Easter traditions and customs in the Podhale region

Easter is fast approaching, and this year it falls in the second half of April. As every year, people across Poland who are looking forward to these special days are already beginning their preparations to celebrate Resurrection Day. These include both nationwide traditions known throughout the country and regional customs. How do the residents of Podhale prepare for and celebrate Easter?

The most well-known nationwide Easter traditions

Across Poland, people celebrate numerous Easter traditions that have been part of our culture for years. One example is the Easter breakfast, which is enjoyed not only by Poles living in the country but also by those who have been living abroad for years. What they all have in common is the custom of:

• sitting down to the table in the early morning hours, usually after the Resurrection Mass,
• sharing a blessed egg before breakfast,
• enjoying traditional soups, meat dishes, and desserts.

Although Easter breakfast is celebrated throughout the country, it can vary slightly from region to region.

Another nationwide tradition is painting Easter eggs on Saturday and preparing and blessing the Easter basket. The basket should contain festive foods that we will then eat on Easter Sunday. These include bread or a roll, eggs, salt, and horseradish.

Easter customs of the highlanders

Podhale is a region with many unique traditions associated with Easter. Some of these traditions have been forgotten or are practiced by only a few people. Others, however, are an integral part of the celebrations in the southern part of our country.

Lent

Easter traditions extend beyond the three main days of Easter—Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Many customs are observed starting at the beginning of Lent. One example is the so-called “walk with the Grim Reaper,” which took place halfway through Lent, specifically on the middle Sunday.

In those days, people would walk through the village or town carrying a homemade effigy of Death, a figure symbolizing the end of life. They would sing a traditional song about Death leaving the village and the coming of the Lord Jesus. The effigy was then drowned in the river. Although this tradition was still practiced several decades ago, today it is largely a defunct and forgotten custom.

The blessing of palm branches on Palm Sunday is a tradition known throughout the country. In the Podhale region, however, this custom did not end with sprinkling them with holy water. The branches had to be placed under the first furrow (a raised strip of tilled soil) on the plowed field to ensure a bountiful harvest for the entire coming year.

Holy Week Traditions

In many towns in the Podhale region, Holy Thursday is the day when an effigy of Judas is burned. This custom is also observed in several other regions of the country, such as the Podkarpacie region.

On Good Friday, to purify body and soul in preparation for the important days ahead, people traditionally bathed in a cold mountain stream. It was best to do this before dawn. Although Easter foods are blessed on Saturday, it is the day before that people in the Podhale region prepare the butter for the Easter basket.

Holy Saturday is the day when highlanders, like people in other regions of the country, prepare their Easter baskets. In addition to sausage, bread, horseradish, and salt, these baskets often contain oscypek cheese. Many of these baskets, known as “kosełeckie” by the highlanders, also contain butter that has been shaped by hand into the form of a lamb.

Another Holy Saturday tradition in the Podhale region involves walking around the house with a blessed basket. This is meant to ensure good fortune and prosperity for the entire household in the coming year. In the past, this custom was practiced somewhat differently, as in addition to the blessed basket, people would make a sort of torch or incense burner from a mushroom found in the forest. This mushroom was set alight, and then the entire farmstead was circled three times while praying for good fortune.

Easter Sunday

On this day, it is forbidden to perform tasks such as cleaning or making beds in highlander homes. According to tradition, such activities could scare away the spirits of deceased loved ones who visit the home on this day.

The highlander Easter table features many dishes known throughout the country, as well as regional specialties. These include, among others, a one-pot highlander soup, which was traditionally eaten communally from a single bowl. This dish, traditionally called “sodra,” is a horseradish soup thickened with sour milk or cream. Trimmings from holiday cold cuts, primarily white sausage, are also added to the pot.

The table should also include: roasted sausage with apples, ham with plums, salads, and yeast pastries.

Wet Monday

Just as throughout Poland, the tradition of celebrating Wet Monday is still alive in Podhale. In the southern part of our country, this day is called “polewacka.” Pranks and dousing with water were a way to show interest in another person—in the past, boys would douse the girls they liked—but that’s not all. Water, so important on this day, is also a symbol and a tool for spiritual purification.