Lexicon of cultural connotation: S – Stork (bocian)

2013/05/08 16:21:00 Written by EwaMaslowska

Is a symbol of a spring, good luck and prosperity for the cottage the bird make their nest on. That is why it was considered a serious singe to spoil the nest or make a harm to a stork.

The birds are leaving Poland for the winter period and come back with the spring to the same place. If it happened that the stork is sick and cannot join the flock to take the journey over the ocean, the “hosts” take care of it during the winter.

Each year they are expected by the villagers and mostly welcome. People often install a wheel on the roof of the barn to encourage the stork to build a nest.  In some regions, there is a tradition to bake special cookies  (like a stork’s foot) to bring them back, in case of delay of their arrival. It is also magical practise to bring the spring.

Lexicon of Polish cultural connotation: K – Kiss (Kissing Day)

2010/12/28 7:07:00 Written by EwaMaslowska

Kissing Day – 28 December or 6 July?

A kiss is primarily an expression of love, but also reverence, submission, respect and well wishes. It is the oldest way of communication, body language, overgrown rich symbolism. Kiss in Polish ‘całować’ is semantically associated with whole ‘cały’.  This means not only the unity but also survival pol. ‘ocalić’.

The kiss, which farewells a  knight or a hunter, was kind wishes and blessings  ‘come back untouched ‘cały’. It was exchanged both by men and men and woman and men and had nothing to do with sexuality.

Sex free was also the kiss of respect. Kissing pop’s or bishop ring was the singe of reverence given to God. Kissing the national flag, sword blades, the Constitution belong to the gestures to show reverence to symbols.

In some countries, it was also a gesture of courtesy – like in Poland kissing lady’s hand in greeting and farewell. The custom is getting old fashion, but you can meet it even between young people.

The way of communication by a kiss is as old as humankind. It has been developing its meaning – direct and symbolic – with a culture of each language. Whatever it symbolize,  the fundamental meaning of this gesture is expressing love with a strong sexual character, and that is why it is still celebrated as an international holiday. Why there are two different dates? It really doesn’t matter. Let’s kiss in the end and the middle of the year!

Polish Alphabet

2010/01/08 3:22:00 Written by EwaMaslowska

In contrary to the most Slavic languages (East and South), Poland use the Latin alphabet – introduced together with Christianity in 966, when Polish prince Mieszko got married to a Czech princesses Dąbrawa.
Receiving Christianity from the Czech Kingdom Poland has been included to the Western Christian Church, while most of the Slaves belong to the Byzantium circle.
The Roman Church and the Latin alphabet was the door to the written heritage of the West European Culture. As Latin alphabet wasn’t sufficient to illustrate Polish phonetics, the diacritical signs have been introduced, like ą, ę (the nasal vowels) or a letter combination (such as: sz, cz, dź, dż, ch, like English sh, ch, th). Foreigners often complain about it, but the rules of using them are very regular, so it is easy to learn it, and it is conducive to know the pronunciation.

Despite belonging to the Roman circle, Poland hasn’t lost the contacts with the rest of the Slavic world. Especially the folk culture preserves the pre-Christian Slavic heredity. The echo of the ancient believes is still reflected in traditional folk rituals and magical practices.

I will be pleased to present you some disappearing remains of the old believes, symbols and behaviour as an alphabet of Polish thoughts. If you are interested, follow the blog. You are welcome to comment!