Holidays are very important events throughout one’s student exchange year.
No matter how big or small these celebrations are, you will always learn new things and different ways to celebrate.
Halloween is a small holiday I recently got to experience here in Koszalin, Poland.
Halloween in the States, of course, is considered a major holiday. Stores fill their shelves with masks and costumes for trick-or-treaters. Dozens of varieties of candies and treats are available to purchase to hand out to kids who come knocking on Halloween night.
The streets that night are filled with kids and teenagers dressed as animals, scary monsters, celebrities, or almost anything you can imagine.
Here in Koszalin, Halloween is somewhat a newer tradition.
Poland is just starting to pick up the Halloween celebration.
Stores do not go all out and sell special candy and costumes for trick-or-treating. It is very common here to just host or go to a Halloween party.
In Koszalin, there was absolutely no one trick-or-treating. Most of the housing here is closed-in apartments, so it would be difficult for trick-or-treaters to go door-to-door.
I didn’t get a chance to see any trick-or-treaters this year, but my host sister, Karolina, said that most costumes are homemade because there are no costume stores around.
Families and kids who would like to trick-or-treat are often seen in a town right outside of Koszalin that prepares for and expects trick-or-treaters for Halloween.
Karolina and I carved a pumpkin. Other kids here do that as well, I was told, but I have not seen any.
We picked up a nice-sized pumpkin.
Pumpkins are usually used for cooking here. Karolina said that her family uses pumpkins to make soup. They also use the seeds and bake them in the oven until they are crispy, then eat them like sunflower seeds.
When we began to carve into the pumpkin, I was very surprised that it was really easy to cut and clean.
Pumpkins in the States are usually very hard to cut and slice, but pumpkins here feel more like melons.
There was barely any “gook” inside, so it was easy to clean as well.
Once Karolina and I were done with our masterpiece, we took pictures and placed a candle inside and set it near my window for our neighbors to see.
I also made some instant Jell-O pumpkin pie mix that I brought from the States for my family to try because they never had pumpkin pie. It was really sweet, but they thought it was a good dessert.
My sister’s friend came over later that evening. It was a great treat because she brought along the Dalmatian dog costume she wore last year. The costume was a white full body suit with black dots drawn on it. We just hung out for the rest of the night, talking and watching movies.
Just for fun: Here in Poland, when you knock on a door for candy you say, “cukirek albo psikus?!” which means, “candy or prank?!”
Kirsten Rafinski, a Westmont Hilltop junior, is spending this school year in Poland through the Rotary Youth Exchange. You can follow her experiences in The Tribune-Democrat and at www.kirsten2011.wordpress.com.
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Candy or prank time in Poland
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