Warsaw City Info

Things to do

Warsaw, Poland » Entertainment » Festivals

Several memorable and exciting events are organised in Warsaw every year. The Orange Warsaw Festival is a Polish music festival. Another trendy event is the procession of the Three Wise Men (known as the Three Kings) on Epiphany, just after the New Year. Spectators usually wear Paper crowns throughout the day, and the event runs along the Royal Route, Polish president and many Warsaw's highest officials attend it. Also, many traditional Polish festivals take place in Warsaw. Depending upon individual interest, tourists can plan their visit to the city.

Warsaw Carnival

The Carnival festival starts forty days before Lent. Dancing, food feasting and unlimited drinks. It takes place in many different venues around town. Whether the partying occurs at home, in hotels or nightclubs, they all merrily participate in the Carnival before it ends on Ash Wednesday.

Month: March

Drowning of Marzanna

To keep traditions burning alive, one must burn the doll called Marzanna, which represents an evil witch. A strong influence of Slavic pagan customs, setting the doll on fire and throwing it into the waters will 'perish' winter and welcome upcoming spring. It is a fun festival celebrated throughout Poland, especially among children.

Month: March

Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival

Every year before Easter, Poland celebrates one of the world's most renowned composers, Ludwig van Beethoven. A grand musical event is produced and participated by great conductors, soloists, majestic performers with a lavish orchestra.

Month: March / April

Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday

Palm Sunday (Niedziela Palmowa) is a Christian tradition commemorating Jesus Christ's passage to Jerusalem. Twigs and branches are painted, adorned with flowers and ribbons, and blessed by priests during religious processions. After Palm Sunday, Holy Week kicks off. Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday are well observed in customary manners. Easter Sunday celebrates the resurrection of Christ. Churches hold Holy Masses throughout the day, and people offer baskets filled with traditional symbolic foods for worship. Lamb, as a symbol of Christ; Meat, as traditional Polish delicacy; Salt, which prevents food turning sour, as the Passion of Christ; Bread, the most important of all, symbolising Corpus Christi; and finally the Egg, painted in colourful designs, for abundance in life, love, fertility and strength.

Month: March / April

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

Each year, a touching ceremony occurs every April 19th when hundreds of people bring flowers to the Warsaw Ghetto Heroes Monument and the Umschlagplatz Monument. Flowers symbolise the fight of insurgents against Nazi soldiers in 1943 when Nazi troops captured 400,000 Jews and placed them in a ghetto which they set up in Warsaw. Over hundreds and thousands died during the war. Some burnt alive, while some insurgent leaders committed suicide.

Month: April 19th

Mozart Festival ( visit site )

The Warsaw Chamber Opera oversees more than 20 Mozart stage productions during Mozart Festival. The only opera house in the world to offer Mozart's entire operatic output, Warsaw Chamber Opera, presents Mozart's chamber, symphonic, and vocal-instrumental pieces during the festival.

Month: June

Slaska Noc Swietojanska

Warsaw celebrates Slaska Noc Swietojanska, or Midsummer's Eve, with great enthusiasm and zeel. The Midsummer Market is set up, complete with hot drinks and warm food. There are period-costume contests, free concerts, feasting, drunken merriment and dancing. Girls and some boys wear garlands of flowers on their heads during this festival, while a big garland of flowers is set afloat on the Vistula River. Over 100,000 people participate in this event. The night is capped with a rainbow of fireworks and musicals, which often features famous artists and bands.

Month: June

Warsaw Autumn Festival

International performers visit Warsaw to be part of one of the best musical events in the city. The Warsaw Autumn Festival features concerts, orchestras, operas and soloists. Lectures, conventions, exhibitions, conferences are held with the event for a targeted audience. The festival takes place in different institutions and churches simultaneously, universities, radio stations, museums and orchestra houses.

Address: rynek Starego Miasta 27, 00-288 Warszawa, Poland

Month: September

Warsaw Film Festival

Polish films have long caused an influential stir in cinemas all over the world. Famous producers, like Roman Polanski, started in Warsaw's film fests. Witness as up and coming directors and actors wow the crowd with original, raw and sometimes profoundly troubling cinematic twists.

Month: October

Warsaw Christmas Fair

Warsaw celebrates Christmas with colourful market stalls set up all over the Old Town. With baskets full of overflowing souvenirs, trinkets, honey, pudding, cheeses, cakes and more, it is but a frosting to the big bite of the Christmas season. A tall Christmas Tree is put up every year in the centre of Zamkowy Square. Christmas lights guide night strollers as locals and tourists spread the joy of the coming Christmas day.

Month: December