So, Easter day is almost here. And before you start celebrating (if you do Easter), here are a few things to remember about Wielkanoc in Poland:

1. It’s a two-day holiday and people go to church on both days.
2. Food is a major Easter feature (but I guess the same can be said about all Polish celebrations) and you just can’t have this occasion without eggs. That’s one constant throughout the country, because when it comes to other foods on your Easter table, they can vary according to the region. In some parts of Poland people enjoy this awful duck blood soup (czernina). I know it can be made with other kinds of blood but my great-aunt used to make it with duck blood). In some regions of the country, people will eat rabbit, but in others they might prefer lamb. In my family, it was just “meat” and I’m not really sure what it used to be when it was alive. I didn’t like the taste either way.

3. You can’t have Easter without babka wielkanocna (Easter cake) and those can also vary depending on the region. Of course, if you’re not a fan of babka (and I’m not), there’s plenty of other cakes to choose from. My personal favorite is makowiec (poppy seed roll) the way my grandma used to make it. Yum!!! (Please, no goofy jokes about poppy seeds here, I am fully aware that makowiec is off limits in many places in the world – Singapore and Dubai immediately come to mind).

4. And then you have Easter Monday, known in Poland as Śmingus Dyngus. This is basically an officially  sanctioned occasion to pour copious amounts of cold water on people you know, and on some you don’t know. I hate it. This is one Polish tradition that I haven’t told my foreign family about. And I hope they’ll stay unaware of it for as long as possible.

So, enjoy your holidays! And mokrego dyngusa!!! Get out your water guns and have fun!