Friday, April 29, 2011

Our Easter Weekend - Part II

Our Easter weekend continued with a great day on Sunday!  We woke up and went to the only English speaking mass here in Warsaw.  We are super fortunate that to get to this church we have a great walk from our house and through the historic Old Town area.  After church, we prepped and cooked as we waited for our guests to arrive. Everything came together really well and it was so nice to welcome people into our new home here.  Our dinner guests were mainly expats from all over the world that we have met here.  It's funny how the expat community bonds fairly quickly since everyone is "in the same boat" and is eager to help each other out.  We had our traditional American style Easter ham...which was delicious!  And, we enjoyed great food and great company late into the evening. Our celebration was not traditionally Polish though.  On Easter Sunday most Poles go to mass at 6:00 am and then celebrate with family over brunch.  The brunch meal features traditional Polish sour soup with sausage, called Zurek.  And, it is also customary to serve a number of different fish dishes.  Tom prefers the American menu for Easter.      : )
Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures from our Easter dinner celebration...guess we were too busy having fun to take pictures!
Tom was off of work on Monday for Easter Monday.  It was great to have a day to clean up, recover and relax.  The weather here was in the low 70's so we took Charlie on a long walk in the park.  We were also hoping to see signs of another Polish tradition on Monday, called Smigus Dyngus, but we never came across it.  Maybe it happens in the more neighborhood type areas?  

Smigus Dyngus – that’s another name for Easter Monday in Poland as. It’s a day for water fights! In the past, it was intended for young men to sprinkle water at young ladies as a display of affection. The ladies who got soaked were believed to have the highest chances of tying the knot soon.


Today, it has taken a more carefree dimension. Anyone is a target, including those slumbering in bed. Kids band together in groups, armed with buckets and water pistols, making sure that no one slips away dry. The older generation maintains the tradition by spraying one another with cologne water

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