Under the slogan “Today is a Cheerful,” Processions of the Three Kings passed through the streets of Warsaw and 667 other Polish towns on January 6th. Similar processions were also held in Ukraine, Austria, France, England, and even Africa.
On January 6, 2022, the traditional Processions of the Three Kings set off, inviting people to celebrate Epiphany by joyful caroling.
The procession of the Three Kings organized on the streets is a nativity play, much like parades, during which wise men from the East throw candy to children.
The Polish Procession of the Magi is one of the largest in the world, in which children and the kings, who are heading to the stable to adore the little Jesus, walk through the streets together. Participants of the procession receive colorful crowns made of paper and carol songbooks. In Warsaw, the procession took place for the twelfth time.
“The theme of this year’s Epiphany was good preparation and a deep experience of Christmas and the Epiphany. The texts of the script talked about the importance of understanding the essence of the feast,” says Anna Murawska, the procession’s screenwriter and director.
Kings and Knights With a Dancing Dragon and Angels
As the organizers emphasize, the processions are a form of street evangelization in cities. “The wise men from the East, studying nature, the cosmos, looking for the truth, found the Truth in the little Child,” explains Piotr Giertych, president of the Foundation “Procession of the Three Kings.”
Photo – Family News ServiceThe event intends to show how important it is for every person to have a good and deep experience of the feast days and celebrations and what joy it brings to spend free time in a family circle and to sing together.
The largest procession took place in Warsaw—it went from Castle Square to Piłsudski Square. Knights walked alongside the three kings. At the head of the procession, we could see a vehicle with warriors from the Roman Legion. The dancing Chinese Dragon and Angels accompanied the head of the procession.
668 Polish Cities, 300,000 Crowns, and 100,000 Carol Songbooks
According to Piotr Giertych, this year’s event was guided by a charitable goal: funds were collected to support the pupils of the Catholic center for poor boys in Nairobi, Kenya. The organizers of the procession want to fund 10 places in professional training centers for young men wanting to become car mechanics.
Processions passed through the streets of 668 cities in Poland, which is 200 more than last year, but slightly less than in the peak period before the coronavirus pandemic, when, in 2020, processions took place in 820 cities.
“Processions were also held on the streets of Ukraine, Austria, France, England, Congo, and Cameroon. The Foundation printed and sent over 300,000 crowns and 100,000 carol songbooks to the organizers,” indicates Piotr Giertych. The patronage over the Warsaw Procession of the Three Kings was led by cardinal Kazimierz Nycz, Metropolitan Archbishop of Warsaw, and Rafał Trzaskowski, the capital’s president.
Retinue with Regard to Procession in the Time of the Pandemic
This year, the processions could be followed on the Internet at: orszak.org. During the live broadcast, viewers could watch reports about the preparations for the event and listen to commentaries on the procession’s theme.
“The Scene of the Procession: the ‘Inn’, ‘Herod’s Manor’, the ‘Battle between Good and Evil’, ‘Shepherds and Cleaning the Nativity Scene’ were prepared by young people from Warsaw schools (from the Piarists’ Father Onufry Kopczyński Primary School, the Private High School of the Sisters of Nazareth, the Sternik Association’s High Schools ‘Sail’ and ‘Streams’ as well as by a group of people from the Community L’Arche) and recorded in the form of short films together with reports that were broadcast during the procession streaming,” explains Anna Murawska.
The procession of the Three Kings was accompanied by many activities around the procession: a procession walk, a run, and a carol challenge accompanied by a fundraiser for the Eastlands vocational school for boys from African slums in Nairobi (Kenya).
A Nativity Play in the Public Space
Let us remind you that the procession set off on the streets of Warsaw for the first time in 2009. It was then that a bold idea appeared of arranging the hitherto typical school nativity play differently – in the urban space, and moreover, to invite the inhabitants of Warsaw and tourists to celebrate together.
The initiator and organizer of the largest street nativity plays in the world, including the Procession of the Three Kings in Warsaw, as well as in several hundred towns in Poland, Europe, and on other continents, is the Foundation “Procession of the Three Kings.”
