Polish Traditions

Polish traditions vary considerably with region; I have tried to give a generic view of the culture. The Polish culture is probably the richest in the mountain areas, where many older traditions still prevail.

Polish Greetings

Polish people are very hospitable and most, entertaining of friends takes place in the home, this is also, where you will see the best of Polish traditions and people. The family is very important to poles and welcoming people to meet the family is usually marked as a social occasion. Normally much food and drink will be put on the table, including Vodka, but also tea and coffee, (normally drunk without milk), home based Polish traditions are very formal initially although most times very quickly relax into informality.

The normal greeting for Men is to shake hands with everyone, should you have a particular warm relationship with a polish man then a kiss, or more likely touching cheeks is in order. This indicates warmth and respect, whilst this is not common in younger people it is often done between older people.

Ladies will normally be greeted by a kiss on the hand, (one of the more gallant polish traditions), by men. Otherwise, the lady may give another lady a kiss on the cheek. I have always found it difficult to know how many kisses, in the Netherlands it is normally three, in the UK, one, but in Poland, one kiss on each cheek seems to be the norm. Polish people often start a home visit quite formally, but normally this soon drops into a friendly atmosphere, particularly if alcohol is present.

Shops & Cafe's

The normal good morning, "Dzien dobry" and thank you, "Dziekuje", does help when buying anything and transactions are similar in most areas of the world. One major difference in Poland cost me a considerable amount of Zloty in my first few weeks in Poland.

When purchasing something in Poland, Do not! Say Thank you, "Dziekuje", until you receive your change. By saying Thank You when you receive the goods as in the West, you are saying keep the change. I bought many goods which I thought were very expensive until I realized I was being taken advantage of.

Service in Poland's Shops, restaurants and cafe's does tend to be variable; people can be exceptionally helpful or can be very unhelpful. However, if the business looks successful then generally they will have a better work ethic and friendly service. Some of the older "Spolem" shops out of the main cities are still stuck in a time warp, these were government owned shops and seemed to be run for the benefit of the staff rather than any good economic reason.

In Poland, there are many city shopping malls and out of town shopping parks with well-known European names such as Tesco, Real, Ikea, Media Markt etc. etc. these are similar to anywhere in Europe although prices tend to be lower for similar goods.

Polish Wedding (Wesele)

The Polish Wedding is unlike any other I have experienced, whatever the social standing of the couple the ceremony lasts for days rather than hours. Copious amounts of Vodka are consumed and what usually begins very formally in the local church finishes much less formal, All parts of the wedding encompass a plethora of Polish traditions.

The engagement is usually marked by a celebration in the home of the parents of either the groom or the bride. This may be the first time the in-laws meet each other.

One of the very nice old Polish traditions, which still exists in some small villages whereby all village members are automatically invited to the wedding. At present it is more usual to send official invitations out to relatives and friends.

Usually a "Bachelor Night" and "Hen Night" will be organized the night before the wedding as in most cultures.

Before the church ceremony, everyone gathers at the home of the bride and accompany the bride to the church. In religious families, the parents bless the bride, usually the mother in a simple ceremony consisting of Bread, Salt and Wine. The actions vary with region, but generally, the meeting is to bid farewell to the bride.

Once the catholic marriage service is completed then family and guests congratulate the couple, queuing in a long line outside the church. When the couple leaves the church, usually in fine transport of some kind, coins are "gently" thrown at the couple.

Sometimes at the church or at the reception a further ceremony, the capping, is completed. All single ladies circle the bride whilst the matron of honor or a married woman stands behind the bride and removes the veil as music is played.

Polish traditions at the reception include the couple being greeted again with Salt, Bread and Wine, in some regions the wine glasses are thrown to the floor and broken. Then normally the bride and groom welcome all the family and guests through the door. In some areas the groom may carry the bride through the door, this is said to symbolize who will run the home, (as if we didn't know already).

The party then begins, tables will have some type of starter, then a meal will be served together with the first of many bottles of vodka. Dancing usually commences after this main meal. From then on regular plates of food will be delivered to the tables along with copious amounts of juice and vodka.

It is custom for every man to dance with the bride and clip money to the dress, although this is still practiced in the mountain areas it is less so in the cities.

Some parties break around one or two in the morning and start again the next day, others do not stop. I have been at country weddings lasting three days. At my own wedding I didn't realize how long the reception would last and how much vodka had to be consumed. A very happy time but I was ill prepared.

Polish Christmas

Most Poles work on Christmas Eve, although may go home early to help with the preparations for Vigilia (Vigil), the main Polish Christmas meal, usually consumed after dark when the stars come out on Christmas Eve.

It is usual to have Christmas Carols playing during the preparations, (Koledy). In my house the celebration starts with the breaking Oplatek, a thin wafer, this is usually done between the family members and includes a prayer. The table has crisp a white tablecloth with Hay laid at one corner this represents the Manger in which Jesus was born. One unusual tradition followed in Poland is to have an extra place setting for any unexpected guests.

The Vigilia is the most important meal of the year therefore the preparation is very careful, although the meal varies for area to area, it is normally without meat and can be 7, 9 or 11 courses. The meals courses represent forest (Mushrooms), Grain (fields), fish (Sea) and fruit (orchards). The meal begins with Barzcz, a beetroot soup with many variations, most visitors to Poland have tried Barzcz, and it is an acquired taste, which I have not come to terms with yet. A Mushroom Dumpling, (uszka), accompanies the soup. The next stage of the meal is Perogi, the best way of describing this food, if you have not experienced it, is large ravioli filled with Potato or Cheese or Mushrooms. At this time, the rest of the table is open normally; we have Herring (Sledze), Carp in Aspic, Cabbage Rolls filled with Mushrooms, grain (Golabki), and polish noodles (kluski).

Desert is usually fruit compote and several versions of cake with poppy seeds, if you have any room left to take it. Traditionally Polish Vodka washes this down. I am sure that the effect of the Vodka combined with the hallucinatory effect of the copious poppy seeds helps the party spirit. The celebration is very much based on the family and particularly remembering those who have passed on. In my house, the photographs come out and relatives discussed. This is quite different from the English or USA celebrations, which tend to be less formal. Christmas is one of the best Polish traditions.

Polish traditions run through many areas of society, including education, army service, name days etc. etc. the vast majority are very pleasant and are a pleasure to be invited to participate. Some of the drinking traditions, based around Vodka are less pleasurable, particularly the following morning. I think some of these traditions are invented to see if other cultures have similar capacities for drink as the Poles.