Word

Today's word is "święconka" (sh-vyen-tson-kah), which means "blessing of the Easter baskets". Święconka is an enduring and beloved tradition ("tradycja") in Poland. Baskets containing a sampling of Easter foods are brought to church to be blessed on Holy Saturday.

Each basket ("kosz do święconki") contains symbolic foods of the Easter holiday, arranged in three categories: meat, dairy, and bread ("mieso, nabial i chleb"). The priest blesses the baskets and sprinkles each with holy water.

Poles take special pride in preparing decorative and tasteful baskets for Easter ("Wielkanoc"). Observing the creativity ("tworczosc") of other parishioners is part of the fun!

This spring we are proud to offer a complete Polish Easter Basket Kit that includes everything you need for święconka, including mini versions of our homemade kielbasa, plus beautiful imported artisan Easter goods.

Today's word is "żart" (zhart), which means "a joke" in Polish. In Poland, as in many other countries, April 1st is a day of humor and practical jokes ("żarty"). The Poles call this the day of jokes ("dzien żartów"), or "Prima aprilis" (April 1st). If you're not careful, you might be tricked! It's all about getting everybody to laugh ("śmiać się").

Polish newspapers are famous for the tradition of writing an April Fool's story and hiding it among their regular news stories. See examples here and here. And what's the Polish word for humor? It's..."humor." But it's pronounced differently: “hoo-mor”. Honestly! No joke.