3 Day Holiday

May in Poland starts with two quick national holidays; May 1 and May 3.

May 1 (May Day) is a holiday in many places around the world. However, in Poland it was the Communist celebration of Labor Day until 1990, with government-endorsed parades, concerts and similar events. My colleagues that are my age, tell me that when they were kids, they remember being made to go to Labor Day parades and having to wave red flags. You could get in trouble for not going.

When Communism fell, the new democratic government decided to keep the holiday, but rename it to something more neutral- simply called “State Holiday”. I heard many people still referring to it as Labor Day, but without the obvious Communistic influences.

The bigger and much older of the two holidays is on May 3rd. That is Constitution Day. Constitution Day began in 1791, when Poland was the second country in the world to sign their own Constitution (The US was first). Unfortunately it did not last long- as the next year Poland was invaded (again) by Catherine The Great’s Army from Russia and ultimately carved up for the next 200 year’s by Russia, Prussia and Austria (called the three partitions). Poland did not geographically exist from 1793 to 1918.

Even during the partitions and during Communism, Constitution Day was held by Poles with national pride (and many times celebrated in secret).

Constitution Day is celebrated by Poles all over the world. Chicago had a big parade today, and Kansas City (who has a moderate sized Polish community) also has a parade (they call it Polski Day). We went to it last year. For those Kansas Citians on this blog- the neighborhood in KCK is at 8th and Vermont (near the old St. Margaret’s Hospital) which used to primarily be a Polish neighborhood. Last year we attended the parade, went to a Polish Mass at St. Joseph-St. Benedict’s Church, and had our first samplings of real Polish food. We will likely be regular attendees in the future.

However, this year we had our own festivities in the homeland. We were invited to our neighbor's house for a BBQ.

Basia and Mariusz made bigos, grilled pork steaks, smoked kielbasa, and Polish Salata (what we yanks call cole slaw). Charles and Karolina did the translation. It was a very nice day, but a tad cool. Mariusz has this really neat hanging BBQ grill, that he said could even hang a wok from. The meats were great. You can see us in their backyard, and our backyard is just behind the wooden fence. Trey had a great time playing with their dog. Their youngest daughter Anita joined us for a while, but she is finishing high school this week and has her final exams.

On the 2nd, although not technically a holiday- most people take it off. This year the 2nd fell on a Sunday- so that made it even easier to relax.

Lisa, I and the two smaller kids went down to Old Town. The former Coal Market (now an open area for events) had several booths set up with vendors and carnival type rides. Trey enjoyed the big slides and Abbie liked the flowers. We walked down the Dulga (Royal Route) through the Old Town. Four weeks ago we could walk down the Dulga and see almost no one. But not only is it a holiday, but spring is coming and so are the tourists. So there are now hundreds walking this area. By June, there will be even many times more people. All the vendors are out selling their amber jewelry and other trinkets of the city. The Fountains are on, people eating outside and the sun is shinning. It was a long winter! Glad to see spring get here.

It is suppose to be cold and rainy tomorrow on Constitution Day. Everything is closed (including grocery stores). So not much to do inside or outside. But looking forward to a day of not doing much.

Happy Constitution Day!