Palm Sunday niedziela palmowa is called also The Sunday of the Lord's Passion. Here we will focus mainly on the tradition of Polish palms The most popular palms that people usually carry to the church are made of blooming pussy willows branches called bazie or kotki decorated with branches of birch, raspberry, currant and also some boxwood bukszpan, dry flowers and grass, ribbons and other decorations. In the Catholic Church the willow (Polish: wierzba) symbolizes the resurrection and the immortality of the soul.

1. Polish Easter

2. Sinking of Marzanna
Winters in Poland were long and unforgiving. Therefore people are
longing for spring. One of the ancient and pagan habits that
supposedly was helping to get rid of winter was "sinking of
Marzanna". Kids made a doll from old grass and tree branches and
take it to the river. They burn the doll and throw her into the river.
The symbolic meaning of this ceremony is to get rid of winter
therefore it is performed in early spring.

3. What does it mean for Polish
people and how do we celebrate
this event?
Easter in Poland!

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

5. Delicious Food for Fat
Thursday
The Thursday before Ash Wednesday is
celebrated as Fat Thursday - Tlusty
Czwartek . On this is the day when you
forget about your diet and eat mountains of
donuts (paczki) and all the other things fat,
greasy, sweet, full of cholesterol, generally
unhealthy, and mmmmm.... delicious.

6. Palm Sunday Traditions
Palm Sunday niedziela palmowa is called also The Sunday of the Lord's
Passion. Here we will focus mainly on the tradition of Polish palms
The most popular palms that people usually carry to the church are made of
blooming pussy willows branches called bazie or kotki decorated with
branches of birch, raspberry, currant and also some boxwood bukszpan, dry
flowers and grass, ribbons and other decorations. In the Catholic Church the
willow (Polish: wierzba) symbolizes the resurrection and the immortality of
the soul.

8. Art of Coloring Easter Eggs
The Easter eggs are symbols of fertility and beginning of the new
life. Some of the eggs were painted in traditional Polish folk
patterns. These eggs were called "pisanki". Word "pisanki" comes
from the root-word meaning "to write". Painting eggs is a multi-
layered process of writing on an egg with hot beeswax, dying the
egg, then finally melting and rubbing off the egg for a finished
product.

9. Easter Saturday in Poland
Easter Saturday in Poland is
a busy day. Every Polish
family visits a church with a
basket full of food products
(a piece of bread, salt,
sausage, egg - usually
painted etc). Especially
children love it! The baskets
are then blessed by a priest.

10. 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.

12. Blessing The Food

15. White sausage
is a traditional Polish sausage made from very
finely minced veal and fresh pork bacon.

16. Mazurek - traditional, sweet cake of the Polish
cuisine. Mazurek is being baked in the period of the
Easter. They are being made out of pastes of different
kind: brittle, sponge, pasta, marzipan and is
interleaving with mass, the preserve and jam. The
surface is decorated with the icing, fruit, nuts and
dried fruit. Mazurek can be baked in different shapes -
oval, triangular, square or rectangular.

17. Makowiec is a traditional Polish cake usually
baked around Easter. 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

18. Babka
It is a spongy yeast cake that is traditionally
baked for Easter Sunday. Traditional babka
has some type of fruit filling, especially
raisins, and is glazed with a fruit-flavored
icing, sometimes with rum added. Modern
babka may be chocolate or have a cheese
filling.

20. Wet Monday
Smigus Dyngus (shming-oos-ding-oos) is an
unusual tradition of Easter Monday. This day
(Monday after Easter Sunday) is called also in
Polish "Wet Monday", in Polish: "Mokry
Poniedzialek" or "Lany Poniedzialek". Easter
Monday is also a holiday in Poland. It was
traditionally the day when boys tried to drench
girls with squirt guns or buckets of water.

22. Thank you for watching
Halina April 2014