Poland Travel 2023: Celebrating Easter Day in Poland

Travel Date: 2023/03/24 ~ 04/12

For my husband and son, it was the first time they celebrated Easter on April 9, 2023. The preparation for Easter started a few days earlier. We prepared plenty of different dishes, some more traditional than others. We also baked three huge cakes, each weighing 2-3 kilograms. Well, for me, those are normal sizes, but in Taiwan, people even complain about 6-inch cakes (about 500 grams) being too big, so...

Since we were staying at my aunt's place, I helped her with all the food preparation. My cousin also made some non-traditional dishes, as we were expecting several guests on the day. Her kids made painted Easter eggs (pisanki) at their place, so sadly Adrian couldn't join the process. We also didn't go to church to see the ceremony on Saturday before Easter.

The most important meal is breakfast, but the preparation took a little longer, so we started eating at 10 AM. It's customary to have a white tablecloth and white plates on the Easter table. We traditionally eat Żurek (sour rye soup), potato salad, Greek-style fish (Ryba po Grecku, which is not actually a Greek dish, just named that way), a variety of ham and other meats, pate, and more. Popular cakes during this time are cheesecake, babka wielkanocna (Easter yeast cake), and Mazurek, a short pastry flat cake filled with icing or caramel. Mazurek cakes are very sweet and decorated with Easter symbols such as pussy willows, eggs, sheep, chicks, bunnies, etc.

My cousin also organized an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids. Her daughter didn't participate this year (she's already 13), but she helped us hide the eggs in the bushes. It was very easy this year, so my 5-year-old son could find them. I could easily see that my cousin's almost 10-year-old boy was bored, lol.

Today was also our son's birthday. We didn't prepare anything special since we were already busy organizing the holiday. My cousin had some candles, so she put them in the Mazurek cake and asked him to blow them out. I think he cared more about searching for eggs in the bushes than his birthday.

This year's mood is not as joyful because three days earlier, my aunt passed away. I'm glad that I could still see her in her last days. We knew her condition was very bad, and I was worried that it might be too late when we fly back. Unfortunately, we won't be attending her funeral since everything has to wait due to the holidays. We're flying back on April 12, which is the same date as the funeral. I also missed the chance to see many family members who live 4-5 hours away but will be coming that day.

Anyway, tomorrow is Easter Monday, and in Poland, we have a special activity on that day. If you want to know more, check out my next post!

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