A lot of people say that there is no such thing as Halloween in Poland! Well, partly they are right as you won’t find any day called that in the calendar, but… at the same time more and more Poles (especially young ones) celebrate Halloween. So the big question is – what can you expect from Halloween in Poland? If you live in a big city you may be invited to a Halloween party in a club or a Polish friend’s home. What should you do? Of course, have fun! Nearly all clubs in Poland have a Halloween Party on October 31st. Choose a costume which is going to be scary and recognizable, then prepare yourself for a lot of frightening fun!
On your way to a party you may see dressed up children playing trick or treat. Even though not every door opens, they are not discouraged. Children knock on the door of each family just in order to get some sweets or scare their friends.

The next two days, the 1st and 2nd of November, are national holidays (unfortunately not because people need to have time to recover from their hangover from the Halloween party previous day). The 1st and 2nd of November are very important days – All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day.  In Poland most people travel to the places where their relatives were buried. They meet at the graves, pray for those who are gone and talk about good things they did. It is a serious celebration having nothing in common with a happy Halloween.

As you may notice, there is loads of contradiction in Polish ‘Halloween’, but most Poles do not associate celebrating Halloween with betraying their ancestors (although some Catholics see celebrating Halloween as something inappropriate and don’t do it). Old Christian Tradition coexists with American’s Halloween and even though they contradict each other, it seems almost impossible that one of them would defeat the other. If you are about to experience this period in Poland for the first time you should prepare for a new cultural experience. I hope you will find it, maybe not the most fun, but at least interesting.

And now, let’s see if there are any fun songs, rhymes, you may need to know before that night…And let’s see if you can guess where do they come from? Three different ones – try to guess in comments below:)

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If there’s somethin’ strange in your neighborhood
Who ya gonna call (ghostbusters)
If it’s somethin’ weird an it won’t look good
Who ya gonna call (ghostbusters)
I ain’t afraid of no ghost
I ain’t afraid of no ghost
Jeśli w twoim sąsiedztwie jest coś dziwnego
Do kogo zadzwonisz? (Do pogromców duchów)
Jeśli jest to coś dziwacznego i nie wygląda to dobrze
Do kogo zadzwonisz? (Do pogromców duchów)
Nie boję się żadnego ducha
Nie boję się żadnego ducha

✱

You’d better hope and pray
That you make it safe
Back to your own world
You’d better hope and pray
That you’ll wake one day
In your own world
Coz when you sleep at night
They don’t hear your cries
In your own world
Only time will tell
If you can break the spell
Back in your own world
Lepiej miej nadzieję i módl się
Żebyś bezpiecznie wrócił
Do swojego świata
Lepiej miej nadzieję i módl się
Żebyś któregoś dnia obudził się
W swoim świecie
Bo kiedy w nocy śpisz
Oni nie słyszą twoich krzyków
W twoim świecie
Tylko czas pokaże
Czy będziesz w stanie zrzucić tę klątwę
W twoim świecie

✱
It’s close to midnight
and something evil’s lurking in the dark
Under the moonlight,
you see a sight that almost stops your heart
You try to scream
but terror takes the sound before you make it
You start to freeze
as horror looks you right between the eyes
You’re paralyzed

You hear the door slam
and realize there’s nowhere left to run
You feel the cold hand
and wonder if you’ll ever see the sun
You close your eyes
and hope that this is just imagination
But all the while
you hear the creature creeping up behind
You’re out of time
Już prawie północ
i coś złego czai się w ciemności
W świetle księżyca
dostrzegasz coś, co niemal sprawia, że twoje serce przestaje bić
Próbujesz krzyczeć,
ale przerażenie odbiera ci głos
Zastygasz w bezruchu,
stając oko w oko z grozą
Jesteś sparaliżowany

Słyszysz, jak trzaskają drzwi
i uświadamiasz sobie, że już nie ma dokąd uciec
Czujesz zimną dłoń
i zastanawiasz się, czy jeszcze kiedyś zobaczysz słońce
Zamykasz oczy
i masz nadzieję, że to tylko twoja wyobraźnia
Ale cały czas
słyszysz jak jakiś potwór skrada się za twoimi plecami
Nie masz już czasu

Happy Halloween!!!