There are several Polish towns or villages known for their local tradition of preparing huge Easter palms, for instance, Łyse or Lipnica Murowana. In Lipnica, there are competitions for the largest Easter palm, organized every year. Traditionally, palm construction is guided by several rules: the base cannot exceed the width of an adult man’s connected hands, and it has to be put up using only the strength of one’s own hands. Thus, in Lipnica, 35-metres-tall palms are raised by groups of men through a mechanism installed on a tree growing in the Lipnica market square, or with the help of a hand-held two-pronged pitchfork on a long wooden handle.
In 2007, the town of Łyse was visited by the then President of Poland with his wife; their presence was to honour the celebrations of Palm Sunday and the uncovering of Łyse palms. During his speech at the mass, the President revealed Poland’s position with regards to the most important event going on in Poland at the time: the signing and ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon, that is, the moment of creating European Union in the form we know today.
He said:
“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘭𝘢𝘸. (…) 𝘐𝘯 𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵, 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘊𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 – 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦, 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘙𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘊𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘭𝘺 𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭. 𝘏𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘊𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘴.”
Among the points of contention, President Lech Kaczyński named the Charter of Fundamental Rights. ‘This documents contains, mainly, entirely correct statements. However, there are also points which may later lead to, e.g., rights to marriages that are not a relationship between a woman and a man. I would rather not talk about this at church,’ he said and added, ‘we want to secure this.’ In the end, the President congratulated the Łyse inhabitants on their beautiful palms and wished everyone a happy Easter.
