Christmas tree and mail

Uff, I'm stuffed with food. I ate too much for those two days! But how can you resist while there's so much good food around? How's your Christams going?:)

This is my Christmas tree. I love the scent of the tree in the house in Christmas time^^

 

My favourite decorations. Little angels:D

These I gave to my mum and aunt for Christmas. Inside were tickets to theatre. It was a surprise, they didn't expect it at all and were very happy^^ When my aunt saw the envelope she thought it's from the kids and contains some handmade card:P

This is what I made for mail art + mini letter exchange last month. I made the envelope of materials from the Warsaw Uprising museum and a lacy heart I once got from Maria Laura. I put inside a postcard (also from that museum) showing marriage during the uprising (of which I unfortunatelly forgot to take photo) so I made war + love theme. 

 Christmas envelope. I took a white envelope and glued a Christmas themed table napkin to it, added some deco tape on the edges. It was an experiment but the texture of the envelope turned out very nice. Easy way to make colorful envelopes if you don't have better idea or materials to decorate it;)

Unfortunatelly I didn't manage to send Christmas cards to everyone I wanted to before Christmas:( I am so scatterbrained, do everything too late. I barely managed to find a gift for my dad before holidays. Did you manage sending all your Christmas mail? Am I the only bad one?

Polish Independence Day

Today, 11th November, is an Independence Day of Poland. It is celebrated to commemorate the anniversary of Poland's assumption of independent statehood in 1918 after 123 years of partition by Russia, Prussia and Austria. During this time Poland didn't exist as a country and disappeard from maps.

Here's a short video presenting a history of this holiday.

And here you can watch a nice video showing scenes from last year's celebrations in Warsaw:)

Have a sweet day!

Is is the last thursday before the Lent which means we celebrate today Fat Thursday!

 [source]

The tradition of Fat Thursday is very old, even older than the donuts themselves! In the Middle Ages, when they were not yet known in Poland, people were eating pork fat, bacon and fat meats and drinking heavily. The tradition of eating donuts started in XVI century. The supersticion sais that who doesn't eat a donut on Fat Thursday will have bad luck.

In average each Pole eats 2,5 donuts and in total the Polish eat 100 million of donuts that day. An average donut has 200 kcal.

Have a sweet day!:)

Christmas idleness

 I hope you're enjoing the weekend:)

This and that and Merry Christmas

I vanished. I had vacation. I was sick, tired, busy. I was writing letters. I was reading books. I needed a break from blogging. I am not the most regular blogger anyway:P But I am back to wish to all who celebrates Christmas - Happy Holidays and to those who don't but have free time - Happy Free Time=)

I haven't painted any envelopes lately but I had the lovely daisy parchment envelopes. The only problem is they're transparent but on the other hand I think it makes a nice effect.

Two letters to me got lost:_( Which made me very sad and nervous about letters on their way to and from me:S I hope it won't happen again:(

On a happier note, I bought new stamps, yay:D

These are this years' Christmas stamps in Poland.

I made few Christmas cards but quit it quickly as I'm not good at it at all:S I decided to show them here anyway because someone was curious about them=)

I am listening much to Marilyn Manson nowadays as I'm reading his biography but it's not the best Christmas theme I guess:P But in my last post TheSnailMailer suggested a very nice singer - Alison Krauss. Thanks:) She has a sweet voice.

I've also found a secret in Post Secret that I like and sais what I think as well.

Therefore, I sent Christmas cards to my friends whenever they celebrate it or not. I would be happy of any good wishes from whichever occasion myself so I don't get the whole offending thing... good wishes have only good intentions behind them, right? Make love, not war;) Merry Christmas!:)

Easter Traditions in Poland

Day 1 (Great Saturday)

People prepare a baskets full of goodies: colorful eggs, some bread, a piece of sausage, salt, a sugar lamb, maybe some fluffy fake chicken or bunnies to decoration. They take it to church were the food is blessed. It’s gonna be eaten on an Easter breakfast on Sunday.

Easter basket

[photo source]

Day 2 (Easter Sunday)

The families meet to have breakfast together. They share the eggs from the basket, say each other wishes and feast. The traditional Easter dishes include:

Żurek - traditional Easter soup

Mazurek - traditional Easter cake

Baba wielkanocna - another traditional Easter cake

[photos source] 

and all sorts of eggs (with mayo or stuffed), meats, salads...

Day 3 (Wet Monday)

The other name of an Easter Monday is Wet Monday (in Polish “Lany Poniedziałek” or “Śmigus-Dyngus”) because traditionally everyone splashes each other with water! This tradition comes yet from pagan times when people in villages were beating (lightly, nothing brutal :P) girls’ legs with willow twigs and splashing them with water. If some girl was omitted, there was a superstition that she wouldn’t find a husband quickly. Nowadays just splashing with water stayed (thank you, I wouldn’t like being beaten with twigs, even lightly:P) and everyone splashes everyone, even strangers. Some people exaggerate pouring whole buckets of water on people going to church or even elders turning the tradition not to be so nice anymore as it’s supposed to be fun, but that’s a different story. As long as it’s made in a civiliezed way it’s a lot of fun:) Especially children love this day.

Happy Easter!

Wesołych Świąt!

Leave counting calories for today...

... it's time for debauchery! It's Fat Thursday, last Thursday before the fast. In Poland we eat today...

... donuts

... and "faworki" (sorry, I don't know the English word, if it even exists)

Haven't eaten any yet? Quick, the day is almost over, at least one donut is a MUST ;)

[photos googled]

Feliz Cumpleanos querida amiga :)

Today I want to wish Happy Birthday to Sharon! I hope you have a wonderful day and lots of happy moments ahead of you. I have for you a Polish Birthday Song.

The text is like that:

100 years, 100 years

May she live, live for us

100 years, 100 years

May she live, live for us

Once again, once again

May she live, live for us

May she live for us!

May the luck star

Never fade for her

Never fade

And who won't drink with us

Let the thunder bang him

And who won't drink with us

Let the thunder bang him!

100 years, 100 years, 100 years, 100 years

May she live for us

100 years, 100 years, 100 years, 100 years

May she live for us

May she live for us, may she live for us

In health, in happiness, in luck may she live for us!

Polish Christmas Carols

I hope you're having lovely Holidays :)

Christmas traditions in Poland

Christmas in Poland in some points probably looks like in other countries, in others it deffers. We decorate Christmas tree, buy gifts… *cough*… Santa brings gifts and we fest on Christmas Eve together with the whole family. But of course, we can’t start eating before the first star shines! And even before we sit by the table, we share an “opłatek” between us, wishing each person all the best in the coming year. “Opłatek” looks like the Host and tastes like it, but it’s not the same thing. We also share it with friends before Christmas and we send it together with Christmas cards. People in the country also share “opłatek” with animals, but only these which are believed to have been in the stable where the baby Jesus was born. It is also believed that these animals can talk this one night in the year. As far as I know we are the only country that has this tradition (let me know if I’m wrong :) )

All right, we shared an “opłatek”, now we can sit and start eating. On the table, under the cloth we put some hay (as baby Jesus was lying on the hay after being born) and we leave one empty place by the table for an unexpected guest. We have 12 traditional dishes (like 12 Apostoles). The “must be’s” are:

• Carp

• Borsht (beetroot soup) with little dumplings filled with mushrooms. The dumplings are called “uszka” which means “little ears”. Probably the name is because of their shape :)

• Pierogi with sauerkraut and mushrooms. Or some other filling but on Christmas Eve this one is the most popular.

• Fish in jelly.

• Kutia, which is a sweet meal made of wheat, poppy seeds, honey and all sorts of nuts and raisins. We don’t prepare it in my home, but this is a typical traditional dish that is prepared specifically for Christmas.

As you noticed, there’s no red meat or birds. Meat, excluding fish, is not eaten on Christmas Eve at all.

That day we also get presents. We don’t wait till Christmas Day. If there are no kids in the family there’s no problem with gifts. But if there are children, someone must pretend Santa for a while or get the attention of kids somewhere else and then put the presents under the tree. When I was a kid my grandpa always went outside and knocked in the window. Me and my cousins were running to see Santa (who disappeared too quickly) and at that time the rest of the adults put the gifts under the tree. I need to mention that “our” Santa comes from Lapland – in Finland, not from the North Pole or Coca-Cola factories.



At 12 o clock at night there is a mass in church, were people also share “opłatek” with strangers. Then we have two (not just one) days of Christmas. Time for rest after all the preparations and to watch Home Alone ;P

Merry Christmas!

Wesołych Świąt!

[photos googled]

Nicolas Day

Yes, it's today. A very important day for kids, for adults not so much. That is because at night of 5th to 6th December Saint Nicolas puts little gifts for kids under the pillows or inside the slippers (depends on the house, he always put MY gifts under the pillow). It is a foretaste of Christmas.

Now my mum replaced him and gave me two books. Unfortunatelly one is out of my interest, because it's a biography of a man, whose travel books I really love, but I cannot stand himself for his radical political views and open manifest against homosexuals (whoever knows me, knows how sensitive I am on this topic, or any other form of intolerance). So, no, I don't want to read about that.

The second book I got is a book of a German author - Steffen Moller, who is living in Poland. I already read other his book, where he made his observations about Poles - the culture, mentality, habits and compared us with Germans. The book was witty and pointed out the things about Polish that I haven't even realised they might be surprising for others as I don't even think about them daily, they're natural for me. The new book is more about his personal experiences in both counries than just Poles in general, which might be interesting as well.

The book was only published in Poland and in Germany (under the title "Vita Classica").

Like I needed more books;P My bookshelf is straining under the books I haven't yet had a chance to read! But, well, what can I say, I am happy :D

Andrew's Night

Tonight is a magical night – Andrew’s Night. A holiday which has pagan roots. Why is it so magical? Tonight you can find out who your future husband will be! To know it, you just have to play some fortune-telling games.
The most popular one is pouring hot wax through a hole of a key to a bowl with cold water. From the shape of the shade on the wall of the figure you get when the wax stiffens, you can guess what is going to happen to you in the future.

Other popular game includes shoes. Only unmarried girls can take part in it. They must put their shoes from the left foot in a row in front of the door (starting from the opposite wall of course). Then they should move last shoe in a row to the beginning until some shoe crosses the threshold. The owner of that shoe is going to get married first.

There is also a game in which you write boy’s names on the big paper heart. In the back of the heart the girls need to insert a pin. The name the pin went through is a name of her future husband.

Have a wonderful night!

[photos googled]

Christmas and penpalling

Christmas is coming with big steps. The TV started emitting Christmas commercials and there are Christmas decoration in shops. Time to start thinking about Christmas cards or gifts for penpals. But, the truth is I feel a bit lost here. Before I met my current penpals in Interpals, I was only sending a card to my old penpal. Now, not all of my penpals celebrate Christmas. Should I then send them a card or gift or omit them? And what with others? I am scared of, what if I send something small and get something big myself? Then my penpal might be disappointed? And what if I send something and don’t get anything? Then my penpal might feel ashamed or bad? I was a bit lost with that case last year, and this year I still don’t know what to do. Do you usually send Christmas gifts or just wishes or nothing?

Lassi a la Saag and the Independence Day

As it's free of work day I had plenty of time to stir spinach so I decided to make a spinach yogurt soup - Lassi a la Saag from Bursts of Bubbles recipe. It's the first Pakistani dish I have ever tried. I'm afraid it's not thick enough. Oh well, I'll do better next time :S But it'a real feast for such a spinach lover as I am.

And it's a free day because it's our Independence Day today. It's an anniversary of Poland getting back it's independence after 123 years of partitions in 1918. We celebrate it rather calmly, without fireworks. All that happens are some military parades and people hang flags in front of their houses. And I make a soup ;)

All Saint's Day and the Day of the Dead

1^st November – is All Saint’s Day. It’s a catholic holiday celebrated in memory of all saints.

2^nd November – is Day of the Dead. It descend from a pagan celebrations of “beggars”, which used to take place four times a year, and the purpose was to commemorate the dead. People used to feed the souls of the dead who were arriving from the beyond that day. They also used to bake special bread and shared it with beggars who were praying for the souls of the dead (therefore the name of celebrations). It was adopted in XII century as a catholic holiday and diminished to be celebrated just once a year.

Since only 1^st November is free of work, it is celebrated also as Day of the Dead. It doesn't remind the old pagan holiday enymore. We just visit graves of our relatives and close people, leave flowers and candles and recall memories about them with pensiveness.

 [photos googled]

Happy Halloween

Halloween isn’t really celebrated in Poland. It’s becoming more popular for the last couple of years, but since we have a rather serious holiday tomorrow and many people leave their homes to visit their family graves in different parts of the country, most people don’t go out tonight. I find Halloween fun and it would be great to celebrate it… if it only was on some other day!  However I would like to wish lots of fun tonight to everyone who celebrates Halloween.

Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.

Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined.

Harpier cries 'Tis time, 'tis time.

Round about the cauldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and owlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witches' mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark,
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Silver'd in the moon's eclipse,
Nose of Turk and Tartar's lips,
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingredients of our cauldron.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.

It's a fragment of "Macbeth", scene 4 act 1. I thought it would be appropriate for today. And below - a song I've been having in my mind all day long. Enjoy :)