A traditional Polish Easter actually begins on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter. This is the day that people bring baskets of food to the church for the priest to bless.
The basket should include bread, representing Christ’s body, eggs for rebirth, salt to give life, smoked meat (often kielbasa, Polish sausage) for health and abundance, cheese, representing friendship between mankind and nature, and horseradish, for the bitterness of the passion of Jesus, and a symbol of strength. Finally, home-baked cake, which symbolizes skills and perfection, is always included. Modern practice may include chocolate and tropical fruits as additional treats, but the symbolism is the same: blessing the basket is to ensure a good harvest and sufficient food for the coming year.
The Easter Sunday Meal
The table itself is covered with a fine white Easter tablecloth and decorated with flowers, Easter eggs, an Easter lamb made of butter, cake, or sugar, green cress or myrtle branches, or catkins. The meal starts with the sharing of the blessed hard-boiled eggs while everyone exchanges greetings and wishes for health and happiness.
The foods that were blessed on Holy Saturday are served at the Easter meal, which follows Sunday’s Resurrection Mass. It may be referred to either as Easter breakfast or Easter dinner. Along with the ceremonial foods that were blessed the day before, the table will be filled with baked ham, sausages, other meat and poultry dishes, stuffed cabbage, sauces, and relishes.
Another traditional Easter dish is a relish of beets and horseradish (cwikla). There may also be horseradish soup, barszcz , or zur (also called zurek). Zur is a soup is made of soured rye flour and meat (usually boiled pork sausage or pieces of smoked sausage, bacon or ham). There are many recipes for zur, but the one essential ingredient in all of them is the leavening made of fermented rye flour with a piece of whole-meal bread crust.
For dessert, pound cakes and Mazureks, which are cakes consisting of flat pastry or a wafer covered with nut paste, nuts, figs, apples, and cheese, along with jam and raisins, are served. Other decorations made of icing, marzipan, or chocolate, go on top. Letters may spell out “Hallelujah.” These cakes are made from a wide variety of ingredients, and every family will have their favorites.
Other cakes, babkas, are also traditional fare at Easter. Polish babkas are made of yeast dough with raisins, grated lemon and orange rinds. (Babka means grandmother in Polish, and many a women felt that her reputation as a cook rested on the success of her baked babka.) In addition to these pastries, poppy seed bread and cheesecake with raisins are often served at Easter. Drinks included vodka, mead, beer, and wine.
Polish Easter Eggs
The evening of Good Friday is the traditional time to color and decorate hard-boiled eggs. There are several different types of decorated eggs. Malowanki or kraszanki refer to eggs painted all in one color; those with patterns etched into the paint are called skrobanki or rysowanki. In some areas of Poland various plants were used to create a variety of colors with which to dye the eggs.
Another method of decoration was to cover the egg with molten wax, scrape away a design, and then dye or paint the egg. This wax-based method produces eggs called pisanki, which may be the best-known type of Polish Easter eggs Other decorative methods are to glue colored paper or fabric on them. Often traditional Polish Easter designs, such as a lamb, cross, or flowers are used to decorate the eggs. Red eggs were especially common, since an old Slavic tradition stated that red eggs had magical properties and aided those in love.
Polish Easter Monday
With all the food prepared for the Easter meal, there was likely to be much leftover food. Easter Monday is therefore the day to have bigos, or hunter's stew, a much-beloved dish that is supposed to be better a day or two after its preparation. Easter Monday is also the day that boys sprinkle girls with water, perhaps as a remnant of a rite to ensure fertility.
Polish Traditions
Although Poles have migrated all over the world, many of their descendants want to maintain some of the old customs and share them with their families and friends. Preparing a Polish Easter meal or a Polish Christmas Eve supper are excellent ways to do this. In addition, learning more about Polish history and genealogy can help descendants gain a rewarding insight into their ancestors’ lives.
Katharine Garstka - Katharine Garstka specializes in genealogical research and in historical and genealogical writing.
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