Polish Traditions - ancient festivals

My first Easter in Poland during 2009 was a real eye opener. Never had i witnessed a religious ceremony such as this, I was fortunate enough during my very first visit to Poland to be invited to join in on the celebrations and I had the privilege to take part in the ceremonies and festivities associated with such an occasion.
Although my first visit to a Polish church was actually in Philadelphia in the strong Polish community of Port Richmond, but since then i have taken part in many church services in my now hometown of Siemiatycze, joining my partner and his family i can say with hand on heart there is nothing that compares to a Polish church service in Poland. Raised Church of England and attending sunday school i would consider myself quite independent when it comes to my religious beliefs, but that said i feel very strongly that the church and it's community here in this part of eastern Poland is responsible for such a large tight knit and loving family unit. The church really does play a role in the daily lives of 90% of the community here, something i have never had the opportunity to be a part of before.

You will no doubt be well aware that Easter is the major Christian festival celebrated in order to commemorate the holy resurrection of Jesus Christ after his crucifixion. This festival is celebrated as the holy day of hope and auspiciousness in all the countries where the people of Christian community reside. This festival is generally marked with extensive church service and festivities. Though the celebration of Easter is more or less the same in every country, a little difference can be observed in regional practices and traditions and were as in some countries it simply lasts one or two days here in Poland it is prepared for well in advance and last the best part of a week

While religious ceremonies follow the rituals of the Christian church, Easter celebrations have elements of native Polish culture. There are several such traditions that seem to be the confluence of the Polish and Christian culture. Therefore apart from some regular Easter rituals, there are certain Polish rituals which make Easter celebrations, a little different in the country.
Such as:
Pysanky - Dyed Easter Eggs Blessing Basket Babka - Easter Bread of Life
Photo credit: Wikipedia Creative commons

Certainly not jewels, but picket fences, melted candle wax, walnut shells and shoes are a girls best friend on this special night.
Between November the 26th and 29th - just before the full moon is the Eve of St. Andrew's Day (St. Andrzejki Day). This is a special time for young Polish girls who want to find a husband.
On this night and the next day, fortunes are told and the results are not taken lightly.

Here are a few ways that fortunes are told:

The most popular way is by melting wax and pouring it into a bowl of cold water. Wax is then picked up from the water, raised to the light, and the girls try to see the similarities of it to real objects.

Depending on the shapes, fortunes are told for the following year. If nothing meaningful comes up, there is always a chance that a girl will dream of something important dealing with her future, that night - but only if she could remember it.

An another traditional Polish customs way of fortune telling, girls stand in a circle leaning over a bowl of water with a small floating walnut shell containing a tiny-lighted candle. Each girl pastes a slip of paper with the name of a favored young man on the inside edge of the bowl above the water. To whichever name the lighted candle sailed to and burnt, a marriage proposal from him could be expected.
Photo Credit: Wikimedia

My first experience of All Saint's Day is one i will never forget and on many trips to the gravesides of loved ones i still see the millions of candles flickering in the cool evening breeze. A visit to most cemeteries in the UK or USA is often one that leaves a bad taste in the mouth, Often unkempt and uncared for graves are often abandoned by loved ones and left to decay. I have even seen churchyards locked because health and safety rules declare it unsafe to enter. A sad state of affairs in a country where religion has lost some of it's meaning over the last few decades.

Take a step back 15-20 and your in Poland and i mean no disrespect to the Polish this is a compliment to a country where traditional values have been upheld and religion is a very strong part of every community. That said i am not a religious person born Church of England and attended sunday school was about all i could musture.
On visiting Poland in 2010 i was amased by the strong religious beliefs still held dear by many families throughout the country.

On November 1st and 2nd, and lasting approx 7 days - virtually the entire country will head out to cemeteries across Poland. Day and night, candles and flowers will be laid on the graves of the departed. This may sound like a pretty heavy scenario, and not the kind of thing that foreigners might want to investigate. But if you're new to Poland, this is a moment that's not to be missed.

There is some would say a morbid side to All Souls and All Saints, but there is also a strong element of magic. Foregoing All Saints would be like traveling to Orlando and not visiting Disneyland.
Photo taken with Cannon Digital Camera in Siemiatycze Cemetery 2010

Step through the Gothic gateway of any Polish Cemetery as night falls and you'll find yourself in a parallel world. Thousands of candles in transparent, coloured vases gather on graves and at the foot of memorials. Often Priests singing psalms wander the paths covered with crisp frost covered autumn leaves, clouds of incense and candle smoke wafting over the heads of onlookers. Fresh flowers adorn every corner. It feels like you're walking through a sort of meadow of glowing colours.
All about, there's a hushed, respectful atmosphere - it's an incredibly dignified tribute to the dearly departed and an experience i will never forget.

The preparation for the Festival begins some weeks before the first of November where stores and florist begin setting up and ordering extra candles, silk flowers, pot chrysanthemums in their thousands. Families visit the cemeteries weeks prior to the event and clear the summers overgrowth of weeds and debris. Washing down the often marble graves and headstones and polishing them to a shine all this takes place in complete silence even friends and neighbours are respectful of the dead and not a word is spoken until leaving the cemetery gates.

What amazes me most is that not only do people care for there own relatives headstones but they also tend and care for friends and families graves. Ensuring not one graveside is left unkempt or unloved. A celebration of life after death that i one one have neither witnessed or shall ever forget.
Photo taken with permission at Siemiatycze Cemetery 2010

Details vary, depending on geographic location and personal preferences. However we can specify the most popular dishes. The dinner usually starts with red borsch (red beetroot) and pasta stuffed with Borowiki mushrooms. Some people though serve herring as a starter, before the soup. Then come dumplings (pierogi), stuffed with sauerkraut and mushrooms.

An indispensible and actually the central dish of the dinner is fish. The classsic Christmas Eve fish in Poland is carp. But sometimes people replace it with some other kind, say trout or salmon. The fish is served fried. Frequently jellied carp is also prepared for Christmas.

A sweet dessert follows. The most typical is poppy seed cake or kutia. The latter is frequently encountered in the eastern part of the country. It consists mainly of cereals, poppy seed and honey.

Cheesecake and other kinds of cakes are possible too.
It is worth mentioning that Christmas Eve dinner is preceeded with sharing wishes with every one present, along with sharing a piece of a Christmas wafer (op%u0142atek) with them. The wafer cannot be considered a dish of course. It's more of a symbolic element which stresses the solemnity of the moment. Another tradition is to leave an empty plate for an unexpected guest who might appear.
During "proper" Christmas Day (after Christmas Eve) there are no strict traditions. Dishes are prepared freely to suit taste. Certainly poultry deserves mentioning. Duck is very popular (especially roasted with apples). Goose and chicken are also common. Generally, Poles indulge in food during Christmas. Heavier dishes and sweets abound. As a result the beneficiary effects of the healthy Christmas Eve dinner are all in all lost.
But it is fully excusable to enjoy the tasty Polish cuisine especially during Christmas.
picture from Wikipedia creative commons

Christmas is a special time for Polish families. Christmas Eve being the most important day during this festive season. On that day a traditional dinner is served in almost every Polish home. The dinner begins in the evening. In the past it used to include as many as twelve dishes. These days not many people still prepare that amount of food. Polish Christmas Eve dinner is still a remarkable event.
Tradition requires that Christmas Eve dishes are meatless, this custom is still generally observed in Poland. Christmas Eve dishes are actually quite healthy, because they include mainly fish, vegetables and cereals. So what does a typical modern dinner on that special day in Poland look like?
Photo Credit: Wikimedia

Traditionally it is a day when people eat big amounts of sweets and cakes - that are afterwards forbidden until Easter.
Fat Thursday in February before lent is especially popular in Poland and Catholic part of Germany.
The date is closely connected with Easter and beginning of the Lent, Tlusty Czwartek belongs to moveable feasts.
The next Thursday falls already after Ash Wednesday - that is the period of the Lent when the Catholics should restrain from overeating.
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Photo Credit: Wikimedia

In 1918, after 123 years of occupation, the Polish state was reborn and regained its independence. Autumn 1918 marked the end of World War I and the defeat of all three occupiers. Russia was plunged into the confusion of revolution and civil war, the multinational Austro-Hungarian monarchy fell apart and went into decline and the Germans bowed to pressure from the forces of the Entente.

For Poles this was a unique opportunity to reclaim their national way of life. Following defeat of the occupying forces, the Poles began to seize military and civil power, building the foundations of their future nation. On 28th October 1918 the Polish Liquidation Commission was formed in Krakow. The Commission began to seize power from the hands of the Austrians in Galicia and Cieszyn Silesia. A few days later they succeeded in disarming the Austrian forces using members of the secret Polish Military Organisation as well as legionnaires and young people.On 1st November 1918 fighting broke in Lvov out between the Poles and the Ukrainians who were mounting a rebellion of the West Ukrainian People's Republic.

On the nights of 6th and 7th November the Provisional Government of the People's Republic of Poland was formed in Lublin under the supervision of Ignacy Daszy%u0144ski. The government was made up of representatives from the Polish Socialist Party (PPS), the Polish Social-Democratic Party (PPSD) and the Polish People's Party "Wyzwolenie" (Liberation). At the same time the Government troops disarmed the occupying forces in Lubelszczyzna and Kielecczyzna. It was at this point that Józef Pilsudski returned to Poland. He had been imprisoned since July 1917 by the Germans. On 10th November 1918 he arrived in Warsaw. His arrival was enthusiastically met by the population of the capital and saw the mass disarmament of the occupying forces across the whole of Poland.

On 11th November 1918 the secret departments of the Polish Military Organisation, demobilized soldiers, legionnaires and young people, disarmed the Germans in Warsaw and other Polish towns.
On 11th November the Regency Government appointed Józef Pilsudski Commander-in-Chief over the Polish Forces and three days later Pilsudski was given complete civil control. The day before he was also put in charge of the Provisional Government of the People's Republic of Poland in Lublin. Józef Pilsudski formed a new centralized government which on 21st November issued a manifesto announcing agricultural reforms and the nationalization of several branches of industry. He declared, however, that these measures would depend on the decision of the future legislative government. At the same time Józef Pilsudski brought in highly favourable conditions for the workers and called parliamentary elections.
On 22nd November Jozef Pilsudski was appointed Chief of State and together with the Prime Minister signed a decree about the provisional authorities of the Polish Republic. The Polish people had to fight bloody battles to preserve their regained independence.
On 27th December 1918 a Polish uprising broke out which restored Poland as the motherland. In Eastern Galicia there was a hard-fought battle with the Ukrainians and in the Eastern parts of Poland self-armed divisions fought with the Bolsheviks. Moreover, three uprisings were needed in Silesia before the Upper Silesia area was once again within Polish borders.

A turning point in the rebirth of the Republic was the Battle of Warsaw in which the Polish people fought to regain independence.
To commemorate the formation of an independent centre of authority in reborn Poland, 11th November, the day when Jozef Pilsudski took power, was officially recognized as a national holiday in 1937. However, since 1919 this day has been celebrated as the Day of Polish Independence. Since then it has been one of the most important celebrations for Poles both in Poland and abroad.
After World War II the Polish People's authorities removed Independence Day from the calendar but not from the hearts of the Polish people. The reclamation of independence continued to be celebrated annually on 11th November. In 1989 the 9th term of the Sejm government gave the holiday back to the Polish people.