Polish Easter Feast

Easter in Poland is the most important holiday, even more, important than Christmas. The entire week before Easter is called Holy Week, and during that time there are a lot of things going on here. 40 something years ago I was born on Palm Sunday / you aren't just lazy-you is super lazy : ) and I always go to the church around this time with my palm. Some of the villages and small towns organize Holy Palm competitions. The most special one takes place in Lipnica Murowana, a beautiful village located next to Nowy Wiśnicz where I went to Art School. On Saturday in the morning, we hard boil eggs and dye them with brilliant colors and engraving patterns on them. Probably one of the most enduring and beloved Polish traditions on Holy Saturday is blessing the food that will be eaten during the Easter feast. In front of the church, a priest blesses food brought by locals by sprinkling holy water waving incense over baskets with small amounts of the most important food like eggs, bread, meat and butter, salt, horseradish. It’s a very important tradition in Polish culture so you can often spot entire families participating in it. Next day on Holy Sunday morning you are prepared for a BIG, traditional, family breakfast/brunch. After the breakfast is finished, people take a walk and enjoy the rest of the day and more food later on : ) To Poles, the holiest of all food is bread. Often when cutting into a loaf, the knife is maneuvered so as to make the Sign of the Cross. When the bread is dropped to the floor (a sacrilege), the loaf is often kissed when picked up. On Wet Monday we celebrate Smigus-Dyngus, with is a lot of fun! Watch out for water being thrown by passers-by!