Celebrations!!

Week 9 – Cultural Observations – 24^th April 2011

This week has been an absolutely fantastic week for me. There has been a great focus within my week on celebrations. Not just because we have reached the Easter Holidays Easter but also because I turned twenty-one years old this week in Poland. I was able to spend my birthday with some of my great friends in Poznan. We had a BBQ in the afternoon in some beautiful summer weather and in the evening I went out for dinner with a few friends. I was even given some icecream with 21 candles on it and was sung happy birthday in multiple languages at the same time. I had an absolutely fantastic birthday.

In Poland people do not only celebrate birthdays. If you look at a polish calendar you will see that there is at least one name on every day. These indicate what is called imieniny or ‘name day’. Poles over the age of thirteen usually put more emphasis on their ‘name day’ rather than their birthday. Name day celebrations are very similar to birthday celebrations. Gifts are given and a name day party is very common. Unfortunately Jeff is not a polish name, and it doesn’t have a polish translation so I do not have a name day, but I was able to enjoy my birthday.

In Poland Easter is a very important festival. In such a catholic country this time of year is very important for most polish people, of all ages. The festivities are not just limited to Easter Sunday but occur throughout holy week. Holy week begins with Palm Sunday where people come to church with willow branches or bouquets of dried flowers to represent the iconic palm leaves that are a symbol of this important day. Traditions and celebrations continue all week with many church and mass services. On Easter Sunday baskets of food are taken to the church to be blessed. Easter Sunday is also a great day for families to get together and share a wide variety of tradition polish church. Traditions don’t just end on Easter Sunday but continue on to what is known as Wet Monday. This day got its name as tradition dictates that on this day it is acceptable for people to throw water over each other. I am looking forward to hearing a lot of funny stories and hope to see a lot of wet people tomorrow, let’s hope though that the weather holds up.

The past week has been very relaxing for me as I have had time off school and university and I have been able to enjoy birthday and Easter celebrations but I am looking forward to getting back into a routine and back into my school by the end of the week.

Happy Easter!!

Jeff