For most people, the perfect idea of romance is spending some quality time with their sweetheart in a nice, scenic place. You can experience this in reality if you have any plans of celebrating your Valentine’s Day in Poland.
In Poland Valentine’s Day is a day to celebrate love, just like almost everywhere! It is also an occasion to honor all women in the country. Women are highly respected in Poland. Polish people observe three national holidays to honor and thank all women of the country. Valentine’s Day is one of these three days, the others being Women’s Day and Mother’s Day. It is locally known as “Walentynki”.
The celebration of Valentine’s Day in Poland is quite like the way the holiday is observed in the U.S and other western nations. Card and gift shocks are stacked with beautiful greeting cards and romantic gifts even days before February 14. Hotels, resorts and restaurants are decorated in advance of the celebrations. They offer attractive dinner packages to local couples and visiting tourists.
Local flower shops are packed with fresh, beautiful flowers that spoil lovers and gift-givers with choices. Tourism companies organize special games and competitions for the holiday. For people interested to visit Poland, this is an attractive time to make a trip to the country. It is a fantastic time to check out Chełmno, a small hill station that offers beautiful sights to its visitors. On Valentine’s Day, hundreds of lovers make a trip to an ancient Valentine altar located in Chełmno. This is why Chełmno is also known as “The lover’s city”. They pray for a happy wedded life to the couples whom Saint Valentine is believed to have married off here.
Couples exchange flowers, love quotes, cards and goodies with each other in this place. When night falls, thousands of lights are lit at the centre of the town to create a huge electronic heart. You can well imagine how lovely it looks like!
Giving greeting cards and gifts form the main Polish Valentine’s Day traditions. The gifting is generally done by men to women. It is traditionally a time when women are pampered by their boyfriends or husbands with gifts like:
Greeting cards – Pocztówki z życzeniami
Flower bouquets – bukiety kwiatów
Perfumes – perfumy
Candies – czekoladki, słodkości
Rings – pierścionki
Chocolates – czekolady
Gift baskets – kosze upominkowe
Women generally return the favor with gadgets and gift baskets. Red roses and tulips are the popular flowers used for Polish Valentine’s Day celebrations.
Happy Valentine’s Day!!!
Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)
