Polish Name Days

I’m so excited. I’ve been invited to a Polish Name Day party. Hurray, hurray! In preparation I’ve been reading up on some of the customs of Polish name days.

Here’s what I’ve learnt so far:
Poles over the age of 13 usually prefer to celebrate their name day ‘imieniny’ rather than their birthdays ‘urodziny’.

Name days reflect the past Polish tradition to name a child after the Saint that has a Feast Day (day on which they were canonized) close to the child’s birthday or baptism.
I checked the name day calendar and found that some names appear three times. To find out which name day is the name day a Pole celebrates select the name day closest to their birthday.

It’s tradition to give a small gift of flowers, chocolate or vodka on the person’s name day, and to wish them ‘Wszystkiego najlepszego z okazji imienin’. I will also be expected to sing ‘sto lat’ a few times.

I consulted a Polish friend over what the celebration might include, and she said we’ll probably be invited to play a game which involves a shoe! I look forward to this highlight, hahaha!

Also, I looked up the Polish version of my name, which would be ‘Rachela’, and it seems to be celebrated on January 15th in France, April 30th in Ukraine and September 30th in Slovakia. Fantastic, I look forward to telling my partner that I require flowers on all of these occasions…hmmm…but wait a second, his name is David (Dawid) and this name seems to be celebrated hundreds of times too- so maybe that’s not a good idea! ;)

Jestem bardzo podekscytowana, że pójdę do moich przyjaciół Imienin. Czytałam o tradycji Imieniny aby można było przygotować się do obchodów. Myślę, że powiem moim partnerem o moim Imieniny, więc będzie kupić mi więcej kwiatów! ;)