About us We are Maja and Ola. We are 14 years old. We

come from a small Polish town Mielec. We are students of a middle school. We are pleased that we can take part in the Comenius project. We would like to display the presentation entitled „Changes concerning holidays and family celebrations”. We invite you to watch the presentation. We hope you will enjoy it. :)

Christmas

Christmas is one of the most important holidays in

Poland. It is celebrated by almost all the people as

Poland is considered to be a Catholic country.

Christmas has always been a special time for Polish

families. Nevertheless, not all customs have survived

up till now.

Our grandparents used to spend this time in the

circle of relatives- enjoying traditional

meals, singing carols and talking.

With the time being, there have been some changes in the way Christmas is celebrated. Our parents

enjoyed carols, family gatherings, but also

Christmas TV programmes which have

become popular in almost all Polish homes during

Christmas.

There should be twelve traditional meals on the table

in each Polish home on Christmas Eve. One of the most traditional Polish meal are dumplings (pierogi) which are eaten on Christmas Eve. The one who finds a coin hidden in the dumpling is believed to be lucky in the following year.

Decoratng a Christmas tree has been popular for ages, although decorations were

different in the past. Under the Christmas tree

Polish kids put a Christmas shed

Nowadays real Christmas trees are often replaced by artificial ones, also decorations are usually ready made,

although preparing decorations is still a great fun for kids.

One of the most unique traditions is walking through villages in disguise-

there is a devil, an angel and of course a star carrier. They visit homes, sing carols and collect a

symbolic amount of money for their performance. Unfortunately, this

custom is not as popular as it was a few decades ago.

One tradition unique to Poland is the sharing of the „opłatek”- a

thin wafer. In the old days people carried these wafers from house to house wishing neighbours Merry Christmas. Nowadays

opłatek is mostly shared with members of the family.

Contemporary decorations

differ from the ones prepared

by our grandparents. Nowadays not only trees are decorated, but also the whole

houses and streets.

One of the traditions that has survived is preparing one additional set of cutlery and

plates for the unexpected guest on Christmas Eve. Some people keep a

Christmas carp scale in their wallets for the whole year. It is believed to bring

happiness.

Valentine's Day

The Valentine’s day is a comparably new holiday in Poland. Our grandparents did

not know anything about it.

On Saint Valentine’s Day people exchange gifts, red roses, send Valentine cards

andtalk about love

Easter

Easter has always been celebrated really ceremonially. Almost all customs have

survived since the youth of our grandparents.

The most important symbols of Easter are Easter eggs and a lamb.

The day expected with excitement is Easter Monday. On that day people have fun pouring water on each other

(śmigus dyngus). Although this custom is still common, our

grandparents used to celebrate it even more ceremonially. It was an honour for a girl to be

poured with water.

The customs that have survived:

• the blessing of the Easter baskets in churches on Holy Saturday

• exchanging Easter wishes, sending Easter cards

•preparing traditional

meals

Family celebrations

Family celebrations which are considered to be really important are weddings. This event

has always been celebrated very ceremonially.Our

grandparents used to feast even for a few days. The wedding

receptions used to take place in special tents, or

just in front of the house.

Today the guests are invited to the restaurant

to celebrate the wedding.

Our grandparents were driven to the wedding

ceremony in a car decorated with a doll put

on a car bonnet.

The wedding ceremony is accompanied with the orchestra, people dance and feast until the

sunrise.

The climax of each wedding reception is a custom called „oczepiny” at midnight. The bride takes off her veil, the grooms does the same with his tie and they throw them behind. The girls standing in the circle try to catch the veil, the boys’ task is to catch the tie. The lucky couple

that manage to do it is said to change the marital status soon.

The newlyweds are welcome

with coins and rice just after

the church ceremony.

Before entering the restaurant the bride and

groom have to throw glasses behind so that they

break. It is believed to bring happiness.

Throughout the decades also the wedding fashion has been

changing.

Our grandparents ………parents

……and contemporary

couple

It’s our obligation to celebrate and remember about holidays

and family celebrations as they are the most valuable cultural

inheritance for future generations.

Thank you for attention