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Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi is a movable feast which the Catholics celebrate 60 days after Easter, And also a public holiday in Poland. Corpus Christi is dedicated to celebrating the dogma that the bread and wine eaten and drunk during the masses are actually Christ's flesh and blood. The Polish name of the feast is “Uroczystosc Najswietszego Ciala i Krwi Panskiej” (The Feast of the Holiest Flesh and Blood of the Lord), but the commonly used name is “Boze Cialo”, a direct translation of the Latin Corpus Christi (Flesh of the Lord).

Corpus Christi in Krakow

Krakow has an almost seven-hundred-year tradition of celebrating Corpus Christi, which was first celebrated in the city in 1320, about one hundred years before it was introduced to the rest of Poland. The traditional celebrations of Corpus Christi in Krakow include a procession from the Wawel Cathedral to the Main Square. The Corpus Christi procession in Krakow is a very colorful event, attractive not only for the faithful but also the tourists (although it seems that the former aren't too fond of the latter). The four altars that stand along the way of the Krakow Corpus Christi procession are decorated with green sprigs – taking one of them home supposedly brings good luck for the remainder of the year.

The Lajkonik Parade

Eight days after the Corpus Christi procession, Krakow hosts another parade, this time linked to the more secular tradition of the Lajkonik. The Lajkonik parade, a colorful and joyful event, starts from around the St. Norbert's Convent, and ends on the Main Square.