Customs and habits

Every country has customs that shock and confuse foreigners. Polish people going about their daily business or celebrating special occasions often do things that will make your jaw drop, but are considered perfectly normal here.

Poland’s most surprising customs usually stem from relics of pagan culture or folk traditions (sometimes combined with religious observances), therefore our own list starts with the pagan roots of Polish culture before moving on to odd eating habits, but feel free to send us anecdotes from any sphere of life.

1. Marzanna – Burning and drowning a straw effigy

Marzanna is the Polish name for a Slavic goddess associated with death, winter and nature. Even though pagan religion was theoretically eradicated from Poland in the early 11th century, Marzanna is still alive thanks to a popular ritual. Every year, on the first day of spring, people would make an effigy, set it on fire, and then drown it in a river. The aim of the ritual is to chase off winter and encourage nature to revive.

The Marzanna doll is traditionally made of straw and white canvas and decorated with colourful ribbons. Her sacrifice is subject to several rules: you can’t touch her while she is in the water (your hand would wither), you can’t look back while coming back from the river (you’d bring illnesses upon you and your relatives). The Catholic church was fighting this ritual even until the early 20th century but never succeeded in stamping it out. The Marzanna tradition is still popular in some parts of Poland even though people no longer believe it really helps spring come sooner.

2. Christmas – straw under the tablecloth, and an extra plate for an unexpected guest

Celebrating both Christmas and Easter is very important to Poles, and there are a plethora of little habits and traditions to obey. For example, at Christmas you have to put a little bit of straw under the tablecloth and set one extra plate for an unexpected guest. The explanation?

Putting a few blades of straw is what remains of a tradition of decorating the whole table with straw and grains and even putting a sheaf in the corner (which was even practised by noble families living in demesnes). The reason behind it was that Jesus Christ was born in a manger, in a little stable in Bethlehem, and the straw is to symbolise the paucity of the circumstances of his coming to Earth.

An old Polish proverb says ‘Gość w dom, Bóg w dom’, which means that the presence of a guest is God’s blessing. Hospitality is a part of the Polish identity and Poles are determined not to leave anybody alone or hungry on Christmas – this is why they traditionally put an extra plate on the Christmas table. In fact, rarely does any unexpected guest come but if you ever happen to be in Poland and your friends know that you have nobody to spend Christmas evening with, expect several invitations!

3. Easter traditions

In Poland the whole families gather together to celebrate Easter. On Holy Saturday they prepare special Easter baskets. The baskets contain eggs, bread, meat, salt, horseradish and a figure of lamb made of sugar or cake, which represent the Lamb of God – Jesus Christ. The baskets are decorated with white cloth and box twigs. Once a basket is ready, it is taken to a local church where a priest blesses it with holy water. On Holy Sunday a great Easter breakfast takes place, when family members eat the contents of their baskets and much more.

4. Bread and salt

In Poland, welcoming with bread and salt ("chlebem i solą") is often associated with the traditional hospitality ("staropolska gościnność") of the Polish nobility (szlachta), who prided themselves on their hospitality.

Nowadays, the tradition is mainly observed on wedding days, when newlyweds are greeted with bread and salt by their parents on returning from the church wedding.