Polish Easter Traditions

I talked to my mom on the phone today and she reminded me of a great story.  This story is actually one from the glorious year of 1994.  My loving Dziadzi (grandfather in Polish) was chosen to be on Good Day Philadelphia to showcase how he celebrated Easter with Polish traditions.  We were all so excited to be a part of this 5 minute segment.  My mom, dad, two aunts, uncle, cousins, grandmother and I all stood around the decorated table set with Polish food and we looked like idiots.  Not one of us said a word we just stood there and smiled.  My Dziadzi was so honored and proud to be sharing his table and traditions with the world that he had his speaking parts written down on index cards.  His serious, stoic voice served as narrator as the camera panned over each item.  "The salt and pepper represent...Here we have the butter in the shape of a lamb....You will see we have two kinds of kielbasa:  smoked and fresh..." My grandmother continuously nodded her head throughout the production as if to say, "Yes, that's right.  He knows his stuff."  Meanwhile, the rest of us were just grinning away motionless in the background after being advised by the television crew to not cause a distraction.  Standing with our arms at our sides, afraid to move or make a sound, smiling away is how we spent our 5 minutes of fame.  Talk about feeding into the Polish stereotype...