Description of Easter - Opis Wielkanocy

Easter is an important holiday for my family. For this special time all family members meet, even if they live in different parts of the country. During Easter holidays we can all get together and spend a lot of time with relatives that we don’t see often.

A few days before Easter the preparations start. The most important thing are Easter eggs. We boil eggs, and then paint them in many colours. Some eggs are covered with wax and painted after that, which makes them look really pretty. Others are decorated with crayons. Easter eggs are small works of art. My mother and grandmother bake traditional Polish Easter cakes: babka and mazurek. They are sweet cakes with raisins and chocolate topping.

On the morning of Holy Saturday we prepare a special Easter basket. It is a small basket with various things to eat. We put in it Easter eggs – which are the symbol of life – meat, salt, horseradish and cake or bread. There is also a lamb made of sugar or chocolate, the symbol of Jesus Christ. The basket is covered with a white napkin and decorated with spring flowers and springs of boxwood. Boxwood is very characteristic for Easter. The dining table in our home is also decorated with it. We later take the basket to the church. In the front of the church stands a long table where people put their baskets. A priest says a prayer and blesses the baskets with holy water.

Easter Sunday is the most important day of Easter. On this day all the members of the family get together to eat the traditional Easter breakfast. It starts with święconka – the food blessed on Holy Saturday. Everyone should eat it. After the breakfast we eat babka and mazurek. Later we all go to church for a mass. We are Roman Catholics and for Catholics Easter is the most important religious holiday, because on this day we celebrate the Resurrection of Christ.