Jackie Lay
Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR’s international correspondents share snapshots of moments from their lives and work around the world.
Within an hour of touching down at Chopin Airport in mid-April, I found myself here along the centuries-old Krakowskie Przedmieście street, among the flag-waving supporters of Poland’s conservative and nationalist Law and Justice Party, known by its acronym PiS.
I have been to many events like this one over the past several years of covering Poland, but I had never been among so many red and white Polish flags. As I elbowed my way through the thousands of marchers, dozens of flags caressed my face and hair, and one managed to cover my head for several seconds, temporarily blinding me as the chanting crowd moved around me.
They’d come here to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of the coronation of Poland’s first king, Bolesław the Brave. Many were exhibiting next-level patriotism, wearing traditional, colorfully embroidered costumes and fur hats — symbols that seemed to serve, on this day, the political message about the importance of national identity delivered by the presidential candidate they’d come to see ahead of one of their most important elections in a generation.
See more photos from around the world:
- Greetings from the Galápagos Islands, where the blue-footed booby shows its colors
- Greetings from Afrin, Syria, where Kurds danced their hearts out to celebrate spring
- Greetings from Dharamshala, India, where these Tibetan kids were having the best time
- Far from the front lines, Ukrainians fight a war to preserve their culture
- As Greenland prepares for tourism increase, a moment of stillness among the icebergs
