Like every year winter gives way to spring, the nature slowly comes back to life. Everything around us will be gradually reborn after a long time of winter hibernation, which we don’t really want here any longer. I just love this time between winter freezing cold weather and hot summer days, as it sets me into a really good mood. Days get slowly longer and we don’t miss the feel of the sun on our faces. Everything comes back to life again, from the smallest and seemingly unimportant creatures to ourselves – individuals, who are totally aware of these cyclic moments of spring rebirth. It’s also the time during which we celebrate the most important Christian holiday – Easter, which symbolizes coming back to life and gives us hope for our future salvation. Every country celebrates this special time in a slightly different way, as you probably already know I’m a huge fan of Greece and I had a chance to spend one of my Easter holidays in this beautiful country. I was amazed with the way people celebrate this feast, as traditional processions are accompanied there by lighting candles and firework displays. I associated this way of celebrating more with the New Year’s Eve. Taking into account the importance of this Christian feast, I think this cheerful mood was really justified. Today I’m going to focus more on Polish Easter traditions, which are truly important for me, and which I’m going to preserve in the future.
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Easter markets.
The most famous markets take place before Christmas, however Easter markets are also very charming. You can buy everything you need at numerous stalls, from Easter palms, colourful Easter eggs or baskets to homemade baked goods and other fresh produce. This year I had a chance to take part in the market organized in my hometown Jaworzno. The school, in which I work, together 
with its students could sell beautiful handicrafts, as well as delicious homemade cakes. All the goods were sold to support the budgets of schools, which took part in the Easter market. I couldn’t resist and I also had to buy some ornaments. I bought a lovely decorated basket filled with colourful Easter eggs. I was skillfully bribed to take it by some colleagues from school in which I used to teach … they offered me a free muffin, which I couldn’t really resist. Besides the basket I also bought an Easter wreath, which beautifully decorates my window. What’s more, I got some ornaments made of salt dough, which were lovely painted and will be a great additional accessory on the table during Easter breakfast.
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Easter ornaments.
Like every year our homes are cheerfully embellished with bunnies, chicks, colourful eggs and wreathes so typical of Easter. I just love elaborately decorated Easter eggs, which very often become miniature artworks. They can be prepared with the use of different techniques, from painting to sticking ornaments on their surface. Decorations may not be the most important during this feast, and should be placed much further on this list, however I think it’s a very pleasant touch, which makes smile not only you, but also your close ones. As a child I just loved waiting for a so called Easter bunny, which secretly sneaked into my house at night, and left little gifts in a previously prepared nest. I think that every child loves this kind of presents. Another great idea is hunting for Easter eggs, which were previously hidden by parents in different parts of home or garden, and then collected by kids and put into the wicker baskets.
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Sending cards.
As I’ve already mentioned in one of my previous articles, I love sending cards for different occasions, as they are a very simple way to show our close ones and friends, regardless of the place where they live, that we always remember about them, and especially during holidays like Easter, which are the time full of reflection. Don’t exchange lovely embellished Easter cards with text messages or e-mails, this cheerful Easter mood should also accompany your wishes.
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Palm Sunday.
Palm Sunday was established to commemorate Christ’s arrival in Jerusalem. It’s a Sunday preceding Easter, during which we bring colourfully decorated Easter palms to church. As a child I loved taking part in processions and carrying proudly earlier prepared at home palms. In some regions of Poland there are held contests for the most beautiful and the tallest Easter palms, which can be made of various materials, and one can use different ornaments to prepare them. This feast is the beginning of the Holy Week, which gives food for reflection and prepares us for the proper celebration of Easter.
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Blessing of the Easter basket.
On Holy Saturday families go to church to bless Easter baskets filled with various treats, which later appear on the Easter table. Food placed in the Easter baskets includes: eggs, sugar or baked lambs, salt, horseradish, cold meat and cakes, which have their own imagery and are put in the Easter baskets for centuries. After having blessed previously prepared food, people can start eating meals containing meat. In some homes, families eat meat on Holy Saturday, and in other ones they wait until the breakfast on Easter Sunday.
Typical dishes cooked for this feast include eggs and sour rye soup. You can’t also miss sweet treats, such as well known Easter cakes and chocolate sweets.
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Easter Sunday.
Easter Sunday starts with a traditional breakfast during which members of a given family share food previously blessed in the Easter baskets. It’s the perfect moment for chats and spending time with your close ones. After this formal breakfast, there’s time for coffee and sweet treats. Later on during the day, people go to church and keep celebrating the Resurrection.
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Wet Monday.
Wet Monday is one of the funniest Easter traditions, during which we can symbolically pour our family and friends with water. Single girls are especially exposed to water baths. On that day they are eagerly visited buy single guys. While being a child and a teenager I used to have goose bumps, since boys didn’t know the limits and didn’t pay much attention to the weather conditions … they kept pouring girls and other people with huge amounts of water earlier prepared in the buckets or bathtubs. Sometimes they hid on the roofs of the buildings, as well as the bridges and took the unaware pedestrians by surprise. During past few years people have come back to symbolical puring girls and friends with water, thanks to the immediate actions taken by the police, who started punishing for exaggerated interpretation of this fun tradition.
I hope you also try to preserve Easter customs. I wish you Happy Easter spent in the circle of your family and friends. I also hope that this time will abound in pleasant moments at the fully set tables … and maybe most importantly that you’ll have some food for reflection related to Easter and the true meaning of our spiritual salvation.
See you around!
Yours,
Passion Piece
I love all these traditions! Our best family tradition is our easter egg hunt. We've done it ever since I was little and it's always so much fun.
It's great to preserve such traditions, as they make different holidays even more meaningful. :)
I love reading about the traditions of other countries! As an American Christian, I'm familiar with several of the Holy Week traditions you mentioned, as well as hiding Easter eggs and being visited by the Easter bunny. However, I loved your differences - particularly the basket blessing and Wet Monday!
It's great that Christians share similar traditions all over the world. The small differences make each country unique, that's why we should always remember about our national customs and teach younger generations how to preserve them. :)
I love Easter traditions and also learning about new ones thanks for sharing!
I'm happy you enjoyed reading my article. I hope you got to know something new about Poland. :)
I love reading this post. My favorite Easter tradition at my church is having lunch with the entire congregation after service. Thanks for sharing.
That must be an amazing feeling ...being at the table with so many people and spending your time in the circle of family and friends at Easter. :)
I love that you send cards for Easter! I never really send cards for Holidays unless it's Christmas but it's such nice gesture. Just knowing someone's thinking about you is a nice feeling.
Nowadays we're getting fewer and fewer cards, it was much more popular in the past when I was a kid, as people didn't use mobiles or the Internet to send wishes ... but I still like this tradition. :)
Jak fajnie poczytać o naszych tradycjach ☺️ Też raz spędziłam Wielkanoc w Grecji - na Santorini. Ale chyba bardziej się zachwycaliśmy wyspa niż procesjami ☺️
Ja zawsze odwiedzałam rejony Aten, myślę że warto od czasu do czasu spróbować czegoś nowego, bo dzięki temu zyskujemy nowe doświadczenia, a do tego jest zawsze o czym powspominać. :)
Actually, I love Easter traditions almost as much as Christmas - it's not only festive, it also brings us towards spring, that's nice!
I also love the fact that Easter takes place in the season which promises us new starts and sets us into much better mood. :)
We'll be going to Church on Easter and then to my mother in law's for an egg hunt and card games :) It's the little things. I have never heard of Wet Monday! Sounds interesting!
That sounds like lots of fun! I think these little things are always the most important. Hope you're having a great time with your family. :)
Thanks for sharing your Easter traditions. I love traditions. The Easter basket/blessings is one that we used to do when I was growing up. I miss it. Happy Easter!
I think that the Easter basket tradition is something very unique and it's a great fun for kids. :)
This was really interesting to read. I didn't know about these Easter traditions but loved reading about them :) - www.allshethings.com
Every country has its own traditions ... and it's great to get to know about the ones which are preserved in other countries. :)
I"ve never been to an easter market, looks like fun. great traditions!
These kind of markets are always fun ... hunting for Easter ornaments and treats is quite exciting. :)
Wow, I hadn't heard of most of these traditions! Our family just did the Easter church service that week, baskets and an egg hunt!
I think your family celebrated best Easter traditions. :)
I've never heard of an Easter market before. What an interesting idea! We love Christmas markets.
Easter markets are not as beautiful as Christmas markets, but it's still fun to take part in them. :)
Wszystko w jednym miejscu o naszych Wielkanocnych Świętach:) Bardzo pozytywny post:)
Dziękuję za miły komentarz ... staram się przybliżać nasze zwyczaje obcokrajowcom. :)
I also love Palm Sunday. There was something so exciting about getting your palms. But I've never been to an Easter Market before and would absolutely love to!
I think it's really exsciting for kids, who are really happy and proud of their palms. You should visit some Easter markets, especially if they are organised in your neighbourhood. :)
W mojej miejscowości, chociaż to wielkie zadupie, Wielkanoc jest bardzo huczna. Mamy Straż Grobową, która organizuje defilady, a w niedzielę i poniedziałek chodzi od domu do domu, by każdemu złożyć życzenia (a to jednak 4 miejscowości). No i święcenie koszyczka. Proboszcz powiedział, że nie będzie święcił na placyku (zostanie jedynie opcja w Kościele), jeśli nie będzie głośnych, bardzo głośnych petard. No i tak już od lat przy każdym święceniu wyje jakiś alarm w samochodzie, co ma swój urok. Tak, Wielkanocne tradycje są piękne <3
Przepięknie opisałaś zwyczaje wielkanocne w twojej okolicy ... na pewno są one źródłem wspaniałych wspomnień. :)