Calendar of the most important public holidays, remembrance days and bank holidays in Poland

• 1^st of January – New Year’s Day – bank holiday
• 6^th of January  – Epiphany – bank holiday, marked by Three Kings Day processions in hundreds of cities across the country
• 19^th of February – Polish Science Day
• 1^st of March – Cursed Soldiers National Remembrance Day
• 24^th of March – National Day of Remembrance of Poles Rescuing Jews under German occupation
• 14^th of April – The Feast commemorate the Baptism of Poland
• 1^st  of May – Labour Day – bank holiday, for many Poles 1^st of May commences so called longer weekend.
• 3^rd of May – National Constitution Day, 1^st Polish constitution, and one of the first ones across the globe
• 8^th of May – National Victory Day
• 26^th of May – Mother’s Day
• 1^st of June – International Children’s Day
• 1^st of August – National Day of Remembrance of the Warsaw Uprising – as air ride sirens go off  in Warsaw and major polish cities , capital stops to commemorate the memory of Warsaw residents fighting for the freedom of their city and country in 1944 with a minute of silence.
• 15^th of August – The Day of Assumption and also Polish Army Day – bank holiday.
• 31^st of August –  Solidarity and Freedom’s Day
• 14^th of October – National Education Day
• 11^th of November – National Independence Day – bank holiday.
• 13^th of December – Anniversary of the introduction of the martial law
• 24^th -26^th of December – for Poles, the most important family holidays is Christmas, especially the evening of December 24^th  and December 25^th. December 26^th  is also a day off in Poland, popularly known as the 2nd day of Christmas.
• Easter- many people travel across the country or abroad to spend Easter with their families. Easter Monday is also a bank holiday.

Music events

Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition

• Where: Warsaw
• When: every 5 years
• Noteworthy: one of the oldest and prestigious piano music competitions in the world.

International Oratorio-Cantata Festival Wratislawia Cantans

• Where: Wrocław and Lower Silesia
• When: September
• Noteworthy: In latin name “Wratislavia Cantans” means “Singing Wroclaw”. From the very beginning, the event focuses primarily on presenting the beauty of the human voice. Every year, concerts attract thousands of music lovers. In recent years, the festival has welcomed, among others Philippe Herreweghe, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Zubin Mehta and such bands as: Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Collegium Vocale Gent, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Monteverdi Choir, Gabrieli Consort & Players, Il Giardino Armonico, The Swingle Singers and English Baroque Soloists.

International Moniuszko Festival

• Where: Kudowa Zdrój
• When: August
  

Jazz on the Odra – one of the oldest and most respected music competitions in Poland.

• Where: Wrocław
• When: Spring
• Noteworthy: An integral part of the festival and its hallmark is the Jazz Individual Contest. Over the years, its laureates have been outstanding Polish jazz musicians. Over the years, the festival has hosted real stars of European and world jazz, such as Pat Metheny, Paco deLucia, Al di Meola, Kenny Garret, Dave Holland, Diana Krall, Cassandra Wilson, Lizz Wright and Robert Glasper.

Guitar Guinness Record – a regular event as part of Thanks Jimi Festival

• Where: Wrocław
• When: early May
• Noteworthy: Guitarists participate and perform Jimi Hendrix’s song “Hey Joe” together. The initiator of the event is Leszek Cichoński. The first event of this type took place in 1997 at the “Blues Express” workshop in Zakrzewo, where 17 guitarists performed “Hey Joe” on stage. The first official edition of the Guitar Guinness Record in Poland took place in 2003 in Wrocław and gathered 588 guitarists.
• In 2019, the record was 7,423 guitarists playing the song “Hey Joe” on the Wrocław market.

Stage Songs Review

• Where: Wrocław
• When: March
• Noteworthy: The Actors Song Interpretation Competition and a series of concerts and musical performances are taking place.

Krakow Film Music Festival – one of the most important film music festivals in Europe and in the world

• Where Krakow
• When: May
• Noteworthy: The festival presents music created for the cinema. Music and film shows are distinguished by production audacity and innovation in the sphere of sound and image technology.

Open’er Festival – music festival

• Where: Gdynia Kosakowo
• When: June / July
• Noteworthy: Nominated for UK Festival Award: Best festival held outside the UK – on the European continent.

Pol’and’Rock Festival – „Woodstock Stop” Music Festival

• Where: Kostrzyn nad Odrą
• When: July / August
• Noteworthy: a music festival organized by the Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy Foundation.

OFF Festival – Alternative Music Festival

• Where: Katowice (Dolina Trzech Stawów)
• When: August
• Noteworthy : In 2012, the event won the European Festival Award in the Best Medium-sized Festival category. From the very beginning, the organizers of the OFF Festival have been taking care to minimize the impact of the event on the natural environment, which has been appreciated many times during the awarding of the Kraków Live Festival awards.

Castle Party Dark Independent Festival – festival of gothic rock and subcultures

• Where: the medieval knight’s castle in Bolków (Lower Silesia Province)
• When: August
• Noteworthy: The whole event takes place in a strong atmosphere of gothic rock – there are European bands playing this type of music, and the environment is extremely conducive to building the atmosphere.

Film events

The International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography Energa Camerimage – is the greatest and most recognized festival dedicated to the art of cinematography and its creators – cinematographers.

• Where: Łódź, Bydgoszcz, Toruń
• Noteworthy: Main prizes at the festival are the Golden, Silver and Bronze Frog – awarded to cinematographers in the film competition.

International Film Festival New Horizons

• Where: Wrocław
• When: July / August (2020 exceptionally November)
• Noteworthy: Festival presents mainly arthouse cinema. The most important from the several competitions held at the festival (including new Polish films, films-on-art and short films contests) is the “New horizons international competition”. It aims to present bold, unconventional and uncompromising films that are searching for the new forms of expression – “the new horizons of cinema”.

Polish Feature Film Festival

• Where: Gdynia
• When: September
• Noteworthy: The main prize of the festival is “Golden Lions”. For several years now, apart from the Main Competition, the Independent Cinema Competition and the Young Cinema Competition have been organized.

International Festival of Independent Cinema  Off Camera

• Where: Krakow
• When: April / May
• Noteworthy:Many projections take place on the roofs of tenements.

Krakow Film Festival – Documentary Film Festival

• Where: Krakow
• When: May / June
• Noteworthy: Real celebration of documentary cinema and one of the most important documentary festivals in Europe. The winners will be qualified to compete for the Oscar for the best documentary, short film and animation.

Warsaw Film Festival

• Where: Warsaw
• When: September
• Noteworthy: One of the most important Polish festivals and the only festival in Poland included in the elite thirteen “international competition festivals” (along with Cannes, Berlin, Venice and Tokyo) started in 1985 thanks to a group of enthusiasts associated in the “Hybrydy” Film Discussion Club.

Transatlantyk Festival

• Where: Bydgoszcz
• When: November
• Noteworthy:A review of the most interesting and best films from the world – it is an interdisciplinary conversation about the state of culture and civilization. During it, two competitions for young composers are held. In the first, Film Music Competition, the artists compose pieces for two short films, and in the second, the Transatlantyk Instant Composition Contest they create music immediately after watching the short film material, with only a piano, talent and imagination at their disposal.

The International Film Festival Etiuda&Anima

• Where: Krakow
• Noteworthy:The aim of the festival is to confront the achievements of film and art school students from around the world and the achievements of artistic animation creators – both professionals, students and independent producers.

Two Riversides Film and Art Festival

• Where: Kazimierz Dolny, Janowiec on the Vistula River
• When: July / August
• Noteworthy: Two Riversides Film and Art Festival is a unique artistic and cultural project destined for the enthusiasts of cinema and dedicated to the art of cinema and other forms of art which contribute to artistic films: literature, music, theatre and visual arts.

Theatre events

Cracow Theater Reminiscences

• Where: Krakow
• When: May
• Noteworthy: The aim of the festival is to show the most important stage phenomena.

International Festival of Puppet Schools “Doll-Not-Doll”

• Where: Białystok
• When: every two years June
• Noteworthy: Artists from all over the world come to the “Lalka-Nie-Lalka” festival to present new forms in puppet theater and a dialogue between different traditions puppetry.

International Street Theater Festival

• Where: Jelenia Góra
• When: July
• Noteworthy: an overview of the street performances.

Brave Festival

• Where: Wrocław / Lower Silesia
• When: July August
• Noteworthy: A festival that was established in 2005 on the initiative of the Song of the Goat Society of Theater Culture. It takes place in Wrocław and Lower Silesia. For twelve years, it has been inviting exceptional artists from all over the world to present their traditions. Every year under the patronage of UNESCO.

Ethnic culture

Jewish Culture Festival Singer’s Warsaw

• Where: Warsaw
• When: August / September
• Worth attention: An event of the theatrical, musical and literary world, the aim of which is to popularize Jewish culture, an attempt to save it from oblivion. For these few days, the pre-war atmosphere returns to Warsaw. Old signboards and a market appear on Grzybowski Square and Próżna Street, the old life is flourishing, which after World War II had no chance to revive.

Jewish Culture Festival

• Where: Krakow
• When: June / July
• Noteworthy: One of the largest and oldest festivals of this type in the world. It presents contemporary Jewish culture created in Israel and the entire Diaspora, including Poland. Each edition of the festival includes over 200 events – concerts, lectures, discussions, tours, happenings and workshops, which give each of the nearly 30,000 participants the opportunity not only to observe but also personally experience and experience Jewish culture.

Festival of German Minority Culture in Poland

• Where: Wrocław
• When every three years / last 2018
• Noteworthy: The biggest festival in Poland of broadly understood German culture.

Lemko Watra in Zdynia

• Where: Zdynia
• When: July
• Noteworthy: A cyclical, annual cultural event gathering the Lemko community from around the world.

International Festival of Roma Song and Culture

• Where: Ciechocinek
• When: July
• Noteworthy: The biggest Roma festival in Europe, organized in Poland.

Borderland Culture Festival

• Where: Mrągowo
• When: August
• Noteworthy: A festival which aims to introduce and popularize Polish culture from the Eastern Borderlands.

Sports Events

Tour de Pologne

• Noteworthy: a multi-stage road cycling race, organized periodically in Poland, which is one of the most prestigious international sports events in Poland organized regularly.

3rd European Games Krakow-Małopolska 2023

• The European Games is a flagship event organized by the Association of European Olympic Committees (EOC). The European Games are sports competitions held every four years with the participation of 50 national teams of European countries. So far, there have been two editions of the event: in 2015 in Baku (Azerbaijan) and in 2019 in Minsk (Belarus).

Athletics

• In 2021, only at the Silesian Stadium, four large athletic events will take place – the unofficial relay world championships, the European team championships, the Memorials of Janusz Kusociński and Kamila Skolimowska. Bydgoszcz, in turn, will again be the host of the Irena Szewińska Memorial.

Orlen Warsaw Marathon in Warsaw

• Organized since 2013, Orlen Warsaw Marathon is the largest and one of the most popular marathons in Poland. It takes place in April, and the number of accompanying events makes the organizers engage and encourage not only marathon runners, but also other running enthusiasts, also over shorter distances.