December 27 on Piotrkowska: a city marking a distant uprising
Step onto Piotrkowska Street on the evening of December 27 and you walk into a Polish public holiday at street level: shop windows still lit, families in winter coats drifting north toward the main squares, the smell of grilled sausage and hot beer from market stalls cutting through the cold. The occasion is the National Day of the Victorious Greater Poland Uprising, observed every year on December 27. It is a day of remembrance with a street-party pulse, and Łódź is a good place to mark it.
What December 27 actually commemorates
The holiday marks the Greater Poland Uprising, which broke out on December 27, 1918, in Poznań after a patriotic speech by the pianist and diplomat Ignacy Paderewski, later Poland's prime minister in 1919. Poznań was liberated on January 6, 1919, and almost the entire province followed by mid-January. Under the Treaty of Versailles of June 28, 1919, almost all of Wielkopolskie province returned to Poland. The date has been a state holiday only recently: parliament approved it in October 2021 at the president's initiative, and President Andrzej Duda signed it into law in Poznań in November 2021, with the first observance that same year.
- Expect the day to be treated as a public occasion: flags, wreaths, and civic ceremonies alongside the seasonal market bustle.
- In 2026, December 27 falls on a Sunday, which puts the commemoration inside a full weekend and brings more people onto the streets.
Markets and street food in the winter cold
The holiday lands in the middle of Poland's Christmas market season, and Łódź's seasonal stalls are the natural place to spend the afternoon. The city's market squares fill with wooden huts selling grilled sausage, bigos, pierogi and hot drinks, and the crowds build through the afternoon and into the evening. Come hungry and dress for the cold; the pleasure here is standing at a high table with a paper cup of something hot while the light fades.
- Sample the seasonal staples: grilled kiełbasa, bigos, pierogi and warming drinks from the stalls.
- Go late afternoon for the best mix of daylight and lit stalls.
Civic ceremonies and concerts
As a national holiday, December 27 brings official commemorations, typically including wreath-laying and ceremonies honouring the uprising's participants, alongside concerts and public gatherings. Check the city's official calendar and local listings in the weeks before you travel for the year's specific programme, and plan your afternoon around the ceremonies and your evening around the market.
Neighbourhoods and a day trip to Poznań
Piotrkowska Street is the spine of the celebration and the easiest place to base yourself. For the deeper history, consider a day trip to Poznań, the capital of Wielkopolska and the city where the uprising began on December 27, 1918, and where the holiday's law was signed in 2021. It is the natural place to see the commemoration at its source.
- Base yourself near Piotrkowska for the street atmosphere.
- Book Poznań travel in advance; December 27 is a busy travel day.
Start planning now: check the 2026 programme, book a room near Piotrkowska, and give yourself the Sunday to wander between the ceremonies and the market stalls.