A Polish tradition for Easter
Eight years ago the staff of Our Lady of Mercy Primary School, Pearse Road, were compiling an Easter service for the children.
They wanted to add a Polish tradition to show how important the Polish children are to the school community.
The staff found out about Swieconka.
It is one of the most enduring and beloved Polish Easter traditions.
Baskets containing a sampling of Easter foods are brought by families to church
to be blessed on Holy Saturday. They then pray that they will have enough food for the coming year.
‘Having enough food’ caught the imagination of the staff and children and soon a food collection was organised.
Each year the Swieconka crates are brought to St. Anne’s Church for the Easter Reflection and are blessed by the priest. They are then donated to the homeless of Sligo.
Back in 2011 eight bread crates of food were collected but the children of Our Lady of Mercy always want to do better.
Each year the donations increased and this year they were delighted to donate 36 Swieconka crates to the hostel after Easter.