If you stay in Poland for a while, you might notice the somewhat ambiguous frequency of family celebrations in Polish homes. Obviously, it can't just be birthdays (Pol. urodziny), as some of your acquaintances have such a celebration twice a year. The answer is imieniny, or namedays.
Although particularly strong in Catholic countries like Poland or regions with a large Catholic population like Bavaria, the tradition of celebrating the day of your patron saint is not limited to Catholic countries – namedays are also celebrated in Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece, and Sweden.
In most of Poland (with the important exceptions of Upper Silesia and Kaszuby), celebrating imieniny is almost (or just) as important as celebrating urodziny. And while generally the tradition is more popular with older people, the younger generations are fond of it too (they're just too shy to admit it), so wishes (wszystkiego najlepszego), flowers, little gifts, and spending time together are surely welcome on the occasion.
The only possible obstacle in trying to celebrate the nameday of your Polish friend is identifying the exact date. While all Polish calendars (kalendarze) contain the names celebrated on a given day, the problem lies in the fact that some names can be celebrated on several different dates. Typically, a Polish person would pick one and stick to it, which means that finding a familiar name in the calendar under today's date is no guarantee that that person is actually a solenizant the term for a person celebrating their imieniny.
Poland Word by Word allows foreigners to familiarise themselves with everyday Polish words by explaining their cultural context and significance. For more pronunciation tips, explore our Foreigner’s Guide to the Polish Alphabet.