Dec 14, 2012

A letter to Santa Claus

If you are spending the time before Christmas in Poland, think about taking home not only memories but also presents for your beloved ones :) There are plenty of traditional Polish products which should have its place on a present list to Santa Claus!

1) Laces from Koniaków
Beautiful and amazingly precise handicraft from Koniaków, a village in the South of Poland, in Beskid Śląski (Silesian County). Laces from Koniaków are absolutely unique and well-known around the world, especially tablecloths, traycloths, curtains and... underwear.
Original licensed laces from Koniaków you'll find here (also a lingerie) and here.

Traycloth, size M costs around 50 pln.

2) Folk art paper cutting from Łowicz
Łowicz is a small town in Łódzkie County, nearly 90 km from Warsaw. It's a very important spot on Polish cultural map, because the town has always had its own culture as well as local dialect, dance and clothes. Folklore from Łowicz had a big influence on whole Polish tradition. One of the Łowicz's specialities are paper cuts, which were very fashionable home decorations of XIX and XX century, especially before Christmas and Easter. A paper cut from Łowicz has to be symmetrical, cut with the scissors used originally to cut sheep and colorful. You can buy them on folkstar.
Paper cuts aren't very expensive. The price depends on the size. Small cuts cost 20 pln but price can rise up to 150 pln if the cutting is very big with a lot of details. It looks amazing on the wall.

3) Honey
The Drahimski Honey (from the Polish Seaside) which has very light, yellow colour or Spadziowy Honey (from the Polish Mountains) which is more brownish are traditional Polish honeys made according to the traditional recipe. If you want to be sure that a jar you are buying contains original honey, visit one of the eco e-shops or honey e-shop :)

4) Winter clothes
They are made of wool of the sheeps from Tatra Mountains. Good woolen products you can buy in Zakopane, Nowy Targ or in the internet (merino-polska.pl). The choice is very wide: slippers, quilts, blankets, jerkins, sweaters and many many more.
Shopping in Zakopane

5) Gingerbread fromToruń
From over 700 years, gingerbreeads have been baked in Toruń and made the town famous. According to the legend, it were the bees who told the princess to add honey to the gingerbread she was baking. The cake was supposed to be given to a king as a present. He liked the gingerbread so much that he has made it famous all around Europe. Small gingerbreads are often called "Katarzynki" from the name of the princess who has made them for the first time. Gingerbread from Toruń is believed to be the most delicious and also it is ideal sweet for lovers ;) You can buy them in Toruń or in almost every supermarket in Poland.

Prices of the gingerbreads are very different. It's also great decoration to hang on a christmas tree.

No comments:

Post a Comment