Our Easter in Poland

Śmigus dyngus

It’s Lany Poniedziałek (Wet Monday) otherwise known as śmigus dyngus in Poland, and our Easter break is coming to an end. What is śmigus dyngus you ask? Well, it is a Polish tradition, taking place on Easter Monday, to splash water on people for good luck. It could be with buckets on the street or a more symbolic splash at home. Per family tradition, I was the first one up so I was the water sprinkler, not sprinklee. Also as per tradition, one child was laughing while the other one was crying. Mommy almost cried too when she discovered that the crying child had slept all night on a chocolate egg! I must admit when I first saw it, I thought it was something else so I’m grateful it was just a smooshed and melted chocolate egg. Small mercies.

The weather is absolutely beautiful. The sun is shining. The sky is blue. The birds are chirping. And we are all inside with our noses in our books or gadgets because we’re all sick. We’ve all got the same sickness, but at various stages and degrees of severity. That means no walking, running, cycling, or playing outside for us. It also means pajamas, syrups, cups of tea, and mountains of used tissues.

Nie świętujecie

Good Friday we spent getting the house ready. My husband arranged a wonderful lady to help out. She’s a lifesaver even though she didn’t do the windows “bo i tak nie świętujecie”. Yes, she decided to leave the windows for later because we don’t celebrate Easter. We had a good laugh. She promised to do them next time. It was during this time of cleaning up and decorating that we realized that we simultaneously have Easter, Christmas, and Halloween decorations up in our house. That’s okay, right?

Gotta get those eggs

On Good Friday, we also paid a visit to our local egg dealer, an older lady from our neighborhood. Our old egg dealer is in prison. Our current egg dealer was feeling a bit lonely I think and wanted to chat. I got to know that her grandson was the getaway driver for our old egg dealer. He went to prison for that, but now he’s out. He’s been trying to grow marijuana in the garden and in the little woods near their house, but grandma and the chickens keep destroying all his attempts. We also got to know that most of the young people in her family have gone to England to work and that she’d much rather her grandson went to England to work than engage in questionable activities here in Poland. Then she had to run off to the shop to buy dishwashing liquid, you know, because she had to do her windows.

Bored with baskets

Good Saturday we packed up the sick kids and forced them to go for a walk near the church to get some fresh air and to see people taking their Easter baskets to be blessed. My children were not interested at all, so nothing has changed since last year. I, on the other hand, love looking at the baskets. My favorite basket carriers this year included a small gang of surly teenaged boys decked out in their favorite sweatsuits and a leather-clad biker dude carrying the most delicate basket of all. We wanted to peek inside the church, but the crowd made it impossible. Plus our children were bored to death, and our pockets were full of used up tissues. We came back home.

The Polish Easter Bunny

Easter Sunday is our girls’ favorite day because the Easter bunny visits them, and did he ever. I think they were satisfied with what they found in the garden. We also found a chicken in our garden, a real one. This chicken has been hanging out in our garden, making a big mess, for the last three days. It’s ours now, right? While the Easter egg hunt may not be the most Polish of traditions, I do know some Polish people who create a nest in the garden and hide treats there for the kids. They say this tradition originates in Germany and is more popular in Śląsk and in Wielkopolska regions.

Polish Easter Breakfast

While the girls sorted through their Easter baskets, we could get breakfast ready. Traditionally in Poland, you take one of the blessed eggs from your basket and share it with your family members much in the same way you do the opłatek wafer, at Christmas. We did another Polish Easter tradition which we call Bitwa of the Eggs where two people tap two hard-boiled eggs together, the less smashed one the winner, similar to the American Thanksgiving breaking of the wishbone.

The Easter Market

I almost forgot that we went to an Easter Market a week ago for Palm Sunday. I love small town markets.

All in all, it’s been a very nice Easter holiday. Now, it is time to think about going back to school and work.