My Traveling Joys: Easter

Showing posts with label Easter. Show all posts

Friday, April 3, 2015

Observing Polish Easter Traditions in Warsaw

4/03/2015 11:09:00 PM by Joy9 comments

Celebrating Easter after a long, gray Polish winter is a wonderful way to harken spring.

Luckily, I have witnessed three Easter seasons here in Warsaw. I absolutely love the colorful pisanki (painted eggs) that are sold at small shops and special Easter markets. Now, I have a collection of both wooden and real eggs that will always remind me of our expat years living in Poland. Many of the egg vendors sell these special eggs at my favorite market, Hala Mirowska.

Last year, we watched one of the most celebrated Polish Easter traditions in Warsaw’s Old Town. On the Saturday before Easter Sunday, Poles flock to their local churches, carrying decorative baskets filled with special items to be blessed. The Swieconka tradition means the baskets are lined with a white linen or lace towel and contain eggs, kiebasa, salt, candles, cheese or butter shaped like lambs and more. Each item represents something in the Christian faith. To see a diagram of Easter basket items and the symbolism, click here.

This year, I made this Easter basket filled with chocolates, salt, cheese, kielbasa, horseradish and other sweets for a Polish friend.

At the church, the priest then sprinkles the individual baskets with Holy Water and gives his blessing in front a crowd. It was cute to watch the young children who are dressed up in their white Easter Sunday dresses or button-down shirts and pants. If you visit Poland during the Easter season, I definitely recommend finding a church to observe this tradition.

Bread shaped like lambs for Easter.

Some of the specialty shops sell the traditional Polish Easter baskets.

Or homemade Polish cheese in the shape of lambs and chickens.

On Palm Sunday, which takes place the weekend before Easter, you’ll find local vendors and even older Polish ladies selling decorative “palms.” Since Poland doesn’t have palm trees, the locals make these palms from dried wheat and flowers, fresh greenery and pussy willow (bazia) branches.

Then, since many Poles fast during the 40 days of Lent before Easter, the feasting begins in earnest on Easter Sunday. During the week before this, the grocery stores and markets are a frenzy of kielbasa-pork-sweets purchases! Last year, I made Polish zurek soup, which is one of my favorites, for the first time at home. The soup is made from a fermented rye flour base and contains kielbasa and hard-boiled eggs. This article describes in detail the Polish Easter foods and includes some recipes.

We may not be Polish, but we’ve enjoyed seeing the different Polish Easter traditions here in Warsaw.

Happy Easter and Smacznego!

Happy Polish Pączki Day!

2/12/2015 01:55:00 AM by JoyNo comments

Today marks probably one of the sweetest days on the Polish calendar.

Locally known as Tłusty Czwartek (Fat Thursday), this day allows you to greedily stuff your face with as many Polish doughnuts as you can before the fasting season of Lent begins. This is the Polish version of Fat Tuesday!

Instead of parading and partying like other Catholic-observant countries do for Mardis Gras, the Poles stand in long, long lines to purchase pastries from the cukiernia (bakery). The most popular Polish pastry, particularly on Fat Thursday, are pączki – large, deep-fried doughnuts. These sugary sweet doughnuts are typically filled with cherry or rose petal jam, glazed with sugar, and then sometimes topped with candied orange peel. The pączki are very similar to our American jelly-filled doughnuts in the U.S., but perhaps a bit more egg-y in texture.

Unfortunately, this year, I won’t be sampling any pączki since I’m on my gluten-free diet. Sadly, my husband will have to eat my share of doughnuts too!

The piles of pączki sold at large grocery stores like Carrefour are very non-traditional in their brightly colored icings.

If you’re not sure where to buy your pączki today, my sweet Polish friend Magda has taste-tested several here in Warsaw. Check out her recommendations at her blog: Crust & Dust. Her post is in Polish, but it’s fairly easy to figure out the addresses of her recommendations.

Another Fat Thursday favorite in Poland are faworki. Nicknamed “Angel’s Wings, these thin, crispy ribbons of pastry dough are fried, and then sprinkled liberally with powdered sugar. I saw a bunch of these for sale while I picked up some fresh produce at Hala Mirowska yesterday.

If you’re celebrating today, please enjoy a sweet pączki for me too!

Polish Pisanki & Decorating Easter Eggs in Poland

4/15/2014 02:35:00 AM by Joy13 comments

Living as an expat in a new country opens your eyes to new traditions and experiences.

Last year, we were greeted with Easter Snow Bunnies near our hotel on our first night in Poland. We didn’t know about this tradition! Luckily, this year, Easter falls later in April (Sunday, April 20^th) and our weather is warm and spring-like.

An Easter Snow Bunny on April 1, 2013, in Warsaw.

This past week, I just learned about the colorful tradition of Polish pisanki, which are real eggs usually decorated with melted beeswax and then dyed for Easter. The pisanki I’ve seen so far here in Warsaw are exceptionally beautiful! Take a look:

Polish pisanki are named after the verb verb 'pisać' which in contemporary Polish means 'to write' yet in old Polish also meant 'to paint.' Yesterday, I watched a woman demonstrate how to make Polish pisanki as part of my expat group called International Women’s Group of Warsaw. She heated the beeswax over a candle, dipped the stylus tool into the wax and “wrote” on the egg making various designs. Later, she dyed the egg, then removed the wax by heating it over the candle and rubbing off the wax with a towel. Thus, revealing the intricate design and pattern on the egg.

There are even various types of Polish pisanki, based on the technique and preparation used. For example, at my favorite farmer’s market, Hala Mirowska, I bought a basketful of malowanki – hand-painted Easter eggs. Luckily, these are wooden and not fragile real ones!

Another variety is called drapanki – solid-color eggs with a design scratched onto the surface after they are dyed. I only bought one of these because drapanki cost 20-30 pln ($6-10) each instead of the 7 pln ($2.50) I paid for the handmade pisanki made with beeswax and dye. (Meanwhile on Etsy, you’ll pay upwards of 70 pln (about $23) PER egg if you want to buy outside of Poland!)

Lastly, another variety you’ll find is nalepianki – eggs decorated with paper cut-outs or straw. The Polish rooster seems to be a popular motif for these Easter eggs.

Did you know that Polish pisanki are usually made to be given to your family and close friends as a symbolic wish for the gift of life? The eggs can be saved from year to year and sometimes are even blessed at church during the Easter celebrations. I won’t be visiting my family until Christmas, so these pisanki are all mine.

Did you also know there’s even a Muzeum Pisanki in Poland? This small museum in the town of Ciechanowiec, 140 km northeast of Warsaw, is dedicated to the history of Polish Easter eggs and more from Eastern Europe. Hopefully, I can drag hubby here one of these days.

More Polish pisanki for sale at an ornament store on Emilii Plater in Warsaw.

Meanwhile at home, we simply dyed Easter eggs with some of our colleagues’ children the old-fashioned way – store-bought dye kits! Last weekend, the kids had fun getting their hands messy with dye and putting stickers on the Easter eggs. I’ve been eating a lot of egg salad this week!

Maybe next year, I’ll get a bit more crafty and attempt to make my own Polish pisanki!

To those of you who will celebrate Easter this weekend, Happy Easter!

***Please check out what some of my fellow bloggers have to say about celebrating Easter abroad and at home:

Happy Fat Thursday in Poland…Almost!

2/26/2014 01:30:00 AM by Joy9 comments

I’ve already been warned about the Polish version of Fat Tuesday! Locally known as Tłusty Czwartek (Fat Thursday), this day allows you to stuff your face with as many Polish doughnuts as you can before the fasting season of Lent begins.

Instead of parading and partying like other Catholic-observant countries do for Mardis Gras or Fat Tuesday, the Poles will queue up in long, long lines to purchase pastries from the local cukiernia (bakery). The most popular Polish pastry, particularly on Fat Thursday, are pączki – large, deep-fried doughnuts. These sugary doughnuts are typically filled with rose petal jam (or other marmalades), glazed with sugar, and then sometimes topped with candied orange peel. The pączki are very similar to our American jelly-filled doughnuts in the U.S.

You'll find a variety of the Polish doughnuts around the city!

Fat Thursday is tomorrow (February 27^th), but I’ve already seen advertisements for pączki since last week here in Warsaw! I guess I’d be stocking up on sweets too if I knew I couldn’t eat them either for 40 days during Lent!

My Polish friends have warned me that many offices even have pączki eating contests – to see who can eat the most! My husband isn’t sure what to expect at his office.

According to my daily email from Warsaw Foodie, 75 percent of Poles will eat at least 3 doughnuts and 33 percent will eat as many as 5 pieces tomorrow! Now, that’s a lot of doughnuts!

One of the most popular and traditional places where Poles purchase these donuts are A. Blikle cafes, located throughout Warsaw. This year, Blikle will offer two new modern-day fillings – orange-ginger or cherry-chili. I’m honestly surprised about the chili flavor because rarely do I find anything spicy here unless I go out to a Thai restaurant.

Another Fat Thursday favorite in Poland are faworki. Nicknamed “Angel’s Wings, these thin, crispy ribbons of pastry dough are fried, and then sprinkled liberally with powdered sugar. Luckily, I’ll be learning how to make faworki at a baking class at CookUp tonight!

Crispy piles of sweet Polish faworki at A. Blikle Cafe in Warsaw.

Since this will be our first Lent and Easter season in Poland, I’m curious to see what will happen on Fat Thursday. I plan to take my camera around to some of the popular cukiernia I know in Centrum and see what the fuss is all about!

Don’t miss out on this Polish holiday! Follow along tomorrow’s pączki madness via my Instagram feed or Facebook Page.

Smacznego!

Happy Easter from Istanbul

3/31/2013 05:16:00 AM by Joy4 comments

I love cute, cuddly bunnies!

I couldn't resist these fluffy little guys at the Swissotel in Istanbul where we had brunch this morning. Unfortunately, they were fenced off to prevent children (and big kids like myself) from playing with them.

I grew up having rabbits as pets my whole life in Nebraska. First, there was Bugs Bunny, then Snowflake (who lived about 15 years) and then a floppy-eared rabbit my brother named Pepper. In college, for some reason, I thought it was a brilliant idea to buy a dwarf bunny. I named him Spaz because he would hop around my apartment so fast. Needless to say, Spaz went home to live with my parents after less than 2 years.

Wherever you are today, I hope you find some joy in either real Easter bunnies or some chocolate covered ones.

Happy Easter from Istanbul!

Happy Easter From Istanbul!

4/08/2012 04:30:00 AM by Joy11 comments

This weekend, many of our friends and family members are celebrating Easter with large dinners, chocolate bunnies and colored eggs.

Why should they have all the fun when we are thousands of miles away?

So we decided to celebrate Easter at home in Istanbul and share some of the holiday traditions with my husband's Turkish colleagues.

Celebrating holidays abroad isn't always easy. See last year's Thanksgiving Challenges post. But we're pretty good sports and make the best of everything as often as we can.

First, I bought some Easter decorations and Greek egg-coloring kits from this small shop near the Ramada Hotel called Hobby Dekorasyon in the Pangaltı neighborhood. Thanks to another friend's recommendation, I found this shop. The staff is helpful, and the prices are reasonable.

Second, I bought some Easter chocolates from Kahve Dunyasi. I'm surprised to see how many of the pastry and chocolate shops here in Istanbul are currently stocked full of Easter candy. Somehow, this traditional Christian holiday has worked its way into the Turkish world here. I'm guessing people are just partaking in the commercial aspect of Easter and it's something fun for the kids to do.

Thirdly, we had to go to my friendly butcher guys at Kardeşler Kasabı in Beşiktaş and explain that we wanted a kuzu incik (lamb shank) to feed 8 people. But my version of a lamb shank and their version differed.

So through our broken Turkish and some hand gesturing, my butcher just brought out the whole hind quarters of a male lamb. We just pointed out what part of the lamb we wanted and we got a beautiful 2.2 kilo leg of lamb. I can't imagine EVER getting this kind of service in the U.S.!

Jason found this cinnamon-cardamom infused recipe for Braised Lamb Shanks with Swiss Chard. He was in charge of making the lamb while I made hot cross buns, bulgur pilaf, my macaroni and cheese casserole, roasted carrots and potatoes with mint, parsley, dill and rosemary; and for dessert, individual ramekins with sour cherry clafoutis. We had a busy afternoon!

Our braised lamb shank about halfway through the cooking process.

But we got to share this delicious Easter dinner with Jason's Turkish colleagues and chat over wine. Then, we had fun coloring and dyeing Easter eggs.