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!:)

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!

Show me on a Tuesday... Traditional Music from Your Country

^ Click this button and take part in Tuesday Shows too! Share your countries traditional music with us, don't be skinflint ;)

The traditional music of Poland is very diverse depending on a region. I decided to choose some folk music from three regions as my Tuesday (or in my case Wednesday) entry. First is a folk group from the region where I live - Masovia in the original Masovian folk clothes. The dresses of women weigh 14 kg!

The second is a folk group form Silesia region, also in their folk clothes. The song title is "A girl went to the woods" and I've read it's also very known in Japan! O.o

And last but not least is a group from Highland region, in the South of Poland, also in their traditional clothes. You still can meet people wearing these in there, probably mostly for touristic reasons, but I also have a feeling they value their folk culture more.

Show me on a Tuesday... Something Traditional

I wouldn't be myself if I wasn't late with my post ;) But no worries, I am still into Tuesday shows. I was thinking what traditional should I show and thought about some food at first, but in the end decided to show a traditional Polish dance - polonaise. It's a folk dance. Sadly, people nowadays, probably not only in Poland, forget about their folk. I am no exception here... But! polonaise isn't forgotten dance. It's danced in the introduction of the ball 100 days before ending high school. So, most people dance it at least once in their life.

Here's a video from a Polish movie "Pan Tadeusz" based on our national epic from 19th century written by Adam Mickiewicz. The last scene is the wedding and they dance polonaise.

And the second version of polonaise, because there are two melodies for it. This dance here is made by some dancing group so they make more figures than just basic ones made during school ball. But there's always the "tunnel" made, which you can see in the end of the video.

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]

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]

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 :)

Street legends

Talking about Warsaw I could tell about  all the monuments and buildings but I’d rather  concentrate on something you can’t read in guides… which is famous buskers! Those who are stable element of the city life, who play every day in main places like for example in front of Metro Station in the city centre. When I walk there, there are always the same people, changing days… I wonder if they have some agreement who plays when…

Number 1 is Indians band. I think they are from Peru. They’re performing in Warsaw for many many years so they’re well recognized by everyone. Their music is amazing – it’s either calm, mysterious sounds or more energetic by which they also dance. They have Indians costumes and sell their own CD’s. It’s always a pleasure to listen to them.

Number 2 is an “Orchestra from Chmielna Street”. They usually play in the underpass by the metro. They play pre- and after-war songs that were popular in Warsaw at that time and are dressed in 50’s style. They’re the legend!

 

Number 3 is Mr. Witek aka Dude from Atlantis. I haven’t seen him under the metro for a long time, maybe he changed location. He is always dressed like a cowboy and sings these naughty songs. If you stop and look at him longer he might dedicate you one of them;P The guy is freaking funny, always talking with young people. He’s very famous, a few years ago he even was in jury in some program on MTV and performed in our Woodstock festival. OMG, he even is in Wikipedia;P

Broken mirror, grandma's names-day and anchovies pasta

I broke a mirror today. Is 7 years of bad luck awaiting me? Luckily, I’m not superstitious. However from my observations I’d say Polish people are very superstitious. If you ask an average Pole about it, they’d say they don’t believe such things but all the time I watch my friends knocking in un-painted wood not to allow something what they’ve just said to happen or slowing down when a black cat crosses their way. Another proof is when you look at an advertisement-post splitting over a sidewalk in winter. There’s always a path in snow beaten on it’s sides, because it’s unlucky to go under the post. The statistics from 2008 confirm my statement – they say 58% of Polish are superstitious. I belong to the 42% of non-believers but I find the superstitions charming in a way.

I decided to investigate further a superstition about a broken mirror. It’s genesis starts even before the mirrors were invented. People believed that in reflection on a water surface, and later in a mirror, lives soul. If a mirror gets broken, the soul can’t come back to the body. It takes 7 years to renew body and soul, according to the Ancient Romans (who actually invented mirrors), therefore it’s 7 years of bad luck. There is a way of undoing a spell - first of all the pieces of broken mirror should be collected with closed eyes, and then buried in the ground. I just threw mine to the bin, so I guess there’s no rescue for me now ;)

I bought a waffle cake and visited my grandma – it’s her names-day today. Young people celebrate birthday, older ones celebrate names-day. Isn’t it brilliant? You can switch to names-day after you turn 40, stop admitting your age and still not resign from wishes and gifts. Grandma happily listed everyone who called her with wishes. She gets very upset if someone forgets.

And finally I decided to open a jar with anchovies that my mum brought from Italy two weeks ago. I found a recipe in a culinary book and made pasta.