WARSAW–Throughout history, the Polish nation has been known for its strong allegiance to the Catholic Church. The 13th-century clash with the invading Mongolians at Legnica, the 17th-century roll-back of the Protestant Swedish invaders, the defeat Muslim Turks at Vienna a generation later of the rout of the Bolshevik hordes in 1920 at the gates of Warsaw have helped entrench Poland’s image as a bulwark of Catholicism. Although the 18th-century Age of Enlightenment became violently anticlerical in some countries, in Poland’s its leading representatives included Bishop Ignacy Krasicki and such priests as Hugo Kołłątaj, Stanisław Staszic and Stanisław Konarski.

The Poles’ strong attachment to their Catholic faith largely enabled them to preserve their identity against the Pressures of Protestant Prussians and Orthodox Russians during 123 years of partitions ending in 1918. Religion also played an important role in surviving the Nazi occupation in World War II and 45 years of post-war Soviet domination. It is no wonder then that Poland is regarded as Europe’s most staunchly Catholic country. That is reflected by Sunday Mass attendance, religious vocations and the high percentage of church as opposed to civil marriages. In Poland not only Christmas and Easter but also Corpus Christi and the Feast of the Assumption (Aug. 15) are work- and school-free national holidays. And more Poles celebrate the feast day of their patron saint (“imieniny”) people in any other European country.

Pronounced Catholic lifestyles are reflected in the way Poles celebrate Christmas and Easter. Annual surveys conducted by CBOS (Centrum Badania Opinii Publicznej = Public Opinion Research Center), the country’s major polling organization, show the frequency with which specific customs and practices are upheld in individual Polish families. Here are the results of surveys taken in 2000 and 2005:

SURVEY ON LENTEN AND EASTER PRACTICES IN POLAND CONDUCTED BY CBOS (in order of frequency)	percent of practicing families in 2000	percent of practicing families in 2005
Sharing  blessed  eggs at the start of Easter breakfast	95%	95%
Observing  total Good  Friday  abstinence from meat	94%	94%
Blessing Easter baskets on Holy Saturday	94%	96%
Sending Easter greeting cards to relatives and friends	89%	79%
Having Easter palms blessed in church on Palm Sunday	86%	88%
Observing the Wet Easter Monday drenching custom	84%	82%
Making one’s Easter duty (annual confession)	83%	80%
Baking Easter cakes (mazurkas, babkas) at home	82%	78%
Visiting the Lord’s Tomb on Good Friday or Holy Saturday	81%	79%
Coloring Easter eggs	79%	76%
Having head sprinkled with ashes on Ash Wednesday	76%	77%
Taking part in Lenten religious retreats	74%	73%
Attending Easter Sunday sunrise Mass  (Rezurekcja)	74%	72%
Attending Triduum (Holy Thurs/Good Fri./Holy Sat.) services	70%	66%
Attending Lenten services (Way of the Cross, Gorzkie Żale)	62%	61%

The process of declining religious practices that might be expected in view of the wholesale onslaught of consumerism and largely de-Christianized pop culture seemed to have been stemmed or slowed in 2005. Perhaps the suffering of the soon-to-die Polish-born Pope John Paul II, which received blanket media coverage in Poland when the 2005 survey was being taken, had something to do with it.

By contrast, the CBOS 2006 survey, conducted a year later after the initial shock of the Polish Pontiff’s death had worn off, showed a slight though clearly visible decline in all the religious practices listed. Good Friday abstinence was observed by 86% (compared to 94% in 2000 and 2005), Easter duty – 79% (83% and 80% respectively), Ash Wednesday attendance – 71% (76% and 77%), Lenten retreats – 67% (74% and 73%). Easter daybreak Mass – 66% (74% and 72%), Triduum Services –65% (70% and 66%) and Lenten services – 58% (62% and 61%).

Nevertheless, those figures are still much higher than in any other European country. Perhaps it would be interesting to conduct such a survey within the Polish American community. Observations seem to indicate that the Christmas Eve opłatek-sharing and the Holy Saturday food blessing are Polonia’s most widely celebrated Polish customs. But how widespread are they? How do they differ from one Pol-Am community to another and to what extent are they influenced by the generations separating respondents from the Old Country? Those remain matters for personal impressions and speculations.