Transcript Polish Holidays

 Poles are seen as a nation of fun
lovers who enjoy festivities,
traditions and centuries-old
customs.
 The most ancient rituals, especially
those dating back to pagan times,
have long lost their magical
character, becoming a
colourful vestige of the past and a
form of amusement.
 Links with tradition are felt the
strongest during the greatest
religious feasts, such as Christmas,
Easter, Corpus Christi processions
and All Saints' Day.

The New Year's Day and its eve, known
in Poland as Sylwester (St. Silvester's
Day), begins the carnival - a period of
balls and parties.

One of the traditional forms of
having fun is kulig (sleigh rides), for
centuries favoured by the Polish gentry
and still popular. A cavalcade of horsepulled sleighs and sledges went from
one manor house to another,
entertained everywhere with hearty
meals followed by dances.
Today the rides are less spectacular,
usually ending with a bonfire and
sausages or the traditional bigos.

The last Thursday of the carnival we
eat pączki (doughnuts) and deep-fried
narrow strips of pastry known
as faworki.

The carnival ends with revelry on Shrove
Tuesday known as śledzik or
śledziówka - the "herring feast", after
the herrings eaten on that day as a herald
of the coming Lent.
 Marzanna ("frost maiden") is the pogan
tradition which is still popular in Poland and
is held on the fourth Sunday of Lent.

For ancestors, the custom was associated
with the everlasting rhythm of life. It
expressed their joy at the coming of
spring, which meant a rebirth of nature,
promising crops and abundance.
 Marzanna was a representation of winter,
a straw female effigy, dressed in white and
adorned with coral beads and ribbons.
 It’s drowned on 21 March, which is the first
day of spring and an unofficial truants' day.

Palm Sunday is the most colourful religious feast
before Easter , celebrated in churches across the
country to commemorate Christ's triumphant
entry into Jerusalem.

The main attribute associated with that day are
the palms. Despite the name, they hardly resemble
the real palm branches with which Jesus was greeted
in the Holy City. Typically, they are bouquets of
common box, dried flowers and willow twigs.
Some regions are noted for particularly impressive
palms, several metres high and decorated with
coloured ribbons, dyed grass, dried or artificial
flowers.

In the past it was believed that a palm blessed at a
mass has special properties; for example, it can
prevent disease. After the mass, people hit each
other with their palms, exchanging wishes of
health, wealth and bumper crops.

On
people bring baskets of their Easter food to church for a special blessing. The basket should contain at least
seven kinds of food: Bread, ensuring good fortune, Eggs stands for re-birth, life's victory over
death. Salt is a life-giving mineral, once believed to keep away all evil. Smoked meat ensures health,
fertility and abundance. Cheese represents friendship between man and nature. Horseradish is a symbol
of strength and physical fitness. Cake (usually an Easter pound cake, round wheat cake and mazurek) it
symbolises skills and perfection.

Decorating
has become an element of folk culture, with distinct regional
differences. Traditionally, before they are dyed the eggs are painted over (using a funnel-like tool)
with a pattern in molten wax, which, when dry, will not adsorb the dye and is later scraped away to leave a
traced decoration on the painted egg. In some regions, white bulrush cores and coloured wool or
miniature paper cut-outs are glued to the egg shell. A Pomeranian variety is an egg in one colour only,
obtained by using natural dyes from leaves, tree bark, onion scales, cones, mallow flowers, camomile,
reed, nut shells, nettle leaves, larch needles and many other plants. In Silesia, dyed eggs are decorated with
elaborate patterns scraped off the dyed shell with a sharp stylus.
 Granny's Day (21 January)
 Women's Day (8 March),
 Mother's Day (26 May),
 Children's Day (1 June),
 The two main national holidays are
the anniversary of the Restoration
of Independence in 1918,
celebrated on 11 November.
 The anniversary of the Passing of
Poland's first Constitution on 3
May 1791.
 These are official holidays with
ceremonies, marches, concerts
and other festivities.

Polish tradition of lighting candles and
visiting the graves of the relatives on All
Souls Day. Its origins can be traced to the
times of Slavic mythology.

The tradition of lighting candles comes from
ancient slavic Dziady feast and originally
would take place on All Souls' Day.

The first day of November is a holiday in Poland.
As many people make journeys to visit the
places of burial of their relatives, heavy
traffic develops as well as accident statistics
peak. Most commercial activity also ceases.

Streets are filled with silent and solemn crowds,
and cemeteries glow with thousands of candles,
presenting a unique and picturesque scene.
 A well-established Polish tradition on the 29th of November.
 the last festive day before Advent, with fortune-telling to check
what the new year will bring.
 The best-known method is by pouring hot wax into cold water and
"reading" its shapes.

It is a very festive holiday in Poland. Many
customs, ceremonies and beliefs centre around
CHRISTMAS EVE such as: X-mass tree
decorations, 12 dishes symbolizing 12 apostoles:
borscht with dumplings, cabbage with peas
and mushrooms., carp, noodles with poppy
seeds, dried fruit compote and kutia, pies
with mushrooms, dumplings with cabbage,
herrings, mushroom soup and poppy-seed
cake , as well as the custom of keeping a plate
for an unexpected guest.

Traditionally, it begins when the first star
appears in the sky. First, there is a prayer and
then the family wish each other all the best for
the new year and, as a sign of reconciliation, love,
friendship and peace sharing opłatekChristmas wafers that symbolise holy bread.
After that we have dinner and then open
presents.
 A popular event during the period after
Christmas is jasełka, a Nativity play staged
by amateurs.
 At the countryside, you can still see carol
singers who go from house to house with a
star or Nativity crib.
 They are often dressed up and improvise
scenes that loosely draw upon biblical
motives. Typically, the characters are: King
Herod, Angel, Devil, Death, sometimes
Gypsy and a bear or goat.
Source: Internet