Tychy Local Customs

In Poland 95% of population declares to be Roman Catholic and approx. 60% - 70% declare to practice. I don't know official dates for Tychy but I think they are similar, maybe a little bit fewer people are religious like in almost every city. There are 16 Roman catholic parishes and there is evangelist parish in Tychy as well.

For a visitor it may be interesting to see churches both old and new, praying locals and especially holy mass on Sunday.

For me the most fascinating religion-related event was death of pope John Paul II on 2 April 2005, when locals spontaneosly brought thousands of candles and lighted them along whole, over 1.6 km/1 mile, long John Paul II Avenue. I received a few SMSs with info: let's meet, bring and light candles for John Paul II at 9.37 p.m. (hour of his death) along John Paul II Avenue. I was at work that time but I was told that probably half of Tychy met to pray and give tribute to John Paul II on closed by police avenue that time. Next evening/night coming back from Krakow I took a few pictures.

More in my travelogue: "Tychy says goodbye to John Paul II".

There are a lot of old inscriptions in... Latin inside and outside of Tychy old catholic church: St. Maria Magdalena Parish Church. Latin language was and still is an official language of Vatican and Roman Catholic church. Add medicine here. I was in Rome and I didn't meet anybody speaking Latin on a street there hehe.

There are not many citizens of Tychy who can speak Latin: Roman Catholic priests, doctors, dentists, who else?
My father often told to me: "disce puer Latinae" = learn Latin, boy (words of his father) when I was a kid. And... I learned :-))). What for? Hmm... I didn't know. I didn't want to be neither a priest nor a doctor that time. I wanted to be... a big truck driver or fireman hehe.

Btw this inscription on my picture "Omnia instaurare in Christo" means the whole renewed in Christ.

Enlarge my picture to see breakfast by Urszula (matcrazy0).

What's there?
- morning coffee (with a lot of 0.5% fat milk = almost water :-),
- orange juice,
- hot toasts (made of Polish wheat toast bread),
- butter (Polish Delma),
- Swiss or Polish cheese (yellow with big holes is the best),
- fermented cheese (Bree for example - what an aroma, he? :-),
- pork or beef meat: Polish delicious ham, Polish dry (smoked) sausages or others,
- salad made of fresh vegetables: tomatoes and cucumbers (cheaper version) or red paprika (expensive in Poland),
- Polish yoghurts preferrably with forest fruits or pears,
- mayonnaise, ketchup, salt, pepper for your taste.


Welcome, if you want change M size T-shirts to XL, especially. Top secret: we don't eat such breakfasts each day :-(.

There is one example of amazing baroque architecture in Tychy: St. Maria Magdalena Parish Church built in 1782.

Baroque? What's that?
It is a style in art and architecture developed in Europe, England, and the Americas during the 17th and early 18th century.

Baroque buildings are composed of great curving forms with undulating facades, ground plans of unprecedented size and complexity, and domes of various shapes.
Look at the greatest baroque buildings around the world: click here
Hmm... instead of the church in Tychy I would choose Piazza of St. Peter's, by Bernini, at Vatican City, surrounded by Rome, Italy, 1656 to 1667.

Polish late baroque churches (like this one in Tychy) seems to be more simple in their forms at least seen from the outside. Am I wrong?

"OPLATEK" wafers are wallet-size, paper-thin and crisp leafs of bread, white or colored, with an impression of the Nativity scene.

In Poland before the Christmas Eve dinner those present approach one another with an "oplatek" wafer in hand and offer wishes. When approached everybody listens to wishes, says wishes in return, breaks off a bit from the other guy’s wafer, eats it, and kisses him or her on both cheeks.

"Oplatek" also means popular December and January social gatherings in Poland where invited guests, even perfect strangers, practice the ritual among themselves in addition to regular cocktail-party socializing. And it is usual to visit friends and family before or over the Christmastide to share the "oplatek" wafer with them and exchange wishes.

Are there such customs in your country/community? E-mail me, please.

Yes, dogs are welcome in Tychy especially at homes of some locals (look at my picture with my friend's dog posing :-).

There are a lot of green areas (smaller and larger parks) for your dog, a lot of doggy food in stores. But no doggy restrooms, no doggy hairdressers even not... doggy bags in local restaurants hehe.

Hmm... usually they drink Tyskie beer and not only because it's the cheapest beer sold in Tychy, I suppose. And some of them like Irish Kilkenny beer as well. Add Guiness here.

And what about Dutch Grolsch and Czech (top secret: produced in... Tychy brewery hehe) Pilsner Urquell.

I noticed that citizens of Tychy take care of graves of their families and friends a lot all year round. They (graves I mean :-) are usually clean and full of colorful flowers and candles/lamps.

Unbelievable. I didn't notice it living in Krakow earlier. Surely except so called All Saints/Souls Day = 1 Nov which is a national holiday in Poland and when people used to visit graves, pray for their dead relatives, put flowers and light candles on their graves.