Special Events Calendar

• International Computer Expo, trade fair, Jan, Palace of Culture and Science

• Warsaw Theatre Meetings, Jan, various venues

• 'Fat Thursday', everyone purchases paczki (jelly-filled doughnut-like pastries) to achieve a better social standing or to absolve past sins, Feb, throughout the city

• Warsaw Theatre Meetings, Mar, various venues

• Shrovetide, the biggest Balls of pre-Lent carnival season, Mar, various venues

• Topienie Marzanny (Drowning of Marzanna), celebrating the end of winter by drowning the witch, Marzanna, 21 Mar, Wisla River

• Primn Aprilis (April Fools' Day), 1 Apr, throughout the city

• Niedziela Palmowa (Palm Sunday), blessing of floral bouquets and processions, late Mar/early Apr, throughout the city

• Easter Sunday, dawn Mass and processions followed by an Easter breakfast, Easter Sunday, late Mar/early Apr, throughout the city

• Labour Day, 1 May, throughout the city

• Constitution Day, 3 May, throughout the city

• Slaska Noc Swietojanska (Midsummer's Eve), wreathes with candles on the Wisla River, ending with fireworks, 21 Jun, Wisla River

• Chopin Music Summer Concerts, Jun-Oct, Sun 1200 and 1600, Lazienki Park, at the Chopin Monument

• Warsaw Summer Jazz Days, Jul-Sep, various venues

• Anniversary of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, 1 Aug, throughout the city

• Assumption of the Virgin Mary, pilgrimage to the Black Madonna, 15 Aug, Czestochowa

• Warsaw Autumn, international contemporary music festival, Sep, various venues

• Warsaw Autumn of Poetry, Oct, various venues

• Warsaw Film Festival, throughout Oct, various cinemas

• Jazz Jamboree Music Festival, throughout Oct, various venues

• Warsaw Theatrical Encounters, Nov, various venues

• All Saint's Day, 'Feast of the Dead', 1 Nov, throughout the city, especially the cemeteries

• Independence Day, 11 Nov, throughout the city

• Independence Day Race, 11 Nov, throughout the city

• Christmas Fairs, throughout Dec, especially plac Defilad, in front of the Palace of Culture and Science, and plac Zamkovy

• Sylwester, New Year's Eve celebrations, 31 Dec, throughout the city