A Polish Tradition

I don't know very much about Polish traditions but there is one that some of the folks in our extended family have had some fun with and that is the first birthday object selection. The way we heard it from our Polish sister-in-law was that at a child's first birthday family party they would be presented with three objects and the first one selected by the child would be the big influence of their lives. In this version of the tradition there would be set in front of them a shot glass, a dollar bill and a bible.

We did it for our grandson Andrew's first birthday and he went for the dollar bill and then the shot glass. Everyone had a laugh. Supposedly the shot glass signified a gregarious person, the dollar bill indicated a successful business person and the bible meant a religious or spiritual. 

I did a little research into this tradition and discovered first of all that it was a Polish-American tradition and was initially included several objects. The shot glass meant the person would grow up to be a drunk but it was later given the meaning of a gregarious and friendly person. There was a rosary or cross that meant if selected the child would grow up to be a priest or nun. This was softened to indicate the religious or spiritual person. The money was originally a silver coin which meant the child would become a wealthy and successful business owner. There was a book that indicated if selected the person would be an intellectual. Finally there was a piece of bread which if picked meant the child would never go hungry and would be prosperous.

People at the party enjoyed this little activity. We had done this with our other grandchildren at one and they both went for the dollar bills or shot glasses and not the bible.