As you might suspect, Poland has a whole series of customs and traditions surrounding Easter, which range from pious to playful, to downright pagan.
WHEN IS EASTER CELEBRATED IN POLAND?
In 2024, Easter Sunday in Poland will be celebrated on the 31st of March, making Easter Monday April 1, 2024. These two days are official public holidays in Poland, and as such, you can expect all shops - and many restaurants and bars (particularly on Sunday) - to be closed on these two days.
However, the Easter season in Poland starts earlier, with a festive holiday vibe establishing itself in the week leading up to Palm Sunday (March 24, 2024) one week earlier (read on).
HOW IS EASTER CELEBRATED IN POLAND?
While different cities around the country have their own schedules to follow (read about Easter celebrations in Kraków and Gdańsk), the Easter holiday season essentially begins in each city with the appearance of traditional handmade ‘palms’ for sale in city marketplaces in the days before Palm Sunday (March 24, 2024) - the Catholic holiday so named for the palm branches laid on the ground before Jesus on his entrance into Jerusalem. As the Polish climate isn’t particularly conducive to palm trees, Polish Catholics invented their own ‘palms’ - essentially elaborately handwoven wands made from a variety of dried flowers and plants. Rather than trample them, however, Poles take their palms to church on Palm Sunday, in order to have them blessed before they decorate the home for the season.
