State celebrations, anniversaries of important historical events and their observance are one of the main channels of communication between ruling elite and society that shape the state symbolic space. In addition to establish­ ing memorial sites, erecting monuments, founding institutions focused on remembrance, they are the most important way to create a narrative of the state’s past. In Poland - regardless of time and political system - special attention was paid to creating a calendar of holidays and anniversaries, and the manner they were celebrated. These festivities were and are still considered to be fundamental tools used in Polish politics of history, both at state­wide and local level. Their importance in the regions can - depending on how the local elites exercise their powers - vary from much larger in relation to the central state level to entirely negligible. The aim of this study is to present mechanisms and tools used by local authorities in building an appropriate historical narrative using just those tools.

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.