KrakowInformer.com

Easter in Krakow

Krakow at Easter is a particularly colorful and jolly place to visit (apart from maybe Good Friday), and the Misteria Paschalia Festival adds a pinch of the profound to the atmosphere.

The Easter Sunday and Monday are public holidays, so nearly all shops and banks will be closed.

Palm Sunday

The Easter celebrations start a week before the Easter Sunday – on the Palm Sunday the faithful go to the Krakow churches with special “palms” made of hay and dried wild flowers, often dyed to make them more colorful. The palms, along with other must-have Easter items can be bought on the annual Easter fair on the Main Square.

Easter Thursday and Good Friday

The Easter Thursday and Good Friday are a time when the Krakow churches are just about full. The Thursday celebrations of the Last Supper and the Friday reminder of the Crucifixion – a truly mournful mass – experienced in St. Mary's Church or the Wawel Cathedral are an experience to remember.

Easter Saturday

A day of waiting for Christ to raise from the grave, the Easter Saturday is a day without real masses – and yet it is perhaps the most popular day in Poland to visit a church. The reason is 'swiecone' or 'swieconka' ('blessed') – a small basket filled with food brought to the church to be blessed by the priest and then eaten at the Easter table. The Easter swieconka should include salt, meat (ham and sausages), bread and horseradish – and, of course, eggs. Not regular eggs, though, but special Easter 'pisanki' – eggs painted in different colors – often small masterpieces.

Easter Sunday

The food blessed on Saturday is the core of the Easter Sunday breakfast, which traditionally starts with sharing the egg and wishing each-other all the best. Before breakfast, many families attend the Resurrection Mass, probably the most important one in the Catholic Year.

Easter Monday

After the noble joy of the Easter Sunday, Monday seems reserved for the more common ways of having fun, from which the most popular is the tradition of smigus-dyngus: on Easter Monday youngsters splash water on each-other (the tradition says: boys on girls, but nobody seems to care now). Some young people take this Easter habit too seriously, and use bucketfuls of water, which can be really frustrating – and is in fact forbidden, so if you feel harassed in any way, you can always turn to the nearest Police Station (too bad if you're already wet).

Easter Tuesday

On the Easter Tuesday most grown-ups go back to work, but the schools are still closed. Many children can be found near the Krakus Mound, taking part in the annual feast of 'Rekawka', which has turned from what was probably an ancient Pagan tradition to a fair, whose main attractions are cheap toys and sweets.