Every year on 6 January, Poland marks Epiphany—known locally as Święto Trzech Króli (the Feast of the Three Kings)—with one of the country’s most distinctive public events: the Orszak Trzech Króli, or Three Kings parade. For a foreign reader, it can look like a colourful street festival. For many participants, however, it is something more: a public expression of faith, a family celebration, and a civic ritual that blends religion, culture and community life.

What Epiphany means in Poland

Epiphany commemorates the Gospel story of the Magi—often called kings in European tradition—who travel to Bethlehem and offer gifts to the newborn Jesus: gold, frankincense and myrrh. In Poland, the day is both a Catholic holy day and a public holiday (a day off work), which makes it possible for entire families to join parades in city centres and small towns alike.

The modern Orszak Trzech Króli format developed into a nationwide movement over the last decade-plus and is often described as grassroots: organised locally, with schools, parishes, volunteers, choirs and civic groups helping prepare costumes, props and music.

Warsaw 2026: the parade as a national showcase

In the capital, the parade typically becomes a symbolic “flagship” event. This year’s Warsaw march moved along the Royal Route (Trakt Królewski), beginning with a public prayer and proceeding through the city to a staged nativity scene (a “stajenka”) at Castle Square (Plac Zamkowy).

A notable moment came when President Karol Nawrocki, accompanied by his wife Marta and one of their sons, joined the crowd near the Presidential Palace. Speaking to journalists, he framed the parade as a statement of continuity and identity—an affirmation that Poland remains closely connected to Christian and Catholic traditions and that such events grew out of social initiative rather than state direction.

Whether one agrees with that political framing or not, the president’s presence underlined something true about the parades themselves: they have become a highly visible space where Polish society negotiates the relationship between religion in public life, national self-image, and cultural tradition.

How the parade is staged: symbols that travel well across cultures

For an international audience, the parade is easiest to understand as street theatre with religious meaning:

• A “star bearer” leads the march, carrying a large star symbolising the Star of Bethlehem.
• Behind come groups such as carollers, costumed characters from Polish folk tradition (sometimes including a playful “turoń,” a folkloric creature), shepherds, and angels.
• The “Three Kings” appear with their entourages, often on platforms or vehicles, representing the Magi arriving from distant lands.

In Warsaw, the procession is often divided into themed sections sometimes described as “continental” routes or groups—European, Asian and African—each with its own chant or motto. The point is not ethnography but symbolism: the story of Epiphany is interpreted as a universal event, with people from the wider world coming to recognise Christ.

At the finale, the kings offer the three traditional gifts—gold, frankincense and myrrh—each explained to the crowd in moral and theological terms: gold linked to kingship, incense to prayer, myrrh to suffering and sacrifice.

The Warsaw event included a blessing from Archbishop Adrian Galbas, who concluded by encouraging participants to carry their faith into everyday life, not merely as costumes and pageantry but as real moral practice. A representative of the Vatican’s Secretariat of State also conveyed a papal blessing—another signal that, while the parade is locally organised, it is still deeply connected to the institutional Church.

Yet the tone of the event is usually family-friendly and festive rather than solemn. The march ends not with a political rally or a concert but often with communal music—this year, it was capped with a polonaise danced to the melody of the famous Polish Christmas carol “Bóg się rodzi” (“God is Born”), an emblematic blend of national culture and religious tradition.

Even for people who are not particularly devout, the Orszak Trzech Króli has become a shared cultural script. It offers:

• Intergenerational participation: children dress as angels, shepherds or kings; grandparents join as spectators or singers.
• Local pride: each town adapts the format with its own routes, costumes and organisers.
• A public vocabulary of values: hope, mercy, peace, community—ideas that translate across belief systems, even if their source here is Christian.

The official slogan in Warsaw—“Nadzieją się cieszą!” (“They rejoice in hope!”)—came from a 17th-century Polish carol, showing how strongly the parade draws on Poland’s historic religious culture to frame contemporary moods.

A window into how Poland sees itself

For foreign readers trying to understand Poland, the Three Kings parades are a revealing phenomenon. They show a country where public religion is not only a private matter but also a social performance, where national history and Catholic tradition intertwine, and where civic life still makes room for large-scale, volunteer-driven rituals that fill city streets in midwinter.

In short: the Orszak Trzech Króli is not just a parade about the Magi. It is a living example of how Poles—across generations and across the country—continue to turn a religious feast into a mass, public celebration of belonging.