The processions featured worshippers of all ages, singing carols and wearing paper crowns, as well as richly dressed actors portraying the three Magi from the Bible—Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar.
Actors portraying the Three Wise Men during an Epiphany parade in the central Polish city of Łódź on Thursday. Photo: PAP/Grzegorz Michałowski
Epiphany celebrations in Gdańsk, northern Poland, on Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022. Photo: PAP/Adam Warżawa
In one of the largest such events, crowds of residents gathered in the capital Warsaw to take part in an annual march from the city’s landmark Castle Square to the central Piłsudski Square, state news agency PAP reported.
Crowds gathered for an annual Epiphany procession in downtown Warsaw. Photo: PAP/Tomasz Gzell
The Feast of the Epiphany, also known as Three Kings' Day, is one of the oldest and most important holidays in the Roman Catholic Church, and a public holiday in Poland. Photo: PAP/Tomasz Gzell
Poland’s President Andrzej Duda and First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda released a special message to thank those taking part for keeping the tradition alive.
Duda said in the message that the annual event was "a gathering of people who are kind and open to anyone who wants to join them."
The Feast of the Epiphany, also known as Three Kings' Day, is one of the oldest and most important holidays in the Roman Catholic Church, and a public holiday in Poland.
Celebrated every year on January 6, it commemorates the arrival of the Magi in Bethlehem to pay tribute to the baby Jesus 12 days after his birth.
The day has been a public holiday in Poland since 2011 when it was reinstated after a hiatus of more than five decades.
This year’s Epiphany feast saw processions taking to the streets of 688 cities and towns around the country, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
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Source: IAR, PAP, TVP Info