Tricity Easter

Easter is perhaps the most important part of the Roman Catholic calendar and no more so than here in Poland. You won't see self-flagellation as you do in the Philippines, but the churches are bursting at the seams.,
Preparation for today, Easter Sunday, began in earnest on Good Friday, surprisingly not a holiday here, when the supermarket queues saw what looked like preparation for 'Armageddon.' I joined the masses in the '10 items or less' aisle making sure I hadn't exceeded my limit, while the woman behind me huffed and puffed impatiently to such an extent that I let her go before me - she only had 4 items after all! Is it worth the aggravation I ask you?
Queues at the car wash were equally long; it's not unusual to see 10 cars waiting at this time of year. A clean car is part of the Easter tradition.
On Saturday, we brought our Easter baskets to church to be blessed. This is called a 'swieconka' and traditionally contains painted eggs, salt, horseradish, bread and sausage.
Today, we celebrated with the traditional Easter breakfast which usually consists of cold meat platters and other regional specialties. Families first share the food that was blessed the day before and there are hard-boiled eggs with mayonnaise, 'zurek' soup and sausages.
After breakfast, which is more like 'brunch', many Poles bring flowers and candles to the cemetery. Here, in the Tricity, the weather was lovely and many headed for a walk on the beach.
Taking part in another nations' traditions is interesting, yet I can't help thinking about childhood Easter-egg hunts, chocolate eggs and Easter bunnies! Happy Easter to you all!