Poles celebrate occasions in the religious calendar in very unique ways, because religion plays an important part in the everyday Polish life.

January 1 – New Years Day
The New Year's Day and its eve, known in Poland as Sylwester (St. Silvester's Day), begins the carnival - a period of balls and parties. One traditional form of having fun was kulig (sleigh rides), for centuries favoured by the Polish gentry and still extremely popular. A cavalcade of horse-pulled sleighs and sledges went from one manor house to another, entertained everywhere with hearty meals followed by dances. Today the rides are less spectacular, usually ending with a bonfire and sausages or the traditional bigos.

The last Thursday of the carnival is a day on which Poles stuff themselves with pączki (doughnuts) and deep-fried narrow strips of pastry known as chrust or faworki. The carnival ends with revelry on Shrove Tuesday known as śledzik or śledziówka - the "herring feast", after the herrings eaten on that day as a herald of the coming Lent.

Carol singers, usually equipped with lanterns and portable crib, go from door to door.

Easter observances in Poland actually begin on Ash Wednesday, when pussy willows called in polish "bazie" or "kotki" are cut and placed in the water. These pussy willow twigs are used later on Palm Sunday as "palms" to be blessed in the church, because palms are not available in Poland. Holy Week (Wielki Tydzien) begins on Palm Sunday, which is a commemoration of Christ's entry into Jerusalem. High Mass features a reading of Christ's Passion. During the Great Fast it is customary to participate in special religious observances such as Stations of the Cross, Bitter Lamentations, and an annual three-day retreat which closes with the reception of the sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist. The Easter season ends on Easter Monday when the traditional "Smigus-Dyngus" custom is observed.

Popular Polish greetings during the Easter are:
Wesolych Swiat or Wesolego Alleluja!

Ash Wednesday / Sroda Popielcowa
The Polish Easter celebrations, begins with Ash Wednesday. Most of the Poles try to go to the church for the mass, where priests mark their heads with a cross of ashes while saying: Remember, man thou art dust and to dust thou shall return".

Lent / Wielki Post
For Polish Catholics, Lent is the most reflective spiritual season. During this time people are fasting, going to the confession, praying and visiting the specially decorated churches to see "Our Lord's Grave". Each parish strives to come up with the most artistically and religiously evocate arrangement in which the Blessed Sacrament, draped in a filmy veil, is prominently displayed. During the Lent most of the people do not eat meat on Fridays. The preparation for Easter begins with the six-week period of Lent, with its traditions of Stations of the Cross and the Bitter Lamentations devotion which traces the Passion and Crucifixion of Christ and lead-in with the hymn of "Gorzkie zale przybywajcie", which means; Come to us, bitter lamentations. Lent ends Saturday noon, but fasting is observed until Resurrection Mass.

Palm Sunday / Niedziela Palmowa
On this day people bring the pussy willow branches or other custom made wild flowers bouquets instead of palms to the church for the blessing. Some older folks say that swallowing one of the buds from the pussy willows branch will ensure health all year. Parishioners processed with the palms through the streets around the parish, celebrating the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Blessed "palms" are taken home and placed by the crucifix or holy images, and remain there until the next year.

Holy Saturday
On Saturday people take to churches decorated baskets (Swieconka) containing a sampling of traditional food to be blessed. Swieconka is very popular Polish tradition. Also this day typically Polish ceremonies are performed in the church yard. It is the blessing of the fire, the reverence which goes back to pagan times.

Food Blessing / Swieconka
Swieconka is one of the most enduring and beloved Polish traditions. On Saturday people take to churches decorated baskets containing a sampling of traditional food to be blessed: hard-boiled shelled eggs, ham, sausage, salt, horseradish, fruits, bread and cake. Prominently displayed among these is the Easter lamb, usually molded from butter or sugar and colorful pisanki. The food have a symbolic meaning, for example:
* eggs - symbolize life and Christ's resurrection
* bread - symbolic of Jesus
* lamb - represents Christ
* salt - represents purification
* horseradish - symbolic of the bitter sacrifice of Christ
* ham - symbolic of great joy and abundance
The food blessed in the church remains untouched until Sunday morning.

Easter Sunday / Wielka Niedziela
On Easter morning, a special Resurrection Mass is celebrated in every church in Poland. At this Mass, a procession of priests, altar boys and the people circles the church three times while the church bells peal and the organ is played for the first time since they had been silenced on Good Friday. Following the Mass, people return home to eat the food blessed the day before.

May 1 – State Holiday

May 3 – Constitution Day
The Picnic

Under communist rule the 1st of May was celebrated as Labour Day with government-endorsed parades, concerts and similar events. Following the 1990 changes, the Sejm decided to keep this day a public holiday but to give it the neutral name of State Holiday. In addition, the 3rd of May was created Constitution Day, so that Poles now have two public holidays within one week. It is customary to bridge the gap by taking a day's leave on the 2nd.

It is usually impossible to do any business on the 2 May as most government offices, banks, shops, etc are closed on this date. This extended holiday period is known as The Picnic (Majówka).

In February 2004, the 2 May was named Flag Day; it was not, however, made a public holiday.

May – Thursday – Corpus Christi
Corpus Christi (Latin: Body of Christ) is a religious feast, primarily celebrated by Roman Catholics on the eighth Thursday after Easter (i.e. 60 days after Easter) to commemorate the institution of the Holy Eucharist. It is also celebrated by some in the Church of England and other episcopal churches.

The day of Corpus Christi is a national holiday in some Catholic countries. It is also the festival around which it is traditional to perform a cycle of mystery plays.

The Assumption
This is the day when pilgrims converge onto Holy places. Special amongst these places is Jasna Gora in Czestochowa where the faithful arrive after days on foot and from all over Poland.

August 15 – Feast of the Assumption
According to Roman Catholic theology and the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church, the body and soul of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Mary, the mother of Jesus) was taken into Heaven after the end of her earthly life. Mary's passage into heaven is called Assumptio Beatæ Mariæ Virginis (Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary) by Roman Catholics. This doctrine was dogmatically defined by Pope Pius XII on the 1st of November 1950.

November 1 – All Saint’s Day
The festival of All Saints, also sometimes known as "All Hallows," or "Hallowmas," is a feast celebrated in their honour. All Saints is also a Christian formula invoking all the faithful saints and martyrs, known or unknown.

The Roman Catholic holiday (Festum omnium sanctorum) falls on November 1, followed by All Souls Day on November 2, and is a Holy Day of Obligation, with a vigil and an octave.

All Saints Day (Dzien zadusznych), November 1st, traditionally has been associated in Polish legend with ghosts and wayward souls. In ancient times, when death entered a peasant's house, all doors and windows were opened at the moment of passing. Mirrors were turned to the wall so that the soul would not be captured in the room. The last rite included a funeral banquet. The vigil lasted until the burial in order to protect the dead soul from evil spirits.

Later, these pagan customs were Christianized and people were encouraged to pray and light candles instead of conjuring up spirits. The candles were to symbolize the eternal light for which the soul yearns . Today, All Souls Day is celebrated in a very solemn manner in Poland. On this days, at twilight, the Poles make pilgrimages to their local cemeteries. The people decorate the graves with chrysanthemums, asters, and autumn flowers ~ and place candles and votive lights. When the graves are decorated and countless flickering frame cast their haunting shadows amid the dusk, the mood is set for an outdoor service and prayers for departed souls.

November 11 – National Independence Day
In 1917 two separate events decisively changed the character of World War I and set it on a course toward the rebirth of Poland. The United States entered the conflict on the Allied side, while a process of revolutionary upheaval in Russia weakened her and then removed the Russians from the Eastern Front, finally bringing the Bolsheviks to power in that country. After the last Russian advance into Galicia failed in mid-1917, the Germans went on the offensive again; the army of revolutionary Russia ceased to be a factor, and Russia was forced to sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in which she ceded all formerly Polish lands to the Central Powers. After peace in the East was assured, Germany and Austria-Hungary started a policy of creating a "Mitteleuropa" ("Central Europe") and on November 5, 1917, proclaimed a puppet Kingdom of Poland.

The defection of Russia from the Allied coalition gave free rein to the calls of Woodrow Wilson, the American president, to transform the war into a crusade to spread democracy and liberate the Poles and other peoples from the suzerainty of the Central Powers. The thirteenth of his Fourteen Points adopted the resurrection of Poland as one of the main aims of World War I. Polish opinion crystallized in support of the Allied cause.

Józef Piłsudski became a popular hero when Berlin jailed him for insubordination. The Allies broke the resistance of the Central Powers by autumn 1918, as the Habsburg monarchy disintegrated and the German imperial government collapsed. In October 1918, Polish authorities took over Galicia and Cieszyn Silesia. In November 1918, Piłsudski was released from internment in Germany by the revolutionaries and returned to Warsaw. Upon his arrival, on November 11, 1918 the Regency Council of the Kingdom of Poland ceded all responsibilities to him and Piłsudski took control over the newly created state as its provisional Chief of State. Soon all the local governments that had been created in the last months of the war pledged allegiance to the central government in Warsaw. Independent Poland, which had been absent from the map of Europe for 123 years, was reborn.

The newly created state initially consisted of former Congress Poland, western Galicia (with Lwów besieged by the Ukrainians) and part of Cieszyn Silesia.

December 25 & 26 – Christmas Holidays
Christmas is one the most important holidays in Polish culture - for all Poland citizens Christmas Eve is not only a time of family gathering, but also Christmas is a night of magic: Poland superstition says that animals are able to speak during the night of Christmas Eve. Many of the old Christmas traditions have survived through the ages, like the extra plate on the Christmas table for unsuspected guest or number of the dishes served to the Christmas table, a few blades of straw underneath of Christmas table. Christmas Eve dinner is traditionally started as the first star appears in the sky. At this time the family shares Holy bread in the form of a wafer or Oplatek which is eaten while giving each other best wishes for the future. Twelve courses are traditionally eaten, then everyone sets off for Christmas Eve Mass. Churches are always packed to maximum capacity.

But for most people in Poland, Christmas is the time when the whole family gathers at the Christmas table. At that night there are very few people that are spending the time away from home or their closest family. Only during the Christmas (on December 25th and 26th) people in Poland are inviting their friends to a holiday dinner or holiday supper.

As with most of the nations’ with long culture it’s hard to find any new traditions on Christmas in Poland - there are no modifications of the traditional Christmas name (like Xmas, etc.), there are no Christmas-stockings hanging over the fireplace. From the early hours on Dec. 24th women were found cleaning and sweeping the entire house and preparing all the meals for the Christmas Eve.

The only thing that was brought from abroad to Christmas tradition in Poland are large Christmas trees standing on the squares of big cities of Poland, like Warsaw, Krakow, Gdansk, Poznan or Wroclaw. Of course people living in southern Poland close to Tatra Mountains have their own Christmas traditions. In the center of this resort, city of Zakopane, Christmas Eve has a unique atmosphere of holiday.