Dorothy's diary A different sort of Easter

 A strange beginning to Easter Sunday. We did not have to get up at the crack of dawn to attend a sunrise service. We had a leisurely breakfast and the made our way to the Methodist Church in Krakow. We were greeted by the pastor Rev Josef Bartos and some of the congregation. Josef gave us an order of service, in Polish, even though we could not read the words we could follow what was happening and two of the hymns had tunes that we knew so we were able to take part. A group of four young girls sang two items, one was “He is Lord, He is Lord, He is risen from the dead and He is Lord” We didn’t sing the usual “Christ the Lord is risen today” but we have celebrated the resurrection in a very different way. The congregation consisted of 29 people plus one baby, including the pastor and the organist.

A family of four, Mother, Father, Son and Daughter were received into membership of the church, again we couldn’t understand a word but we knew what was happening.

At one point in the service Josef welcomed us in faltering English and invited us to join in refreshments after the service. He introduced us to Barbara who spoke English, and she was able to tell us something of Polish Methodism. 100,000 polish people are Protestants and about 4,000 of those are Methodists. There are about 40 Methodist churches in Poland split into two sections (Districts) 1 East and 1 West. The conference is held in Warsaw annually.

Josef invited us to his home on Tuesday. We had to explain that we have two excursions planned for Tuesday so we are going to meet his family at about 8.30 Tuesday evening.

The big shopping mall and a lot of the restaurants were closed so we couldn’t get a meal as we had planned. We had another wander round the city and into the market square which was very busy. The stalls were all open so we managed to get potatoes and pork again, alfresco.

As I said at the beginning it has been a very different Easter Sunday. The most leisurely one  for almost twenty years.

Easter Saturday in Krakow

Our first exercise for the day was to visit a travel agent and try to obtain reservations for our onward journey to Latvia. Unfortunately, being Easter Saturday the travel agent was closed. We walked to the Railway Station and managed to organize a couchette in a shared compartment for the journey to Warsaw. The lady at the station couldn’t do any other reservations, but at least we will have some sort of a bed on Wednesday night. We had a wander round the station and found out exactly which platform (Peron) we need so we hopefully won’t have any problems finding the correct train.

From there we shopped at the Carrefour (French Supermarket) that we had discovered earlier. After a lunch of Ham, Egg and Tomato sandwiches back at the apartment we went for a walk into the market square, following the Royal route. An ancient route through the town that the Royal Family followed. The market square was extremely busy, and everyone seemed to be carrying Easter baskets.

It will be easier for me to copy text from the internet to explain all the traditions and customs about Easter celebrations in Krakow.

The paramount Christian feast, has a special meaning and a distinct quality in springtime Krakow with its rich Catholic traditions and abundance of beautiful churches. In the ancient capital of Poland the festival spreads over four days. 

Holy Saturday 

On Easter Eve everybody, notably children, visits the parish church with a basket of the traditional Easter foodstuff–bread, eggs, ham, sausages, and a piece of horseradish–to have them consecrated by priest. It is also the occasion to see ‘the grave of the Lord Jesus’, arranged in a chapel or a crypt, by which scouts, firefighters, the military, etc. stand guard of honor. And the faithful keep long vigils. 

 
Easter Sunday traditionally remains quiet and confined to the family and the church. First thing in the morning the faithful attend a predawn or very early Resurrection service. Then the whole family has the festive common breakfast featuring the victuals consecrated at the church on Holy Saturday, with the ‘pisanki’ Easter eggs–hardboiled and painted–as the highlight.

 
Easter Monday is a public holiday in Poland, customarily devoted to amusement and socializing. Krakow’s chief venue remains the centuries-old Emaus fair. Universal Poland’s tradition is ‘smingus-dyngus’, i.e. splashing water over one another on the Easter Monday; teenagers do it in the streets with zest and by the bucketful. At the same time you may come across the ‘smigusnicy’ masqueraders. Krakow’s Easter Monday’s Emaus fair has drawn since the Middle Ages joyful crowds to the Zwierzyniec area by the 800-year-old convent of St. Norbert's Premonstratensian order. The fair stems from the ancient celebration of the All Souls Day, moved later to November 2 in the church calendar. And not so long ago during the fiesta innumerable stands and stalls sold clay bells against evil spirits, magical wooden hatchets, and toy birds representing souls. Now they trade mostly in homely sweets and junk toys. Yet the Emaus fair remained for Krakow dwellers the family Easter outing of choice, mostly beloved by children. And teenagers find it perfect for drenching each other with water, which is Poland’s favorite Easter Monday sport.