Ash Wednesday (Środa Popielcowa, Popielec) is a great holiday in Poland. As you know, the Polish people are mainly Catholic faith, and this is a Catholic feast, so be prepared to have amounts of people getting to church to be blessed by having ash/dust placed on their heads.
The ashes are made from palm branches blessed on the previous year on Palm Sunday. The priests place the ashes on the people’s foreheads saying: Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return’ (‘Z prochu powstałeś i w proch się obrócisz’). The blessed are supposed to avoid meat, alcohol, sweets and snacks on that day.
This rite is performed on that day all over the world, not only in Poland. All people of Catholic faith can undertake this ritual. However, Greek Catholics do not have this rite, but some Protestant churches do.
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