Marriage and Family

Young people who start work after the minimum required schooling tend to marry earlier than those who continue their education. Newly married couples often live with their parents for a few years and may be given other financial assistance.

Urban families usually have one or two children, while rural families often have three or four. In most households, children are given considerable responsibility from an early age. Because both parents usually work outside the home, the children often prepare their own breakfast and go to school by themselves. Older children clean the home, sometimes cook meals, and often care for younger siblings. The economic situation of most families demands the equal involvement of both parents in raising the family and working outside the home, although women still take most responsibility for looking after the home. The majority of women have jobs outside the home. The elderly are often cared for by their adult children.

Eating

Because work and school begin early, many Poles have only a light breakfast with coffee, tea, or cocoa and sometimes cereal, taking a sandwich along to eat at 10 or 11 am. The main meal is served sometime between 2 and 4 pm, depending on what time people return from work—people who are not at work or school would eat the main meal earlier and would not have a mid-morning snack. The meal usually consists of soup, meat or fish, salad, and potatoes. Fruit juice compote, pastries, and ice cream are a few popular desserts. The compote, usually homemade, is a combination of fruit juice, fruit, and water. A light supper follows around 7 or 8 pm.

Some common dishes include pierogi (dumplings with cream cheese and potatoes), uszka (a kind of ravioli) served with borscht, bigos (sausage, mushrooms, and cabbage), braised pork and cabbage, poppy-seed desserts, and cheesecake. Bread is purchased several times a week, sometimes even daily. Bread, dairy products, and canned fish are plentiful, and pork is more popular than beef. With the switch to a market economy, more food in greater variety is available, but prices are much higher and many families spend a large proportion of their income on food.

Poles eat with the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right. It is good manners to keep both hands (not the elbows) above the table during the meal, and not to start eating until everyone has been served and the host or head of the family has begun. People tend to talk relatively little while eating, but it is usual to stay at the table for conversation once the meal is finished. At both formal and informal dinners, the host will often propose a toast to the guest, and the guest is expected to reciprocate.

Socializing

Adults generally shake hands upon meeting. Occasionally men still follow the tradition of kissing a woman's hand. When introducing a man, one uses Pan (“Mr.”) before the last name; for a woman, the term is Pani (“Mrs.”). A professional person’s title is used before his or her last name. Only the person’s title is used in formal conversation or in business. First names are used only by mutual consent between adult friends, but teenagers and children are called by their first names. Women often greet close female friends by kissing their left cheek, then right cheek, then left again. Some common Polish greetings include Dzień dobry, which means “Hello” or “Good morning”; Dobry wieczór (“Good evening”); and Do widzenia (“Good-bye”).

Unannounced visits among friends and relatives are common, particularly in rural areas. More formal, longer visits are arranged in advance. Poles often invite friends over for dinner, or just for cake and tea, and they like to have formal parties on special occasions. When invited for even a short visit, it is customary to bring a gift of an odd number of flowers, which should be unwrapped before being presented. Guests may be entertained at a kawiarnia, or café, which offers a variety of French pastries in addition to its own specialties; such visits often last several hours. However, it is more common to invite guests to meals at home, due to the long-standing tradition of entertaining at home and because of the expense of eating out. Because Poles generally go to work early in the morning, evening visits on weekdays do not usually extend beyond 11 pm. On weekends, however, guests stay later.

Recreation

Soccer is very popular in Poland; the people also participate in track and field events, cycling, table tennis, skiing, basketball, volleyball, and various individual sports. Bridge is a favorite card game, and Poles enjoy socializing with friends and relatives, watching television, going to the cinema, and attending concerts and other cultural events. In the fall, people go into the woods to pick mushrooms. The mushrooms are then dried and may be used to make uszka for Christmas.

Holidays and Celebrations

New Year’s Day in Poland is celebrated on 1 January. Easter, in early spring, is a major holiday in this predominantly Roman Catholic country. It has a number of traditions associated with it, including painting eggs and taking baskets full of food to churches to have the food blessed. Easter Monday is a public holiday. The morning of Easter Monday, children (and some adults) enjoy water fights—water symbolizes life, and it is a symbol of Easter, which honors the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Labor Day is observed on 1 May. Polish Constitution Day on 3 May commemorates the ratification of Poland’s first constitution in 1794, based upon ideas from the French Revolution.

Corpus Christi, in honor of the Eucharist, is observed on the Thursday following Trinity Sunday (which follows the Pentecost, 50 days after Easter). Assumption Day, when the Virgin Mary’s body was said to have been “assumed” into Heaven, is observed on 15 August. Polish Solidarity Day (31 August) marks the formation of Solidarity (Solidarność), the labor union that led to the downfall of the Polish Communists in 1989.

All Saints’ Day (1 November) honors all the saints in the Christian calendar. On this day, Poles visit the graves of relatives and friends, offering prayers and lighting candles. Independence Day, which commemorates the proclamation of an independent Poland at the end of World War I, is celebrated on 11 November.

Christmas is Poland’s most important holiday. On 6 December, children receive small gifts from Saint Nicholas, whose name day it is. On Christmas Eve, considered the heart of the holiday, families gather for a feast that features special foods and, according to Catholic tradition, excludes meat. Before dinner, celebrants exchange pieces of a holy wafer blessed by a priest, as well as greetings for Christmas and the new year. Traditionally an extra plate is set for unexpected guests, and people eat as many of 12 courses as possible for luck in the coming year. That evening, Catholics attend Midnight Mass and Saint Nicholas usually returns to leave gifts for the children. On 26 December, a public holiday, people visit and relax. Nativity scenes are seen everywhere, and caroling can be heard frequently throughout the Christmas season.

In Poland, people with the name of a saint celebrate his or her name day. Name days are considered more important than birthdays, and celebrants receive gifts and may celebrate with parties.

Source: Encarta Interactive World Atlas

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