Shrovetide – The Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday are known as Shrovetide. This is the last opportunity to party before the fasting of Lent begins. Shrovetide is celebrated with food and drink throughout the country. Typically Shrovetide ends with a meal of raw herring in oil.
Lent – 40 days of fasting, confessions and prayer. For Polish Catholics, Lent is an incredibly spiritual season that culminates on Good Friday.
Easter – On Easter Saturday baskets, prepared with eggs, cakes, sausage, horseradish and bread are taken to be blessed by a Priest. Lent is officially over once the basket has been blessed. The family breakfast, on Easter Sunday morning, is an important part of the Easter tradition. Beautifully decorated tables are covered with coloured eggs, cold meats, sausages, ham, poppy seed cakes and a lamb made of sugar -- representing the resurrection of Christ.
Smingus Dyngus, celebrated on Easter Monday, is a tradition which involves splashing each other with water. In the past, teenage boys would sprinkle girls with water for good luck with finding a husband.
Midsummer Festival – St John’s night is usually celebrated with all-night festivities around a bonfire on the 24th of June. Celebrations include music, dancing and fireworks. Traditionally women threw wreaths of herbs into the river with the hope that their future husband would find it and fall in love with them. Today, candle-lit wreaths are floated on the Vistula river to commemorate midsummer.
All Souls Day – On November 1, flowers and candles are placed in cemeteries throughout the country in honour of the dead. Although an incredibly solemn occasion, All Souls Day is also strangely stirring and beautiful – particularly in Krakow.