“Nie ma jak u Mamy!” – Mother’s Day in Poland

Not sure if you’re aware that next week, May 26th, is Mother’s Day in Poland! It’s a very important holiday both for big and small ones!

Apparently, already in the ancient times people celebrated Mother’s Day, but then it was mostly a celebration devoted to Mother Earth, as the one who gives us food and drinks, helps us survive. The appearance of Christianity erased the holiday and it has been forgotten for a couple of centuries. It was reborn in the 17th century England, and from that time, Mother’s Day is celebrated annually (on different days in different countries though).

Nowadays, Mother’s Day is celebrated in Poland on May 26th. Mums receive greeting cards, flowers and all kinds of gifts from their children, more rarely from other people. The goal of the holiday is to show Mums respect, love and to thank them for all that effort they had to make to raise us.

You can also find many idioms or proverbs with the word „mum” or “mother”, and a famous Polish singer, composer and songwriter – Wojciech Młynarski wrote an amazing song about a Mum, titled „There’s no place like Mum’s” – you have to listen to it!

• Dla każdej matki miłe jej dziatki. („dziatki” to po staropolsku „dzieci”) “Every mother loves her children”
• Do ludzi po rozum, do matki po serce. “To strangers for teachings, to mother for a heart”
• Jaka matka, taka natka. (natka to inaczej nać – zielona część warzywa, np. marchewki) “Like mother, like daughter”
• Lepsza u matki polewka niż u obcych marcepany.  “Better the soup at mum’s than delicacies at stranger’s”
• Doświadczenie to matka mądrości. “Experience is the mother of wisdom”
• Nadzieja – matką głupich.  “Hope is the mother of the fools”
• Matka jest tylko jedna. “There is only one mother”

Do you have any sayings about mothers in your country? If so, let me know in the comments below! 🙂