Easter is an important time of the year in Poland. It is celebrated and accompanied by many traditions, some of them dating back to pagan times specific for Slavic cultures.

One of them being Palm Sunday - the last Sunday before Easter. This tradition dates back to the time of Christ. It is a commemoration of the welcoming of Jesus in Jerusalem. Nowadays, a form of commemoration is contested for the most beautiful palm tree. Competitions are held in almost every town in Poland. Such an event can be seen, for example, in the very center of Krakow on Main Market Square.

Another significant tradition is painting pisanki on Saturday before Easter Sunday. Pisanki are hard boiled eggs, the shells of which are traditionally dyed with boiled onion skin or engraved with wax to create astonishing traditional slavic patterns. Egg painting is thought to date back to talismanic pagan rituals that are over 5000 years old.

On Saturday families also prepare Easter baskets. Decorated with white linen or napkins and boxwood (bukszpan) they are full of traditional Easter food and symbols. A piece of bread, sausage, ham, pisanki, cake, salt and pepper are a must in the basket. However, the centerpiece always must be Easter Lamb, either baked as cake or made of sugar. Such assembled basket is brought to the church to be blessed.

On Easter Sunday - the most important day of Easter, families gather in the morning for breakfast. A true feast combined of eggs, sausages, hams, bread and cake. Before the meal, people share the wedges of blessed Easter eggs from the basket and exchange wishes. 

Easter cuisine also offers delicious cakes and pastry such as traditional polish cheesecake - sernik, a tall, round 15-yolk sweet yeast cake with a hole in the middle - babka, a cake with a fat layer of icing, decorated with dried fruit, walnuts, almonds and roasted seeds - mazurek.

To finish Easter celebrations, on Easter Monday, the last festive celebration, people pour water over each other. The tradition is called Śmigus-Dyngus (Wet Monday)

If you happen to be in Krakow during Easter time, you can be a part of some traditions and try some of the most delicious Easter food. Every year before Easter, on Main Market Square in Kraków you can visit the Easter Market that offers many handmade easter-themed products, as well as tasty traditional Polish food. You can also participate in organized competitions for the prettiest palm and witness traditional easter celebrations and performances and see Krakow bloom, as it is the beginning of Spring! Make sure not to miss it!

How do you celebrate Easter? Maybe this year in Krakow?

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