The first day of spring in Poland

It is an ancient pagan tradition in Poland. It requires the drowning of the “witch” called Marzanna. Marzanna, in this case, is a puppet made especially for the occasion. It is a tradition for people to make dolls that are meant to resemble winter, and then take them out into water or burn them on this day, as if to say good-bye to winter. This is an annual event .

The first day of spring in Poland is actually another unofficial occasion popular among children. It is celebrated on March 21 and it is a day when children traditionally play truant.   In Poland it is sometimes called a day of being truant. Children don’t have lessons but games and competitions. Our school organized a special day of spring for students. That day classes from 1 to 3 took part in several competitions, for example, The Folk Song competition and The Eko-Marzanna Competition organized by The Centre of Environmental Education in Ełk. Children also took part in the drowning of Marzanna. Teachers organized different competitions for older students. The fourth grade students participated in the tournament under the title of “Discovering talents”. The fifth grade students took part in the tournament associated with mythology. Students and teachers of sixth classes competed for the so-called “Lollipop”.

click on the pictures above to view the photo albums