Celebrating: Commensalism Re-Read

Holiday and celebratory traditions have a long but complicated history in Poland. The liberty to express joy at a holiday time has often been stifled by prohibitions on observing certain anniversaries or holidays and the necessity of ceremoniously celebrating others. A common element of private, as well as public, celebrations is the feast-commensalism. Like other phenomena, holiday-making is governed by a set of social norms and patterns, which in this case concern the preparation and consumption of meals. In human history, the forms of commensalism have undergone significant transformation. We can find many examples in literature, and anthropologists and sociologists are also engaged in analysing the phenomena. In this text, we have taken Silesia as the empirical point of reference. Silesia is a region where traditional culinary culture is intertwined with contemporary cuisine, but where tradition comes out decidedly on top. There too, daily commensalism is clearly distinguished from holiday commensalism, which has its own atmosphere and magic