What Independence Day means for Poles

Popped into Auchan this evening on account of the fact that all the shops are closed tomorrow for the 11 November Independence Day public holiday. The hypermarket was heaving - these kinds of queues one sees in the run-up to Christmas. Yet this is a Thursday evening... had the shops not been closed on a Friday, would everyone had gone bonkers to fill up their trolley?

As I stood and queued, I pondered on the meaning of 11 November, a new public holiday, instituted after the fall of communism (which had 22 July as its commemoration of the Birth of the New Order). How does 11 November compare to Poland's other holidays?

All Souls/All Saints has a very special meaning in the hearts of Poles. It's a time to visit graves; as a holiday it is extremely significant. The same goes for the tradition-rich celebrations of Christ's Mass and of Easter. Secondary religious feasts that entitle Poles to days off - Corpus Christi and Pentecost Sunday (shops are forced to shut) divide the believing from the rest.

But Independence Day, celebrating Poland's return to the map of Europe as a sovereign nation after 123 years? Is it something more than an excuse for a punch-up between neo-fascists and neo-Nazis* on one side and assorted lefties and gays on the other?

What should a patriotic Pole do... Listen to voices telling him to stay indoors with the radio switched on - or go into the centre of town to listen to patriotic speeches and get drawn into political harangues between extremists?

I remember my first Independence Day in Warsaw; 1997. Krzysztof ('Toyah') and his family came up to stay with us; we trooped off to Plac Piłsudskiego to the commemoration. We neared the back of the crowd; some politician was speaking. Sense, as it sounded to me; hitting all the right patriotic buttons; yet in front of us some man was ranting "I can't listen to this bulls***!" as he stormed away. "Some communist?" I asked Krzysztof. "Not at all," he answered. "A right-winger, angry at the hypocrisy of a old communist like President Kwaśniewski" - for it was he speaking - "uttering such sentiments!" And so it proves we can't really know what's going on (insofar as it Polish politics go).

Stay indoors. Read history. Research what your forefathers did. Think about a map of Europe without a Poland on it. Make it an Independence Day of your mind. Don't get drawn into a futile debate as to who's a real patriot and who isn't. And it will be freezing outside.

* The difference between the two lies these days in religion. Poland's neo-fascists tend to be ultra-conservative Catholics, while the neo-Nazis are rather tattooed pagans with a penchant for death metal. What unifies them is a lack of tolerance for lefties, gays and peoples of other races. In the UK, types that in Poland end up being neo-Nazis are quickly identified as such by their health visitors, attracting the attention of the public prosecutor should they persist in their ways.

This time last year:
Words fail me: the Polish for "to fail"?

This time two years ago:
Autumn in Dobra

This time four years ago:
Autumn ploughing