Hello dear Friends ;o) First of all we would like to thank you for the brilliant video that we have just received!! It's fun too see you on TV guys!!! We feel so much closer to you now and so much more familiar with you!! And the Easter card is excellent too - I will make sure to hang it on the classroom wall just after Easter!!! We're doing fine here too - yesterday it was the last day at school before Easter break and we'll be back on the 11th of April!! And we're also preparing the Friendship Tree - which is the reason for asking you for your photos!!! After it's done we will take pictures of it and send it over to you - promise!! ;o) For the time being in our homes we are getting ready for an important holiday of Easter. Traditionally, we dug out some information for you about Polish customs and traditions of Easter as we know that it looks quite different from how you celebrate it in Italy... Enjoy the reading!! ;o)
Traditional Easter celebrations in Poland are as old and elaborate as Christmas celebrations and they involve a lot of preparations.One week before Palm Sunday, housewives stopped baking bread through the fear that the bread they baked throughout the rest of the year would spoil. Not until the Holy Week did they start baking. In some parts they began to do so on Good Friday, in others- it was not permitted to bake anything at all that day. If any housewife violated this ban, the entire village would be in danger of a long drought, which could be repelled only by throwing the pots and guilty housewife into a pond. The celebration of Easter is preceded by Holy Week, which begins with Palm Sunday. Palm branches and twigs are indispensable accessories of the events of this day. They commemorate Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem. That is why on this day all the families go to the church with an Easter Palm and as it takes a lot of craft and talent to prepare such a Palm in many places all throughout Poland many contests are organized to pick the most beautiful Easter Palm among those brought to the church. In the past after the festivities, palm leaves were used for magic rites, such as conjuring up storms and consecrating women at childbirth and sick domestic animals. The original palm branch is now replaced by a willow or raspberry branch, and is decorated with ribbons, flowers, and leaves as you can see it on the picture above. It is believed
that swallowing a willow catkin from a branch consecrated by a priest would bring health, and palm branch placed behind a holy image until the following year would bring the inhabitants luck - aren't we superstitious or what?? ;o)). On the morning of Holy Thursday, the vestments are changed on the miraculous icon in the chapel of the Pauline monastery at Jasna Gora in Czestochowa. This is one of the most important sites of the religious cult of the Poles (you can see the picture of the monastery on the right), and it has been venerated as a national shrine since 14 th century. In western part of the city, protruding up to almost 300 metres there is a hill with an array of sacral and residential buildings, surrounded by fortified banks and a park. This hill is called Jasna Gora, which means a Bright Mountain. It is hard to believe that it is visited by 5 millions people each year. Their goal is the Chapel of Holy Lady of Bright Mountain (Kaplica Matki Bozej Jasnogorskiej) with its icon of Virgin Mary called a Black 
Madonna. The legend has it that this picture depicts the true face of Our Lady painted by St. Luke the Evangelist on a board from the Holy Family's kitchen table and till this day the Black Madonna is the reason of pilgrimage for millions of Poles who takes part in these pilgrimages organized once a year in August.They travel from all corners of Poland to Czestochowa on foot to ask the Black Madonna for support and companionship and pray all through the way. It is a strictly Catholic pedestrian pilgrimage and a tradition since AD. 1712. The next day of Easter is Good Friday and it marks the start of the vigil at symbolic tombs of Christ, which lasts until Holy Saturday. Visits are made to “tombs of Christ’. The adoration of the Good Friday tombs is called “the visitation of the tombs’. No animals could be slaughtered or bread baked, and mirrors covered over. The use of combs was not allowed, so Good Friday was a day of mourning. A special kind of bread was prepared for Easter Sunday, called “pascha” . It was made of flour and yeast. The surface was spread with fat and decorated with a cross made of dough. Apart from cross of dough, it was decorated with flowers and birds. The tradition of preparing “pascha” involved women. The master of the house was not permitted to take part of preparing the “pascha”, otherwise his moustache would go grey and the dough would fail. On that day a “funeral of zur and herring” was organized. A clay pot with zur was shattered and a herring was hung on a branch as punishment “that for six weeks it had ruled over meat”.
On the next day, Holy Saturday, services accompanied by processions are held to commemorate the Resurrection. Inside the churches, priests sprinkled holy water on small baskets brought by believers and filled with “pascha”, cakes, eggs, horseradish, sausages, ham, salt, pepper, and tiny sugar lambs (you can see one of these baskets on a picture below on the left). The consecration of eggs refers to egg being an ancient symbol of life. The consecration of horseradish refers to the bitterness of the passion of Jesus which, on the day of resurrection, changed into joy and sweetness. The custom of coloring eggs for Easter is a living one in Poland - we ALL paint eggs for Easter - this is a special task for the children of the house and SO MUCH fun!!!. Eggs which are painted in one color are called “malowanki” or “kraszanki”. If
patterns are etched with a pointed instrument on top of the paint, the eggs are then called “skrobanki” or “rysowanki” but it's far to complicated to be done at home - you can buy these egges though. Eggs which are decorated with the use of treated wax are called “pisanki”. Another technique involved gluing colored paper or shiny fabric on them. On the picture on the right you can see some of the 'pisanki' eggs. Aren't they pretty??? And on the picture above you will see how these pretty eggs are made... it takes LOTS of talent and patience to carve out these tiny ornaments... In old Poland, this resurrection service was an opportunity to identify witches, for witches were believed to enjoy eating sausage during sermons. It was also believed that a priest could see which of the women attending mass was a witch, but was not allowed to 
reveal his information. It was also believed that during Easter procession, a female collaborator of Satan was unable to go around the church three times, and had to leave the procession after the second circuit. After resurrection, gunshots were fired as an expression of joy. On Sunday morning, beautifully laid table (a picture below on the right) is covered with colored eggs, cold meats, coils of sausages, ham, yeast cakes, pound cakes, poppy-seed cakes, and in the middle of it all, a lamb made of sugar, commemorating the resurrected Christ. No smoke was permitted; therefore no warm meals were served. Horseradish was mixed with beets, “cwikla”, traditionally present on polish Easter tables. Sharing a boiled egg with one’s relatives is a national tradition. A piece of egg with salt and pepper, consecrated by priest, is an inseparable accessory in the good
wishes we extend to each other at Easter. Each member of the household received also a piece of the consecrated bread. When spread with horseradish, it was supposed to give protection against throat diseases and against illnesses and complaints. Cakes were very important ingredients of Easter breakfast: gigantic cakes called "baby" (picture on the left below) as well as “mazurki” were prepared only for those occasion. The “baby” were either plain vanilla, steamed, saffron-flavored, grated with egg yolk, almond flavored, layered, chocolate-flavored, fluffy, lemon-flavored, bread-like, or many other different kinds. “Mazurek" is a flat cake, usually on a pastry or a wafer, covered with paste of nuts, 
almonds, cheese etc., colorfully iced and decorated with jam and nuts and raisins. On top of this, imaginative decorations are placed, such as eggs of icing; willow branches made of marzipan, chocolate flowers, and other delicacies. Artistic letters made of cream read “Hallelujah” – joy of the Resurrection. The list of possibilities making “mazurek” cake are endless, ranging from almond flavored, marzipan, chocolate, raisins, nuts and figs, poppy-seed, orange, crumbly with wine or vodka, apple, French-style, layered, and
many others. On the picture right here on the right you can see a beautifully decorated Mazurek with the common ornaments of Polish Easter - a branch of willow and eggs. And I am telling you - there is NO better cake on Easter than Mazurek - my own favourite - especially that we bake it only for Easter ... just once a year. And I can tell you a secret - right now while I am typing these words my mom is baking mazurki at my family home!! And it smells soooo yummy... I can't wait to eat it in a few days!!Mmmmm ... in my family home we have our own tradition of decorating the mazurki with whole family. When my mom bakes them we all gather at the table and decorate the cakes in whatever way we wish... Below you can see the mazurki decorated by ME last year ;o)
My mazuerk no 1
And mazurek no 2
Traditionally we spend Easter with our families - it is a stricly family holiday and most Poles go to visit their relatives who often live in the other parts of the country. It is a time of easting, drinking and enjoying peaceful time together at the family table. And well... we have to say it out loud - we DO eat a lot on Easter... after the period of fasting Easter is time of sitting at rich tables with lots of food of all kinds. But the funniest day of Easter is Easter Monday when we 
celebrate a very ancient Easter tradition called “Smingus-Dyngus” – custom of pouring water on one another. It is the day that all little boys in Poland look forward to with relish - especially those who have younger sisters or girlfriends. If you walk past any street corner in any Polish town on Easter Monday and you will see hordes of lads armed with buckets and water pistols, eagerly awaiting the arrival of their sisters, sister's girl-friends or, for that matter, any woman brave enough to venture out on this day!!! It's crazy I am telling you - last year I've been soaked up four times during that day...!!! Since time immemorial, men have been soaking women with buckets of water on Easter Monday in what is surely one my country's most curious ancient customs. Originally it was the custom that a young man would only soak a girl to whom he wished to make advances, now it seems to be the case that any girl is likely prey. It is not unusual for women to be pounced on by large groups of boys who have never so much as laid eyes on them before. Needless to say, those women who do go outdoors on Easter Monday leave their houses safely wrapped up in raincoats and hats as the tradition is still going strong, even in the big cities.Indeed, given that it allows little boys to legitimately get away with drenching their big sisters and friends, it's hard to believe that it will ever die out. And well... what can I say?? It is fun but luckily nowadays us GIRLS can fight back and we're not worse on soaking men!!! Gezz I think you know it all about our Easter now... hope you did not fall asleep while reading it!!! So once more let us wish you very Happy Easter!! Lots of love from Plock!!! xoxoxox
written by: A.Kopec
