POLAND

Comenius 2012 Sounds of Europe

Poland in Europe with its capital in Warsaw and the national symbols.

Administrative division
16 voivodeships Capital city is Warsaw Population is 38 milion The area equals 312,685 km

Pomeranian voivodeship

The capital city: Gdask Population: 2,240,319 Area: 18,310 km

Political system
Parliamentary republic Parliament: Sejm and Senate Prime minister: Donald Tusk President: Bronisaw Komorowski

Easter traditions
Holy Saturday:
- We paint eggs in different colourful patterns. This we call pisanki. - We bless our food placed in small baskets. These are typically bread, eggs, salt and ham. - Christians visit churches in order to pray and see the Jesus Christs graves which are different in every church.

EASTER SUNDAY
On Easter morning, a special Resurrection Mass is celebrated in every church in Poland. At this Mass, a procession of priests, altar boys and the people circles the church three times while the church bells peal and the organ is played for the first time since they had been silenced on Good Friday. Following the Mass, people return home to eat the food blessed the day before.

The Easter table will be covered with a white tablecloth. The white tablecloth is indicative of the white swaddling cloth with which Our Lord was wrapped when he was placed in the Holy Sepulcher. On the middle of the table in most homes housewife will put colored eggs, cold meats, coils of sausages, ham, yeast cakes, pound cakes, poppy-seed cakes, and a lamb made of sugar. There is also tradition to share blessed eggs with the members of the family and wish each other good health, happiness for the rest of the year.

WET MONDAY
Monday (just after Easter) is a holiday in Poland and is called in polish "Lany Poniedzialek" or "Smigus- Dyngus". This is a wonderful day of fun. The ancient Polish tradition on Easter Monday, is celebrated by everyone with enthusiasm by sprinkling each other with water. Especially kids have fun this day. Some people say that by being splashed with water on Easter Monday will bring you good luck throughout the year.

CZESLAW MOZIL
Polish-Danish singer, composer, and musician (mostly using the accordion), and graduate of the Royal Danish Academy of Music. Mozil moved to Denmark when he was 5, returning to Poland at the age of 28. He makes hard-to-classify music, with pieces of cabaret, rock, and even punk rock.

MYSLOVITZ
Polish rock band, whose music incorporates elements of college rock,shoegazing, and, arguably, Britpop. Since 2003, EMI Group has been attempting to establish them internationally, with considerable support from MTV Europe. The band take their name from their industrial hometown of Mysowice in Upper Silesia (Southern Poland).

MONIKA BRODKA
Polish singer, who rose to fame as the winner of the third series of Polish Pop Idol "(Idol)" in 2004. She has since released 3 albums, including the 2010 album Granda which received critical acclaim in Poland and abroad.

After a 4 year break, Brodka's new album was released, and showed a big change in her musical style.

HEINEKEN OPENER FESTIVAL

Music festival which takes place on the North coast of Poland, in Gdynia. The first edition of the festival was organized in Warsaw in 2002 as Open Air Festival. Opener Festival was given the Best Major Festival prize on European Festival Awards awards ceremony in 2010 and 2011.

WOODSTOCK FESTIVAL
An annual free rock music festival in Poland, inspired by and named for the Woodstock Festival, that has taken place since 1995. Since the 11th festival, its organizers have called Przystanek Woodstock "the biggest open-air festival in Europe. The festival's motto is "Love, Friendship, and Music."

ORANGE WARSAW FESTIVAL

Polish annual music festival. The first edition took place in 2008. Since 2010 it has been broadcast on television by TVN.

It is one one of the most important events in polish capital, Warsaw.