Polish Spring and Easter traditions include eating pączki (doughnuts) and faworki (French dough fingers) on Fat Thursday. On Ash Wednesday, blessed ash is sprinkled on people's heads in the shape of a cross, marking the beginning of Lent. On the first day of spring, children burn and drown a Marzanna doll made of straw in the river, hoping she will not return until next year. April Fool's Day involves playing pranks on others. Holy Saturday involves carrying decorated Easter baskets containing symbolic foods like eggs to church. Easter is celebrated with a mass followed by sharing a blessed hard-boiled egg and breakfast. On Wet Monday, people sprinkle each other with water for

1. Polish Spring and Easter
Traditions and Customs

2. The Thursday before Ash
Wednesday is known as Fat
(Shrove Thursday) to Polish
Christians. It is also called Pączki
Day. The most popular dishes are
pączki (doughnuts) and faworki
(French dough fingers). They are
cooked in every house. On this day
people eat a lot of sweets, cakes
and other caloric dishes.
On that that you should eat fatty
food. If you don’t, you will have
bad luck.

3. Ash wednesday
Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent. On Ash
Wednesday blessed ash is sprinkled on the
people’s heads in the shape of a cross.
Lent lasts for 46 days. During Lent Christians
avoid bad habits and prepare for Easter.

4. Drowning of Marzanna
This event takes place on the first day of spring.
Children usually make a doll of hay or straw and old
clothes. This doll is called Marzanna. She is meant to
be Miss Winter. The children take the doll to the bank
of the river. Then they burn it and drown it in the river.
They hope she will not return until the next year.

5. Prima Aprilis
April Fool’s Day (All Fool’s Day) is
celebrated on 1 April every year. It is not
a national holiday but it’s very popular in
Poland. It is called Prima Aprillis in our
country. On this day people play pranks
on each other. Children like playing
jokes. Some of them are fun and some of
them are not. For example, someone can
write: “Kick me” on a piece of paper and
stick it to his friend’s back.
Adults also like playing jokes. They may
tell their friend that he must phone the
given telephone number because Mr
Seal wants to speak to him. Of course
the number they give is the phone
number of the zoo.

7. Holy Saturday – the last day of Lent. On that day we go to
church with the Easter basket.
The Easter basket is one of the
unique Easter traditions in
Poland. The basket is prepared on
Saturday before Easter Sunday.
The basket is decorated with
boxwood. A typical basket
contains symbolic food like this:
bacon, bread, Easter bread
(babka), butter, cottage cheese,
colored eggs and a lamb.

8. For Polish people Easter is the
most important public holiday. We
start celebrating at 6 o’clock. We
go to church for the mass. Then
we share a blessed hard-boiled
egg (it’s similar to sharing the holy
wafer at Christmas) and eat
breakfast.

9. Wet Monday
Śmigus Dyngus
On this day we sprinkle each other with water. It brings good
luck throughout the year.
In the past boys sprinkled girls. If a girl was wet on that day it
meant she was popular and would get married soon. If she
didn’t want to be wet, she had to give some Easter eggs.

10. EASTER SYMBOLS

11. An egg
An egg symbolizes new life, spring and fertility.
We dye them and decorate. We call them pisanki.

12. A lamb
The Easter lamb represents Jesus. The lamb was often
sacrificed as offerings to God by the Hebrews.
It’s made of bread or dough.

13. A Bunny
These animals give birth to many offsprings in spring. For this
reason the bunny serves as a symbol of new life.

14. A chicken
The chicks also symbolize new life and re-birth.