Święconka

Easter.

Just a quick explanation for the ones of you not so familiar with Catholic/Christian traditions.

The Netherlands 

In the Netherlands we have 'White Thursday' followed by 'Good Friday'. On Sunday we celebrate 'First Easter day' followed by 'Second Easter day', which is a bank holiday. I translated the words literally, some might look funny. About this Saturday in between I do not know anything to be honest.

Poland 

In Poland the days around Easter are called 'Wielki Czwartek' meaning 'Great Thursday', followed by 'Wielki Piątek', meaning 'Great Friday' . Then comes 'Wielka Sobota' ('Great Saturday'), followed by 'Wielkanoc' on Sunday ('Great night'). The Monday is called 'Poniedziałek Wielkanocny' (Easter Monday). And, inofficially, 'Śmigus-Dyngus' or 'Lany poniedziałek' ('Wet Monday'). I will publish another post about this phenomenon later.

Summarizing:

Thursday
English: Maundy Thursday
Polish: Great Thursday
Dutch: White Thursday

Friday
English: Good Friday
Polish: Great Friday
Dutch: Good Friday

Saturday
English: Holy Saturday
Polish: Great Saturday
Dutch: Not celebrated

Sunday
English: Easter day
Polish: Great night
Dutch: First Easter day

Monday
English: Easter Monday
Polish: Easter Monday
Dutch: Second Easter day

Baskets
One of the Polish traditions during Easter is called 'Święconka', which takes place on 'Wielka Sobota' (Holy Saturday).
It means "the blessing of the Easter baskets" and is one of the most enduring and beloved Polish traditions on Holy Saturday.

This was totally new for me. I remember that mama Mrs MyWarsawDream came back from Church with this basket.

She showed me its contents and explained that the priest blessed the food inside with holy water. Later we ate this food, the morning after. I remember I could still see some drops of water on a sausage.

So let's go

This year I went to Church myself to have a look how this goes. The basket was prepared containing bread, eggs, salt, kiełbasa (sausage) and a ram. Yes a 🐏. 

You can also put in other things, but the below are most common. 

🔸Bread, the most important. Symbol for           the body of Christ. 

🔸Salt, the mineral giving life.
🔸Baranek 🐏, symbol of victory of good           over bad, life over death. Also symbol of       Jesus resurrecting from death.
🔸Eggs,  symbol of life and fertility.
🔸Radish root, symbol of strength and               good health.
🔸Cheese, symbolizes the harmony                     between human and world.
🔸Kielbasa (sausage), symbol for health             and a good life.

We put our basket on the table, together with all the other ones and a priest started his preach. He was a Dominican, I could understand about 75%. It was just a short preach about Easter, Jesus Christ and about the symbols.

Then he walked around the table and sprayed all baskets and people with holy water. I catched just a few drops but the man next to us was looking like he just returned from a sailing trip. The kids liked it and did not hide their emotions like the adults did. Nice to see.

He then returned to his place and generally wished the people a good time with their loved ones, mentioning the symbols I wrote about.

He also invited us to a room in Church which is the symbolical grave of Jesus Christ. My wife told me that Churches in Poland always have places like this. It was busy, also many people were queueing for confession. Hundreds of them. We had a quick look at the grave and after a moment of silence we walked home.

This reminded me of my childhood in the Netherlands, when churches were still packed full.

Nice.