Spring Festivals in Siedlce

Community Highlights Europe Spring Festivals in Siedlce

Easter Traditions Fair
I found out about the upcoming Easter Traditions Fair in one of Siedlce groups on Facebook. The traditional fair was organized by Arche S.A., together with the Lena Grochowska Foundation and the Arche Community Association. It took place at the Arche Shopping Mall in Siedlce at 134 Brest Street in Siedlce.

The Easter Traditions Fair is not only a place of trade, but also a center of cultural events and attractions. The announced fair and its cultural program were held at ToMy Coffee-house, where we saw various stands and listened to children’s spring songs. The songs were a part of the Spring Song Review. ToMy Coffee-house is the only coffee-house that is run by persons with disabilities.

The stands were full of unique artistic handicrafts related to Easter and beyond. There were original regional products from Siedlce County villages, among them ceramics, everyday objects, interior decorations, sewn and painted items, baked biscuits and cakes and cooked cutlets and meat products. The program also included children’s workshops and an illusion show.

Food Truck Festival

This family-oriented event drew culinary enthusiasts from the area to sample some of the best food and brews in Poland. With over a dozen food trucks participating, you could find options ranging from sweet to savory. My wife and I do not belong to culinary enthusiasts, but still, we decided to attend this food truck festival. This year, the food trucks have arrived to Siedlce for the first time to feed all the hungry city inhabitants after the long winter break. In total, a dozen or so food trucks arrived in Siedlce. There was no shortage of filling meat and vegetarian dishes, quick snacks, delicious desserts and refreshing drinks.

A part of Sikorsky Square and Jan Kiliński Street – the place in front of the monument to Pope John Paul II – was transformed into the festival venue. I discovered that such festivals had taken place in several Polish cities. I saw that the truck originated from several provinces of Poland outside Masovian Province.

The official name of the festival is Żarciowozy (“food trucks”). The festival organizers aim at providing culinary excellence and unforgettable taste experiences. "We focus on quality to satisfy the most demanding gourmets," emphasized the organizers of the unique attraction for food lovers.

Everything took place as it had been advertised: for the first hour the food trucks gave out free tasting portions from each food truck (in exchange for tokens that each customer received from the centrally located truck), as well as tickets for inflatables for children.

During the second hour of each day of the rally, each food truck had (in addition to the standard menu) a special "Happy Hour" offer. The vendors served one special dish that they considered an extraordinary culinary variation with interesting combinations of flavours.

Customers could try, among others, Greek, American, Mexican, and Tibetan cuisine, as well as sweet snacks. You could order, among others, Tibetan momo dumplings, fresh fruit in chocolate, Spanish churros, Georgian specialties and hamburgers. Tables and seating were available on site.

Children of the Uprising’44
The Municipal Cultural Centre invited us to the "Podlasie" Hall for the performance "Children of the Uprising’44" performed by the LUZ Alternative Dance Theatre. "Children of the Uprising’44" is a wonderful and moving lesson of history and patriotism. The performance is an amazing and moving musical performance that takes the viewer into the world of children whose childhood was brutally interrupted by the war. The author – Joanna Woszczyńska – was inspired by the true stories and memories from the Warsaw Uprising. She based the script on the children's real memories from the books: Jerzy Mirecki's "Children '44", Joanna Papuzińska's "Asiunia" and Janusz Żórawski's Bogumił Janusz Żórawski's "Stones Also Sometimes Cry".

The performance tells the story of the war seen through the eyes of a child through the use of contemporary dance and songs of the fighting Warsaw. The scenes of the performance change like in a kaleidoscope, depicting the whole spectrum of the drama of young people and the emotions that accompany them.

The dancers, actors and vocalists of the Alternative Dance Theatre LUZ perfectly played the roles of the little heroes from the Uprising. The premiere of the performance took place on 14 November 2014 in Siedlce. The performance has already been staged nearly 200 times in Siedlce, Warsaw, Pruszków, Sokołów Podlaski, Biała Podlaska and Vilnius in Lithuania.

On 3 November 2015, the performance was staged at the Warsaw Uprising Museum. Excerpts were also played for the Polish diaspora in Munich and during the World Cup in Prague.

The Patriotic Song Concert was included into the city program of celebrating Constitution Day. It was in Alexandria Park. The City Choir gave a 30-minute concert and then booklets were distributed among the spectators, and we were invited to become performers as well.

The second part of the concert consisted in joint singing of ten historical patriotic songs together with the city choirs members, who merged with spectators. I must say those 18th and 19th-century songs included a lot of old vocabulary and outdated words. Thus, we could mostly join in singing the refrains of those songs. In one case, we were asked to switch on the smartphone lights when singing the song “The Children of Warsaw.”

We decided to attend the traditional St. Stanislaus Fair in Siedlce. It lasted for two days – on the second Friday and Saturday of May – as a trade fair and an exhibition event. The city fair is officially called St.Stanislas Fair in honor of the city's holy patron. Saint Stanislaus is the Bishop and Martyr (1030–1079), and the Patron Saint of Poland. This year there was the 15th St.Stanislaus Fair. We had an opportunity of window shopping, as well as enjoying the rich cultural heritage of the local artists and craftsmen.

The Siedlce Fair promoted the regional products and traditional dishes for the region. St. Stanislaus Fair is an event that continues the tradition of the medieval merchant fairs organized in cities, most often on the occasion of major church holidays.

The Municipal Cultural Centre in Siedlce was the organizer of this event, and honorary patronage was done by Bishop of Siedlce Kazimierz Gurda. The Mayor of Siedlce made an opening speech on both days. Several media companies made a coverage of this event: Tygodnik Siedlecki // Catholic Radio Podlasie // Regional Information Portal - Podlasie24.pl // Catholic Echo.

This two-day event included a lot of activities such as:

• Pottery Workshops, during which everyone could try his/her hand at the potter's wheel, exploring the secrets of knowledge about this folk art.

• The Regional Forest Festival, where you could visit the educational stands of the State Forests.

• The 6th Day of Non-Governmental Organizations of Siedlce. Many NGO opened their tents.

The visitors could have a great culinary fun at the Culinariada - a celebration of gourmets and cooking enthusiasts. Anyone with a knack for cooking could take part in it. All you needed to do was to cook a dish using the simplest and inexpensive products, characteristic of this region.

You could attend the Education Fair of Siedlce educational institutions, where various schools presented themselves from the best side to encourage young people to choose their institutions.

The youngest had an entertainment opportunity with the ReSorek Magician, as well as take advantage of workshops with the Culinary Attic.

"Chodowiacy" Song and Dance Ensemble of the Siedlce Land was represented by the wandering musicians, who entertained the public performing the old Polish folk songs at different spots of the fair grounds.

On May 30, we attended the Solemnity of Corpus Christi. The celebration started with a cross procession in the morning. It attracted a lot of parishioners and took us to four stations in the direction of the city outskirts. The church was the starting and the ending point of the morning procession.

In the evening there was a concert of worship "Siedlce for Jesus" that took place on the square in front of St. Joseph’s Church.

The motto of this meeting was: "The Spirit and the Bride say: Come" (Rev 22:17). Traditionally, the event, as every year, had two parts. In the first one – the band "Projekt Uwielbienie" from Warsaw performed. We heard and sang along well-known songs. We also heard a testimony shared by a converted gangster Paweł Cwynar (one of the protagonists of the film Called 2) The second part of the event was a prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

It was the seventh time the event was held. The organizers of the event included:

• the School of New Evangelization of the Diocese of Siedlce,
• the Community of One Spirit
• the parish of St. John Paul II in Siedlce.

The organizers also received very significant help from the Municipal Cultural Centre, the Centre for Culture and Art and the Municipal Transport Company.
At the end of the evening event, every participant received a religious gift: a prayer bracelet with a peace prayer.

This featured blog entry was written by Vic_IV from the blog Our Stay in Poland.
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