Holidays and Celebrations as an Element Organizing the State Symbolic Space – the Case of Poland in the 20th and 21st Centuries

Creating a state’s symbolic space is one of the most important competencies of the authorities. It manifests itself in, inter alia, establishing topographies of memory (organizing sites of memory), erecting monuments, appropriate naming of streets, squares, public institutions and organization of the calendar of holidays. Holidays and celebrations are a great tool for communication between the authorities and the citizens, and one of the basic elements of the historical politics system of a state. The aim of the present study is to show – on the case study of the Polish calendar of public holidays in the 20th and 21st centuries – the mechanisms and tools used by the government to build a proper historical narrative.