Everything You ever wanted to know about Poland (part 1)







Everything You ever wanted to know about Poland - (part 9) 
DID YOU KNOW THAT ... ?
By  Robert Strybel,   Warsaw Correspondent



 




 

 
















*    St Mary's Basilica of Gdansk, built between 1343 and 1502, is Europe's largest
Gothic-style brick church. It is said to accommodate a congregation of 10,000.

*  Each year in September an Archeological Festival is held in Biskupin (about 20 miles from Gniezno), where an ancient timber settlement has been
reconstructed. During the event, visitors may watch demonstrations of primitive handicrafts and re-enactments of life as it was believed to have been in the 17th
century BC during

*  The foods bigos (meat & sauerkraut ragout) and pasztet (pâté) are used in colloquial Polish to mean a mix-up or mess, and klops (meatloaf) can mean
a flop or failure. English also uses food terms such as pickle to mean trouble and fine kettle of fish to mean a mess.

*  For information on how you can enjoy Polish satellite TV in your own living room, including Polish movies dubbed into English, phone [phone] or
visit websites: www.kbs.tv.com or www.dishnetwork.com

*  January 21st and 22nd are celebrated in Poland as Grandmother's and Grandfather's Day respectively. Kindergartners and grade-schoolers usually make their
own greeting cards for their Babcia and Dziadzio, and older kids use their spending money to buy them flowers or other gifts.

*  Polish forces are currently serving in United Nations peace-keeping operations in such places as Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Georgia (the former Soviet
republic, not the US state), Israel and Korea.

*  The name Polabians (Polabianie means those whose lands stretch all the way to the Laba [Polish for Elbe]) indicates that the Poles' early Slav ancestors
once inhabited all of what would later become East Germany. Pomerania (Pomorze), Polish for 'up to the sea', is another indication that Germanization was a much
later development.

 

*  Chopin and Belvedere brands are imported from Poland as the world's top-of-the-line gourmet vodkas
which sell in the US for around $30. a fifth (750 ml). Russia's Stolichnaya and Sweden's Absolut are poor man's drinks by comparison

 

*  Poland's most impressive Passion Play tales place each year in Kalwaria Zebrzydowski in the south. The
story of Jesus' Passion and Death is re-enacted by seminarians and townspeople in a setting designed to resemble the Garden of Olives, Pontius Pilate's Palace,
the house of the Last Supper and Mount Calvary.

*  The Baranek Wielkanocny, or Easter Lamb, is traditionally portrayed with a cross-emblazoned banner to symbolize the Risen Christ. They range in size from
1-2" to several feet and may be edible (rock candy, butter, white chocolate, bread or cake dough) or inedible (wood, plaster, fleece, plastic).

*  For all your Polish Easter needs (including Polish palms, wooden pisanki and egg-coloring kits, Easter Lambs and lamb butter molds, greetings cards,
recorded Easter hymns and assorted gifts and crafts) contact Polish Art Center at [phone], e-mail: [e-mail] or visit their website at http://www.polartcenter.com

*  In some villages on Holy Wednesday, youngsters destroy and drown a straw effigy of Judas. The dark-clad scarecrow-type figure is hurled from the church
tower into the street below, where it is pounced on by stick-wielding boys, dragged through the village and dumped in the nearest river or pond.


 

*   Easter Monday has always been a legal holiday in Poland, and even the communists did not dare do
away with that tradition. They also left the Second Day of Christmas (Dec. 26) and Corpus Christi on the calendar of legal holidays.

*  If you don't feel like baking an Easter babka from scratch this year and there isn't a good Polish bakery nearby, try Polonia's first cyber-babka
available over the Internet. Check it out at website www.eBabka.com

*  The tableau of Christ's Tomb in Polish churches differs from place to place. The lifeless figure of Jesus may be displayed in a papier-mâché grotto or
be surrounded by lush greenery, flowers and candles. Honor guards in historic dress or contemporary uniforms may keep watch over the tomb.

*  The blessing of Easter baskets, together with the Christmas Eve op3atek-sharing custom, are Poland's most widely practiced holiday traditions. Big baskets
containing most of the Easter meal are more typical in the countryside, while in big cities smaller, more symbolic baskets tend to be more common.

*  Two weeks before Easter, oats are sown in a flower pot full of soil or garden cress seeds (Cardamine pratensis) are scattered in damp gauze or cotton.
This produces a bed of fresh green grass in which to place the Easter Lamb.

*  Michigan's Kowalski Sausage Co. will ship its excellent Polish kielbasa anywhere in the US including Alaska and Hawaii. For details call 1-800-482-2400 or
[phone] or visit website: www.kowality.com For Easter ask about their combination #1300 which includes fresh and smoked kie3basa, cottage ham, sauerkraut
and horseradish.

*  Emaus, the New Testament town to which Jesus was seen journeying after His Resurrection, is the name of a traditional church fair held in Kraków on
Easter Monday. It was frequented by throngs of strollers who youngsters eagerly visited the stalls full of treats and old-fashion toys, enjoyed riding swings and
merry-go-rounds and listening to the music of organ-grinders.

*  Another Kraków custom was Rekawka (The Sleeve) on Easter Tuesday. Townsfolk, would gather on the mound (man-made hill) commemorating the city's legendary
founder Krak (or Krakus) and eggs, apples and other owiecone leftovers to the poor, beggars, impoverished students and other needy people waiting at the foot of
the mound.

*  You can have traditional owiecone fare -- ham, kielbasa, smoked meats, horseradish, cwikla, rye bread, babka and other seasonal treats -- delivered to
your doorstep by Polana, America's largest Polish-style on-line and phone-order food firm. For information phone toll-free 1-888-POLANA-1 or visit website www.polana.com



*  A common Easter game is the egg race, in which Easter eggs are rolled down an inclined plank or slope with the one rolling the farthest being the winner.
In a Silesian version of the custom, there is an indentation or hole at the end of the slope and the object is to have the rolling egg fall into it the way a golf
ball does.

*  Easter Monday in today's Poland is mainly drenching day. When youngsters cannot find girls to splash, they turn their buckets and plastic squirters on one
another.
 
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