Archive for 'Culture'
Gold in Poland? Posted by Kasia on May 25, 2011
Did you know that in the second half of 16th century gold mines on the territory of today Poland produced 8% of European gold? Today there is a gold mine – museum there – in Złoty Stok (meaning Golden Slope), Southwestern Poland. The only Polish gold mine which still brings a profit! It is owned…
Polka Posted by Kasia on May 24, 2011
For many of us, some of the fondest memories of grandma and grandpa are of visits to their house where the radio was set to a program that blared out polka, obereks and rhinelanders. Theories on the origin of the polka have been well explored before. Briefly, the music and dance are of Bohemian (Czech)…
Kings and Dukes of Poland Posted by Kasia on May 19, 2011
I recently visited Museum Of American History in Washington DC. I liked how all the presidents were listed chronologically. This gave me an idea for today’s blog. I will talk about Polish dukes and kings (king – król, kings – królowie) today and next time we will be talking about Polish presidents. Before 1320 the Polish rulers…
Zielone Świątki – Whit Sunday/Pentecost Posted by Kasia on May 17, 2011
Depending on the date of Easter, this church holiday in remembrance of the Descent of the Holy Spirit (Zesłanie Ducha Świętego) is celebrated on the seventh Sunday and Monday after Easter, between May 10th and June 13th. It closes the Easter season. In many parts of the world, Pentecost has become a traditional day for baptisms to…
Fountain Park in Warsaw Posted by Kasia on May 13, 2011
Recently Warsaw held the opening of Europe’s biggest Multimedia Fountain Park. The magic are performances involving “light, water and sound“. Every Saturday water jets will be shooting illuminated water to a height of 25 meters and on screens of fog. I think this is beautiful and everyone will really enjoy it! The idea of the “fountain park”…
Greetings Posted by Kasia on May 11, 2011
Greetings are essential part in our everyday life no matter where we live, what we do, who we are or what culture we belong to. We cannot imagine a single day without greeting somebody. There are lots of different kinds of greetings which are used in various situations depending on how well we know a…
Pan and Pani Posted by Kasia on Apr 29, 2011
In Polish language there is great complexity when dealing with forms of address. The forms of addressing people in one country are often different in another county. I wanted to explain some of these differences and the meanings behind them. First, let’s look at the seemingly simple forms of address such as “Pan/Pani” (Sir/Madam) and…