Transcript Document

The Palm Sunday is a moveable
feast which always falls on the
Sunday before Easter .
In many Polish towns and villages
(the best known are Lipnica
Murowana in Małopolska and Łyse in
Podlasie) there are palm
competitions. The winners are the
owners of the most beautiful and
the highest palms. The palms
sometimes are even 15 meters long.
The region of Kurpie is also popular
of making tall Easter Sunday palms
out of small trees and decorating
them with flowers and other
ornaments in order to protect their
houses from ghosts.
The Easter Sunday In the morning
the whole family waits for having
Easter breakfast together which we
traditionally start with wishing one
another all the best and sharing the
food from the basket that was
blessed on Easter Saturday. We
usually serve eggs, cold cooked
meats, salads and cakes among which
the most popular are ”mazurek” and
”babka”. Easter tables are
beautifully decorated with bunches
of catkins and the first spring
flowers. In some regions, e.g. in
Silesia, parents hide some sweets in
the garden and the children look for
them. Nowadays this custom is
spread in the form of giving each
other small gifts, called ”little
hares” on that day. On Easter
Sunday people mostly stay at home
with their families. They usually go
out and meet friends on Easter
The Wet Monday or ”Dyngus” Day
(Polish Śmigus-dyngus, Lany
Poniedziałek) is the name of Polish
Easter Monday. Once it was a
custom that boys awake girls early
in the morning by pouring a bucket
of cold water on their heads and
striking them with long thin twigs or
switches made from willow, birch or
decorated tree branches.
Now, both boys and girls pour some
water on one another on Easter
Monday whereas in some Polish
cities people sprinkle some perfume
on each other instead of water.
Święconka meaning "the blessing of
the Easter baskets," is one of the
most enduring and beloved Polish
traditions on Holy Saturday .
Baskets containing a sampling of
Easter foods are brought to church
to be blessed on Holy Saturday. The
basket is traditionally lined with a
white linen or lace napkin and
decorated with sprigs of boxwood
(bukszpan), the typical Easter
evergreen. Poles take special pride
in preparing a decorative and
tasteful basket.
Polish ”pisanka” is a common name
for an egg (usually that of a
chicken),ornamented using various
techniques. Originating as a pagan
tradition, pisanki were absorbed by
Christianity to become the
traditional Easter egg. Pisanki now
symbolise the revival of nature and
the hope that Christians gain from
faith in the resurrection of Jesus.
Today in Poland, eggs and pisanki are
hallowed on Easter Saturday along
with the traditional Easter basket.
On Easter Sunday, before the
ceremonial breakfast, these eggs
are exchanged and shared among
the family at the table. This is a
symbol of friendship, similar to the
sharing of the Opłatek (Christmas
wafer) on Christmas Eve.
The Easter Bunny
According to the legend, only good
children received gifts of colored
eggs in the nests that they made in
their caps and bonnets before Easter
The Easter Bunny is a rabbit
character who brings gifts and candy
to children on the Easter holiday.
Babka
It is a spongy yeast cake that
is traditionally baked for
Easter Sunday. Traditional
babka has some type of fruit
Mazurek - traditional, sweet cake of
filling, especially raisins, and is
the Polish cuisine. Mazurek is being
glazed with a fruit-flavored
baked in the period of the Easter.
icing, sometimes with rum
They are being made out of pastes of
added. Modern babka may be
different kind: brittle, sponge, pasta,
chocolate or have a cheese
marzipan and is interleaving with mass,
filling.
the preserve and jam. The surface is
decorated with the icing, fruit, nuts
and dried fruit. Mazurek can be baked
Makowiec
is a traditional
Polish
in different
shapes - oval,
triangular,
cake
usually
baked
around
Easter.
square or rectangular.
The cake consists of dough with a
filling of poppy seeds, raisins,
milk, butter, orange peel and nuts
such as walnuts or almonds. The
cake can be finished with a glaze
made of powdered sugar and
lemon juice
White sausage
is a traditional Polish
sausage made from very
finely minced veal and
fresh pork bacon.
The butter lamb (Baranek wielkanocny)
is a traditional addition to the Easter
Meal for many Polish Catholics. Butter is
shaped into a lamb either by hand or in a
lamb-shaped mould. It is also sold at
delis, Polish specialty markets, and some
general grocery stores at Easter time.
Frequently the eyes are represented by
peppercorns and a Polish flag on a
toothpick is placed on its back.
Żurek also known as Żur is a soup made from
soured rye flour and mea. In Poland it is
sometimes served in an edible bowl made of
bread or with boiled potatoes. The recipe
varies from region to region.
In the Podlasie region, it is common to eat
Żurek with the halves of boiled eggs.
In Poland ”żurek” is traditionally eaten on
Easter, but not only.
Pasztet it is a pate, made of the
mixture of the raw, cooked or
baked meat, giblets, poultry, game,
vegetables, mushrooms, fish or
cheese.
A cooked ham is an Easter
traditional dish on Polish table.
Easter eggs are specially
decorated eggs given to celebrate
the Easter holiday or springtime.
The oldest tradition is to use dyed
and painted chicken eggs, but a
modern custom is to substitute
chocolate eggs by plastic eggs
filled with confectionery such as
jellybeans. These eggs are often
hidden, supposedly by the Easter
Bunny, for children to find on
Easter morning.
worked out on the
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WIKIPEDIA
Ula Żurańska