The day after the New Year, Poles go to the mountains!
They have different goals, they want to see beautiful views, they care about being in good shape, but the biggest challenge are calories! After several days of gluttony during holidays, where, especially in Poland, they are celebrated for three days and the main ritual is a richly set table, people in large numbers notice the need to burn excess calories. As a result, tourist trails are besieged by crowds of tourists who are not prepared for mountain hiking.
Śnieżka is a border mountain. You can enter it from Poland and the Czech Republic. Tourists from both countries meet at the very top. Entering the trail from the Polish side takes 3.5 hours. Both from the Polish and Czech sides you can enter by cable car.
On Śnieżka, hurricane winds are the rule and blow here most of the year - on average, for 206 days, the wind speed here exceeds 15 m/s. The local record was wind gusts of up to 80 m/s, or 288 km/h! There is fog on Śnieżka for over 300 days a year!
After Christmas, there is New Year's Eve and New Year Day, and a few days later, Epiphany (Three Kings' Day), which is also a day off from work. In this way, some Poles have two weeks of vacation.
The most beautiful Christmas tradition is leaving an extra place setting at the table. This is a tradition that is still cultivated in many homes. However, not everyone knows where the custom of leaving extra tableware comes from. Currently, it is intended to be an invitation to feast for unannounced guests.
In winter, the days are short, combined with bad weather it is a very dangerous mixture. Every year, tragedies, often fatal ones, occur on the mountain trail.
Śnieżka is not a high mountain, but it is often subject to difficult weather conditions. Śnieżka [śńeška] means SNOWBALL in Polish and Czech language.
Christmas is the most important holiday in traditional Polish culture. We celebrate it for three days, starting with a gala dinner during which we give each other gifts. The next two days are mainly devoted to visiting family.
The main dishes on Christmas Eve are carp, mushroom soup or borscht, dumplings, and vegetable salad. Traditionally, there should be 12 dishes on the table.
In Poland, 90% of the population are declared Catholics. Sociological research shows that 37% of Poles go to church at least once a week.
During winter holidays, people from all over Poland come to the mountains, sometimes it is their first contact with the mountains in the winter season. Sometimes, in a town at the foot of the mountains, the weather is beautiful, the sun is shining, while at the top there is snow and a strong wind is blowing. It is very easy to overestimate your skills.