On Thursday, 18th October, the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London hosted a press conference, which inaugurated its year of commemorations of the 100th anniversary of Poland regaining its independence.

During the conference, Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to the United Kingdom Arkady Rzegocki together with Deputy Director of the Polish Cultural Institute in London Marta de Zuniga presented events and projects commemorating the anniversary, which will take place in the United Kingdom in 2018 – under the name #PL100. 

Among the planned events – showcasing Polish history and cultural heritage, especially of the last century – are exhibitions, film showcases, concerts, workshops, competitions, social media campaigns as well as conferences.

The second edition of Polish Heritage Day was also announced, with independence being this year’s theme.

And a new initiative of enriching stocks of British libraries with Polish literature written in English saw its launch. The aim of “Polska Półka” (“Polish Shelf”) is to spread the knowledge about Poland in the United Kingdom.

Ambassador Arkady Rzegocki commented on the commemorations, saying: “I am very happy that we will be celebrating in Great Britain 100 years of Polish independence through presenting Poland’s history and its rich cultural heritage.

“The year 2018 is also another opportunity to promote knowledge about the heritage of the past generations and highlight the positive contribution made by Poles to the cultural, economic and social life in Great Britain during the second edition of Polish Heritage Day. I encourage you to take pride in our history and culture, and share the knowledge about Poland with our British friends.”

The Ambassador also encouraged Polish people to actively write about topics concerning history of the Polish diaspora in the United Kingdom through editing and completing websites dedicated to Polish history, such as Wikipedia, and appealed to the British partners to put historical information on the websites of towns and cities, institutions and tourist organisations.
Ending the conference, the Ambassador encouraged Polish people to visit the website of the Polish Cultural Institute in London, where an up-to-date calendar of events commemorating the centenary of Poland’s independence can be found, and to send own suggested events to the email address on the #PL100 page (polishculture.org.uk/events.html).

Projects and events in the United Kingdom commemorating the 100th anniversary of Poland regaining independence

Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London

Polish Heritage Day

Following the success of last year’s Polish Heritage Day (PHD), which consisted of around 50 initiatives and which attracted 25,000 participants, the Embassy is launching the second edition of the event, which will take place on the weekend of 5th-6th May. PHD aims to promote the heritage of past generations and the positive contribution made by Poles to the cultural, economic and social life in the United Kingdom. The main theme of this year’s event is 100 years of independence. The Embassy encourages Polish organisations, Saturday schools and Roman Catholic parishes in the United Kingdom to focus the celebrations on the centenary of independence. This year, similar to last year, the organisers of Polish Heritage Day can count on material support, as well as help in promoting their events in the media and contacting the local authorities. Applications for funding and promotional material should be sent to Polish Consulates in the United Kingdom by 10th May. More information can be found on the Embassy website soon.

#Polka100 (Polish woman in the UK)

A three-part campaign, #Polka100 will commemorate the 100th anniversary of women getting the right to vote in Poland: 

1) The Embassy would like to honour and celebrate remarkable Polish women, who inspire the Polish community in the United Kingdom every day. As such, a competition has been launched for Polish women who are professionally active, have inspiring jobs and contribute to creating a positive image of Poland in the United Kingdom. Those interested should complete the online form. The Embassy will pick a number of stories, whose authors will be interviewed and photographed, which then will be published on our social media channels on International Women’s Day on 8th March. Apply by 8th February.
2) An internet poll for the most popular Polish woman in the United Kingdom (in history) during Polish Heritage Day. The vote will decide on the most inspiring Polish woman who has migrated.
3) October conference “Women of success”, which will consist of a panel of Polish women who have achieved success in their careers in the United Kingdom.

Exhibition “Kobiety Niepodległości” (“Women of Independence”)

The exhibition at Europe House (Representation of the European Commission in the UK) in October will tell the story of remarkable Polish women, including actresses, scientists and activists who supported the fight for Poland’s independence. The display will explore such iconic figures as Maria Skłodowska-Curie and Irena Sendler and will focus on the historical acpects of the role of women in the fight for independence and on different aspects of patriotic actions and work of women for the good of the country.

Internet campaign #PAF100

The social media campaign #PAF100 will tell the story of the Polish Air Force (PAF) in episodes to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first military flight of a Polish aircraft in 1918 made by Polish pilots belonging to the then newly-created Polish Air Force flight squadron. This campaign will run alongside the RAF Museum’s centenary exhibition, where a life-size cut-out of Col Franciszek Kornicki, the last Second World War Polish squadron commander, will stand beside the iconic Spitfire VB BL614. Last year, Col Kornicki won the Museum’s and The Daily Telegraph’s ‘People’s Spitfire Pilot’ poll. The campaign will be an excellent opportunity to emphasise the role that Polish pilots played in the Battle of Britain during the Second World War. The accomplishments of the Polish pilots in Britain will be a great example of their skills and long traditions which Poland has in this field.

“Polska Półka” (“Polish Shelf”)

An initiative of enriching stocks of British libraries with Polish literature written in English. Among the gifts will be books about Polish history. The aim of Polska Półka is to spread the knowledge about Poland in the United Kingdom. The campaign will go on until 2019.

Booklet

A booklet about the history of the Polish Embassy, Polish diplomatic missions in the UK as well as Polish-British relations, which date back to the 11th century, will be published and handed out during the most important visits as well as events at the Embassy. The publication has been put together in collaboration with The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum in London to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Polish Embassy being located at 47 Portland Place and the 250th anniversary of the permanent Polish diplomatic presence in the United Kingdom.

Polish Cultural Institute in London

16th Polish Film Festival KINOTEKA

This year’s KINOTEKA Polish Film Festival in London will take place on 7th-29th March. The festival will revolve around celebrating hundred years of Polish independence by introducing to the British audience historical and most vital figures of that period, including Ignacy Jan Paderewski, a composer, pianist and statesman. New Polish contemporary cinema releases will be accompanied by digitally restored silent films with live music performances and other attractions, including Yiddish cinema, 1920s’ style dancing and screen talks. The 16th KINOTEKA partners up with London’s most prestigious cultural institutions, such as the British Film Institute, Regent Street Cinema, Barbican Centre and JW3, which are the hosts of the festival’s events.

Faithful Journey – Mass for Poland by Roxanna Panufnik 

The composer Roxanna Panufnik has devoted last couple of years to the 2018 independence celebratory piece Faithful Journey – Mass for Poland. The world premiere of the piece will take place in Katowice, performed by the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR) on 9th November. It will be followed by a world tour, which begins with a concert in the United Kingdom. The concert is a tribute to the best Polish poets who have created works during the last 100 years. Panufnik hand-picked the poems and composed the music to the poetry of Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska, Zbigniew Herbert and Czesław Miłosz to name but a few, putting a great emphasis on folk, Christian traditions and cultural heritage. The concert will be performed in Polish, English and Latin, with an accompanying choir. There will be many other events, such as children’s workshops about Polish history based on the selected poetry.

Concert of music of Fryderyk Chopin and Ignacy Jan Paderewski at London Guildhall

The prestigious London Guildhall joins the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the Polish independence in 2018. On this occasion, a special concert will take place, bringing back to the stage the masters of Polish classical music, Fryderyk Chopin and Ignacy Jan Paderewski. The performing artists include Krzysztof Książek, a talented pianist preparing for the 2020 International Chopin Competition, who has won awards at the Chopin Competition and the American Paderewski Piano Competition in Los Angeles. In the final part of the concert, the artist will perform the Paderewski music four-handed with his wife Agnieszka Zahaczewska-Książek. The event producers are Polish Cultural Institute in London and The Chopin Society in London.

Concert of music of Paweł Łukaszewski at Holy Week Festival in St John’s Smith Square, London

Holy Week Festival is a festival of sacred music taking place in the heart of London. As well as an opportunity to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Poland regaining independence, this year will present an opportunity to celebrate 50th birthday of Polish composer Paweł Łukaszewski. During this prestigious festival in St John’s Smith Square the Tenebrae Choir will perform Łukaszewski’s Tenebrae Responsories on 27th-28th March. Both of the free concerts will promote Polish history, cultural heritage and Christian traditions. A broadcast is planned for one of the concerts on BBC Three. Event partners are Polish Cultural Institute in London and Adam Mickiewicz Institute.

From Copernicus to the Jagiellonians – a feast inspired by the traditions of Polish cuisine

During the reign of the Jagiellonian dynasty some of the most important political and social changes took place in Poland, which determined how the future Polish state would look. Nicolaus Copernicus and the Jagiellonians will help promote knowledge about history of Poland from its glory days through the feast inspired by those times, with rare historical dishes and artistic setting in the legendary place that is Ognisko Polskie (The Polish Hearth Club) on Exhibition Road.

Lenten Lamentations 

Created in 1707, the Lenten Lamentations is a unique national treasure in Poland. It was a way for Poles to express sorrow during the partitions and wars, as well as being a 'bastion' of beautiful Polish language. At the same time, it is a creation, which touches upon the universals such as reflection on life and eternity. The service will take place on Sunday, 11th March at the church of the Polish Catholic Mission in Reading. As a prelude to the Sunday service, lamentations from the music from various European countries, including France, England, Spain and Germany, will be presented on Saturday, 10th March by Singer Agnieszka Budzińska-Bennett and harpsichordist Joanna Boślak-Górniok.

Polish Christmas traditions are some of the most enchanting composites of Polish culture and heritage. Leaving a chair empty at the Christmas table may be one of the most popular customs, but few people know its interesting history.

Nowadays, the tradition obliges Christmas dinner hosts to prepare an extra chair and plate at the table should there be an unexpected visitor. If someone actually turns up at the door, hosts should feed this guest and give them shelter.

This strictly and commonly observed custom is very compatible with traditional Polish hospitality, a trait Poles have always been very proud of. Indeed, Poles strongly believe in an old saying, which has it that ‘a guest at home is God at home’.

However, the roots of the tradition of an empty chair are much more complicated and Poles are not unanimous in deciding where it originates from. Let us present to you the three most probable hypotheses.

1. Pagan rite
Many Polish traditions derive from pagan rites because the lands that became Poland, before their baptism and conversion to Catholicism in 966, had their own system of Slavic pagan beliefs. One of these rituals was called Obiat. It was a huge feast, celebrated in memory of ancestors and recently-deceased tribe members. A participant would have to sweep their empty chair before sitting at the table to ‘excuse’ the soul that might be seated on it. After everyone had finished eating, the table was supposed to be left as is for a few hours so that the dead could take their turn in the banquet.

Scholars believe that after Poland’s baptism, this tradition became adopted into the new reality. In its early Christian form, the empty seat was being left to commemorate those who had passed away earlier in the year.

This theory seems fairly likely, since a number of pre-baptism traditions were transformed into Christian customs, and remain popular despite the 1050 years that have passed since Poland parted ways with pagan culture. One of the most notable is that children’s favourite Śmigus Dyngus, a national holiday they spend throwing water at people.

2. The Holy Bible

A few days before the birth of Jesus Christ, an obligatory census was announced for all the inhabitants of Syria and Judea. It meant The Holy Family-to-be had to immediately travel to Nazareth in Judea, despite the Virgin Mary being heavily pregnant. As you probably know, she went into labour mid-way whilst they were still in Bethlehem, forcing them to desperately look for shelter. After being turned away from the inn, they eventually found a place to stay in a stable, the humble spot where Jesus was born.

The story of their wandering and looking for shelter is said to be another possible source of the empty chair tradition. According to supporters of this theory, it is to remind us that we should all be ready to accept an unexpected guest and never turn away somebody in need. Given how perfectly it interweaves with the previously-mentioned saying, ‘a guest at home is God at home’, we can assume this guess a very accurate one.

3. The January Uprising

In the mid-19th century, Poland didn’t exist on Europe’s political map. It had been partitioned by its three neighbours (Russia, Prussia and Austria) and was de facto occupied. Each of the occupiers introduced a more or less severe policy for eradicating Polish culture and language on these partitioned lands, with Russia and Prussia being leaders in this field. Poles have always been the type of people that can’t stand foreign occupation and every few decades of the partitions they took part in massive uprisings. One of the biggest was the January Uprising in 1863.

It was triggered by the forced enlistment of Poles into the Russian Army. Even though it started very spontaneously in Warsaw, the uprising spilled over into all the other partitioned Polish lands. It soon turned into several months of guerrilla war against overwhelming occupant forces and, tragically, led to the massive deportation of captured insurgents to Siberia.

During this period, the empty chair tradition gained a new dimension. From the year of the uprising onwards, the empty place was not only left for ancestors or an unexpected guest but, first and foremost, in memory of those who had been deported east, in order to strengthen the hope of their fortunate comeback.

Final word

Which of these hypotheses seems to be the most accurate? The answer is: all of them. Apparently, this tradition’s meaning has evolved according to the circumstances. Even though its observance didn’t change a bit, it always remained an important part of celebrating Christmas in Poland.

What’s most significant about it – and will certainly always continue to be –  is that you don’t have to know anything about the tradition’s background to see that it is strong proof of Poles’ hospitality. They find treating every guest like an honorary guest their personal duty, and visiting Poland even once in one’s lifetime leaves no doubt about it.

Polish culinary tradition is extremely varied and each region serves dishes virtually unknown in other parts of the country. This fact is no different when it comes to Poland’s famous Christmas Eve dinner. Here are Culture.pl's suggestions for an alternative regional Christmas menu.
 

You all already know the most traditional dishes of Polish Christmas Eve. You've also learned how to create their vegan versions. But in traditional, regional cuisine we can find many more dishes: some of them are pretty original and quite rare, but are proof of the richness of Polish culinary heritage.

If you want to prepare an alternative, regional Wigilia, arm yourselves with loads of bakalie (a common Polish name for nuts and various types of dried fruit), honey, poppy seeds, mushrooms, potatoes, and start cooking!

Siemieniotka (Silesia)
These days, hemp seeds are a popular superfood added to smoothies by health-conscious hipsters all over the world. Only a few know that way before they became trendy, they were the base of an old Silesian recipe that can still be found on some tables on Christmas Eve. Siemieniotka is a soup cherished for its unique taste and health benefits – in folk medicine, hemp, or konopia, was used as a medicine against scabies and ulcer. To make the soup, hemp seeds are rinsed, cooked for a very long time and beaten to extract the milk, then cooked again with milk and butter. The soup is usually served with either buckwheat or millet groats.

Brzad (Kashubia & Kociewie)

Brzad originally means 'fruit from the orchard' – apples, pears, prunes and sometimes also cherries. The origin of the word, now used only in the Kashubia and Kociewie regions, can be traced back to Slavic translations of the Bible. The soup is made of boiled dried fruit and usually served with small dumplings, and either milk or cream. A beverage called kompot z brzadu (or kompot z suszu in other parts of Poland) is more common, which just consists of dried fruit boiled with sugar and a pinch of salt (you can read more about kompot in our article on the traditional 12 Polish Christmas dishes). A different dried fruit soup is also served in the opposite corner of Poland – pamuła is characteristic of the south-eastern region of Podkarpacie.

Moczka (Silesia)

Moczka has so many versions that it is sometimes treated as an appetiser, and sometimes as a dessert. The main ingredient is gingerbread which is soaked (‘to soak’ in Polish is moczyć, and is the root of the dish’s name) in either water, beer or stock. In its less-common savoury version, parsnip was an important ingredient – a vegetable then forgotten and only now finding its way back to the Polish table. In the sweet version, dried fruit and nuts are added, sometimes along with cocoa.

Pluci (Kaszuby)

According to Bożena Stelmachowska, a Polish ethnographer who researched Kashubian traditions in the 1920s, Christmas Eve dinner used to be very modest: apparently, some households only served one dish and it was salted herring with boiled potatoes, sometimes called pluci. Eating herring for Christmas is actually quite common in Poland and one of the most popular versions is called Kashubian herring (śledź po kaszubsku) – it involves a sauce with onions, tomato paste, lots of cloves and allspice.

Sieja with mushrooms (Pomorze)

Sieja is an indigenous whitefish that lives in some Polish lakes. The one used in this dish is usually fished out of Lake Łebsko in the Pomorze region. In the north of Poland, it’s much more popular than the ever-controversial carp, which was introduced to these regions much later. For Christmas Eve, it is fried and served with a mushroom sauce. It's worth mentioning that eating forest mushrooms, one of the most important Christmas ingredients, has pagan Slavic roots: according to ethnologists, they are symbolically connected to the wilderness of the woods and, therefore, to the otherworld.

Fizioły with prunes (Małopolska & Pieniny)
In the south, fish is harder to find. That’s why Wigilia in the Małopolska and Podhale regions is mostly vegetarian and based on potatoes, cabbage and, what might seem surprising to people from other regions, beans. Now known as fasola, beans were once called fizioły, and the name has stuck for this southern dish. For the recipe, big white beans are cooked with wonderful Polish smoked prunes, rosemary and honey (once considered a magical substance that drove demons away, and still a symbol of wealth and luck for the new year). 

Krupy with peas (Limanowszczyzna & Sądecczyzna)
Krupy is the regional name for groats used by the Lachy Sądeckie – an ethnic group living in the Sądecczyzna region in the very south of Poland. A traditional Christmas dish in this particular region are groats served with yellow split peas. Krupy can also be served with mushrooms or with prunes. Along with beans and peas, they were widely accessible even to the least wealthy, and were also a symbol of fertility and abundance.

Kołatanka (Podhale)

Another little-known dish made of groats is the podhalańska kołatanka – cooked barley mixed with swede and honey. Swede – a vegetable now rarely eaten and often considered 'animal feed' – was once a popular and cheap ingredient. Dried swede was also once the basis of a Christmas soup called więdka, characteristic of the historical region of Pałuki in north-western Poland.

Rwaki (Mazovia)

Similar to the widely-known kopytka and bukty eaten in Podhale, rwaki are dumplings made of boiled potatoes, flour and eggs. Parts of the dough are then torn by hand (rwać means ‘to tear’ in Polish) and rolled out to form a spindle. They are then served in either a savoury version with cabbage and mushrooms, or in a sweet one which uses one of Poland's most popular Christmas ingredients: poppy seeds.

Makówki & śliszki (Silesia)

Poppy seeds, due to their ability to cause dizziness and sleepiness, were connected to the otherworld in pagan beliefs, just like honey. They remained a symbol of fertility and wealth, and are therefore used in Christmas desserts all over the country. You've probably heard of makowiec (poppy seed cake) or kluski z makiem (dumplings, rwaki or pasta served with poppy seeds). Makówki is the most popular Christmas dessert in Silesia: it involves pieces of bread layered in a bowl with either poppy seeds mixed with honey or bakalie in between. The same dish is known in Wielkopolska under the name makiełki. In some households, poppy seed yeast buns (drożdżówki) are baked for Christmas and when they dry out, they’re soaked with milk and covered with pieces of gingerbread to be served for New Year's – a dessert called śliszki.

Postnica (Podkarpacie)
Postnica is another dish made of groats, a little bit similar to the better-known kutia and characteristic of the south-eastern region of Podkarpacie. Barley groats are cooked with dried fruit such as apples, pears, prunes and raisins, then sweetened with a little bit of honey or sugar. The name comes from a word crucial to Polish Christmas Eve – post, which means ‘fast’ (the food variety).

Suszynina (Lower Silesia)

To explain what suszynina is, we have to start with the basics. Have you ever heard of kisiel? It's similar to jelly, and usually made with fruit juice thickened with potato starch (although the original version, also eaten for Christmas, was actually a jelly made from oats). Cranberry kisiel is a traditional Christmas Eve dish in Lithuania and forms the basis of suszynina as eaten in Lower Silesia: dried fruit boiled in a kisiel heavily spiced with cinnamon and cloves.