The spring housecleaning is finished, windows shine with cleanness, cakes and pâtés are in the oven, and children are decorating Easter eggs.

This indicates that preparations for Easter have begun in Poznań’s households. This holiday, when spring is waking up from its winter sleep, is one of our favourite.
Polish people have two favourite holidays: Christmas in winter and Easter in spring. The superiority of one of them over another has been disputed for ages. In Poland, this argument has even become tantamount to a never ending discussion, in which one party is unable to persuade the other. That is because some people prefer Christmas Eve, wafer and gifts, whereas others have more sentiment towards Easter meals, Easter eggs and the custom of sprinkling each other with water on Easter Monday. 95% of Poles take their Easter baskets to be blessed on Holy Saturday. Easter eggs, bread, butter and ham are brought to church even by those who usually are not very religious.
In Poland, Easter starts on Palm Sunday. It is then that symbolic palms, made of dried flowers or young willow twigs, are blessed in churches.
Easter Triduum, that is a series of religious ceremonies, starts on Holy Thursday. The liturgy of Holy Thursday is unusual. In the Catholic Church, it commemorates the establishing the Holy Mass, that is of the Last Supper which Jesus had with his apostles. Good Friday is devoted to the Passion of Jesus Christ. On this day, most Poles, including those less religious, observe a strict fast. During the day, they eat only three meat-free meals. However, the favourite day in the whole Easter is Holy Saturday, when most Poles also remain faithful to religious traditions. Nobody can imagine Easter without a special breakfast when families eat food that has previously been blessed. Therefore, on Holy Saturday churches are full of people who bring their baskets with: decorated eggs, bread, Easter lamb made of butter, meat and salt.
Easter Day starts with a morning resurrection mass. According to tradition, the mass should begin before dawn. However some churches celebrate it at midnight. After the mass, families have the traditional Easter breakfast when the blessed meals can be consumed. Tradition requires that the table be covered with white tablecloth. This constitutes a contrasting background for platters with meat and bread, colourful eggs and green box, an evergreen plant that decorates everything: sausages, ham, horseradish root pieces, Easter lamb made of butter, Easter sponge cake with raisins, cottage cheese stolen, round wheat cakes with nuts, and Easter wheat bread. In every house, on a decorative plate, lays a consecrated egg divided into quarters. Sharing this egg, family members wish one another all the best.
According to the Polish tradition, on Easter Monday people sprinkle one another with water, which is an old pagan custom and a symbol of purification. The tradition is very old but is still present in almost unaltered form. Therefore, on Easter Monday you have to be very cautious walking down the streets of Poznań because you can be caught by a group of children who will pour cold water on you. However, to maintain the tradition, everyone should be at least sprinkled with water.