Polish Christmas Eve traditions part 1

 One of the most popular Christmas pop songs in Polish start with words: "There is a day very warm although in December, Day - one day which 'puts out' all the arguments" For Polish people that day is Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve is the most organised day in a year. Everything has its time and there is a way to prepare every dish. We all know that we shouldn't eat meat on Christmas Eve and we all know that the whole forthcoming year will look exactly the same as our Christmas Eve (so no quarrels and a lot of joy is a recipe for a good next year).

It's not easy to stay calm and relaxed when you should fast on Christmas Eve day (till dinner/supper) and you might find it difficult to share a bathroom with a carp swimming in a bath. 
Carp's sad story is not as old as you might think. It was introduced to Polish people during communism to 'help' us preserve our tradition of eating fish on Christmas Eve.

Before 5.00 we should prepare 12 dishes to be served at Christmas Eve dinner. Carp, pierogi z kapustą (dumplings with sauerkraut and wild mushrooms), śledzie (herrings), barszcz z uszkami (borsch with ear-shaped dumplings), kluski z makiem (noodles with poppyseed and honey) or kutia are the most popular of them.


The table should be covered with a white table cloth and underneath a table cloth there should be some hay, which symbolises a stable where Christ was born.

Now we can wait for a first star to appear on sky. The star will tell us when to start the dinner. All children who were looking for a star and went outside to have a clearer view will realise that The Star (of Bethlehem) brought them some presents and put them underneath the christmas tree (choinka).   

Just before Christmas Eve

"In Poland Christmas starts with Christmas Eve which is celebrated as a common family meal on the evening of 24th of December. After dinner many people go to church to participate in the midnight mass called pasterka. The christmas Eve dinner (Wigilia) starts with wishes and breaking the wafer (opłatek). 25th December is a day for the family and holiday visits are usually paid on 26th December, on the second day of Christmas. Christmas is the most family-oriented holiday in Poland and for this reason just before holiday people travel to be together with their family".

Władysław Miodunka: Cześć, jak się masz cz.I.

The Ultimate Guide to Polish Christmas

Dzień dobry,


"Wieczór wigilijny"

Biały obrus lśni na stole,
Pod obrusem siano.
Płoną świeczki na choince,
Co tu przyszła na noc.

Na talerzach kluski z makiem,
Karp jak księżyc srebrny.
Zasiadają wokół stołu
Dziadek z babcią, krewni.

Już się z sobą podzielili
Opłatkiem rodzice,
Już złożyli wszyscy wszystkim
Moc serdecznych życzeń.

Kiedy mama się dzieliła
Ze mną tym opłatkiem,
Miała w oczach łzy, widziałem,
Otarła ukradkiem.

Nie wiem co też mama chciała
Szepnąć mi do ucha.
Bym na drzewach spodni nie darł?
Pani w szkole słuchał?
Niedojrzałych jabłek nie jadł?
Butów tak nie brudził?
Nagle słyszę, mama szepce:
Bądź dobry dla ludzi.


The above poem by Tadeusz Kubiak (known by many Polish children) will be our guide through Polish Christmas.
Please translate the poem and hand it in during your next lesson ;-) (joke), or maybe not...   Try to find in it as many Polish Christmas traditions as possible.
 
See you in class,
Ola

Święty Mikołaj

- It is snowing - says Łukasz and runs to the window -He should arrive very soon.
-You know we will not see him, we have never met him - says little girl standing next to him.
- But that's the point, he is getting older and we are getting better each year. Even you can run faster now.... Did you hear that?... a door bell.... No it can't be him, he always leaves it underneath pillows or in shoes or in....
- Ola, Łukasz, could you please answer the door ....
- But mum, this way we can miss him... You go Ola, I will keep an eye on pillows....

- Ojej, Łukasz! Święty Mikołaj był u nas. - She shouts too excited to stick to English. - I didn't see him, but he left us plenty of sweets.


Typical ? Maybe it is. The only difference is that it is an eve of 6th of December and we will not see him on Christmas Day - a star will bring us presents on Christmas Eve.

See you in class,
Ola 

Polish teacher vs. Polar Bear ('s ghost)

First of all - thank you all for your advice on getting rid of the ghost of polar bear from classroom. 
All comments are appreciated and articles have been read. I enjoyed the most the one about a sequence of moves that kills live and dead polar bears. I didn't know that Polish army has such a sophisticated technology and that they monitor and register all cases of use of the "secret sequence" in order to keep Polish citizens from killing polar bears which are not members of Bafia (Bears' Mafia). 
The article about bipolar bears was also very interesting although twice that complex.

However the article about the polar bears camouflage techniques was the one that made me think. It is said that if you look at 4 photos taken in Poland, a polar bear will appear at least in 3 of them (just hidden of course). I investigated my photos of Wroclaw and see yourself - I couldn't believe it!

I know, I couldn't believe it either. 

See you in class,

Ola

Three magical words in Polish

Witam,

They say that words change reality and that learning a language is more than learning words and structures - it is (forgive pathos) experiencing a totally new world.

Have you thought about the way we think? European people think from left to right (that's how the text is written). What is on the left in a book (even comic book) was for us before the things on the right. Which page is a previous page? Does it work the same way for a Japanese person? 

Is it important for a Polish person to put words in order when creating a sentence or it doesn't really matter "are what in words the order"? Why is that? Why do Polish people keep pronouncing every single "-ing" in "going", "doing" and "asking"? What is so special about endings of words?

Finally, is that a coincidence that there is no word meaning "flexible" in Polish when describing a personality and the nearest equivalent would mean "two faced"?

Oh, I nearly forgot about the magical words. Here they go:

-  hokus pokus,
- abrakadabra,
- czary mary :-).


See you in class,
Ola



 



 

normal day they say?

Czesc Wszystkim,

Normal day started at 2.00 pm. I came to class, opened a window and turned a heater on (this is when I heard a quiet yawn). "Those are the books waking up for classes" - I thought (even though they haven't slept for so long before). Usual tea and preparations in progress. When..., suddenly (we all knew that suddenly was going to come) I heard a roar. What..., who and why? Of course - a ghost of the killed polar bear... "No problem, I will turn the heating down" - I said and started thinking how to get rid of polar bear in time for classes. "Know your enemy"- I thought. I found some articles on how polar bears appeared in Poland and (just in case you had the same problem) I pasted them below.


"(...) Niedzwiedz polarny (polar bear) migrated to Poland in 1923 during the great migration of polar bears.(...) Most of the polar bear families settled down in Russia and started their communities (at first very primitive - vodka and poker kept them together) which have grown with time and became very influential. (...)Nowadays FNP (Federacja Niedzwiedzi Polarnych) is unofficially the main shareholder of "Russian vodka" and "Russian poker cards" companies. (...) However some of the polar bears (much more resistant to Polish hot summers + 30 oC ) decided to choose Poland for their new home."

 ["Studies on Polar Bears", The White, 2007] 

Dzien dobry

Hi,

This is Aleksandra. Your Polish language teacher. Today in our school we managed to single-handedly kill a bear (a polar one as everyone knows we have brought them over from Poland :-).

We also continued with our courses of Polish and learned some new words not mentioning our struggle with Polish Instrumental. This vile creature can take different shapes and crawl to the end of any noun (innocent object or even more innocent names like Karol or Rebecca - I would say that Rebecca is even more innocent) and stick to it just to slightly change the role that word plays in the sentence.

Do not miss the pictures from our last meeting in The Knaypa restaurant in London.





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See you in class,
Ola