Yet another Polish ‘long weekend’ break from the monotony of paid toil has just been officially added to the calendar for 2011 giving Thursday and Friday holidays for most Poles this week. A new holiday to commemorate the legend of Three Kings who journeyed to the birth of Christ has been declared after years of lobbying by the Church to have a state holiday to coincide with the religious feast of the Epiphany. (On this feast, Western Christians commemorate principally the visitation of the Biblical Magi to the Baby Jesus, i.e., his manifestation to the Gentiles – Wikipedia). It will now be enjoyed every year on 6 January. Apparently Catholic Poland has more of these ‘holy day’ breaks from toil than any other European country. They sit alongside the usual secular holidays such as 1 May or National Independence Day (11 November to commemorate the anniversary of Poland's assumption of independent statehood in 1918 after 123 years of partition by Russia, Prussia and Austria). The 11 November holiday falls shortly after All Saints Day on which many road deaths are recorded as people drive to cemeteries across the land to honour their ancestors, share a drink with their relative and then drive home. Invariably, if any of these holidays fall on a Tuesday or Thursday, an extra day off is taken. The table below lists only public holidays, i.e. holidays which are legally specified as non-working days.
1. 1 Jan - New Year’s Day
2. 6 Jan - Epiphany
3. Easter Sunday
4. Easter Monday
5. 1 May – State Day (formerly Labour Day in Communist times)
6. 3 May – Constitution Day
7. Pentecost Sunday (7th after Easter)
8. Corpus Christi Thursday (9th after Easter)
9. 15 August – Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
10. 1 Nov – All Saints Day
11. 11 Nov - Independence Day
12. 25 Dec – Christmas Day
13. 26 Dec – Second Day of Christmas
The following are national holidays in Poland, although they are not non-working days:
1. April 13 - World's Day of Remembrance for Victims of Katyn Massacre
2. May 2 - Flag Day anniversary of Polish flag in the aftermath of the battle of Berlin, 1945
3. June 28 - (since 2005) Day of Remembrance of the Poznań June 1956 protests
4. August 28 - Day of Polish Airforce on the anniversary of Polish victory in an airplane contest in Berlin in 1932
5. August 31 - Day of Solidarity and Freedom, commemorates the post-strike Gdansk August Agreement from 1980
6. October 14 - Day of National Education on the anniversary of the founding of the Commission of National Education
7. October 16 - Day of Pope John Paul II
Just to complete the record there are 15 other observances that offer an excuse for celebrations and present-giving:
1. Grandmother's Day on January 21,
2. Grandfather's Day on January 22,
3. Women's Day on March 8,
4. Fat Thursday on the last Thursday before Lent,
5. Śmigus Dyngus Day on Easter Monday (the day following Easter Sunday) is when traditionally the young (and young of heart) have water fights, in continuation of a pagan spring fertility ritual observed in many other cultures,
6. Mother's Day on May 26,
7. Children's Day on June 1
8. Ivan Kupala Day (Noc Kupały) on the night from June 21 to 22
9. Father's Day on June 23,
10. “Noc Świętojańska" on the night from June 22 to 23,
11. Boy's Day (Dzień Chłopaka) on September 30 - on this day girls give presents to boys
12. Teacher's Day on October 14,
13. St. Andrew's Day (Andrzejki) on November 30 - on this day people (mainly children and teens) are making prophecy by pouring candle wax by key hole to water and guessing what does the wax shape mean,
14. "Mikołajki" on December 6 - on this day Santa Claus gives presents to children,
15. Christmas Eve (Wigilia Bożego Narodzenia) on December 24,
A grand total of 34 days in the year (Easter Monday appears twice in the lists above), almost an average of one potential celebration every eleven days! Could this wealth of celebrations contribute to the Polish vodka-drinking stereotype? Or do Poles have more fun and consequently live longer than other less celebratory peoples?
A propos longevity, I came across a surprising item on the BBC website recently of particular interest to me now that I am a septuagenarian. It predicted that of the present population alive in the UK 20% would likely reach the age of 100 years:
‘Currently 11,800 people in the UK are aged 100 or over and fewer than 100 are over 110. The government figures suggest that of the more than 10m who will go on to reach 100, 3m are currently aged under 16, 5.5m are aged between 16 and 50, and 1.3m are aged between 51 and 65. About 875,000 are already aged over 65.’
Woody Allen once said that ‘nobody gets out of this world alive’ but, without tempting fate or naming names, I might reasonably expect some of my readers to make their centenary before the inevitable happens. George Vaillant’s account in “Aging Well” of the Harvard Medical School longitudinal study of aging explores the importance to longevity of: marriage and the impact of divorce; play and creative activity; the effects of tobacco, alcohol, and other mood elevators; the benefits of forming new friendships and social networks; and sustaining intellectual curiosity and lifelong learning. The 68-year longitudinal study of two socially different cohorts: 237 physically and mentally healthy Harvard college sophomores from the classes of 1939-1944, and a second cohort of 332 disadvantaged non-delinquent inner-city youths who grew up in Boston neighbourhoods between 1940 and 1945. The subjects were all male, white and of American nationality. The men were followed for 68 years until they reached the ages of 70 years for the inner-city group and 80 years for the Harvard cohort. As I read this book, recommended by Ted Wachter, many of my dear friends and readers seem to belong to the Happy-Well category in contrast to the two other broad categories used: Sad-Sick and Dead. Broadly, retirement years can be seen as our ‘Golden Years’ enjoyed by the Happy-Well or as years of terminal decline, the fate of the Sick-Sad; although such polarisation might better be expressed as slow rather than fast decline. Chance plays a major part of course but the study concluded that six descriptors contributed to ‘Graceful Aging’:
1. Remains socially useful, open to new ideas, cares about others
2. Shows integrity, accepts the past and is sustained by past accomplishments
3. Has trust and hope in life and a sensible degree of autonomy and initiative
4. Enjoys life, retains sense of humour, capacity for joy and play
5. Cheerfully accepts ‘the indignities of old age’, accepts dependence gracefully, is a model patient
6. Cultivates relationships with surviving old friends and succeeds in making new ones
Not a bad set of descriptors to aspire to in one’s later years while physical and mental health allow.
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