In Poland New Year’s Eve is known as St Sylvester’s Eve. This name according to legends arose from Pope Sylvester I, who was supposed to have imprisoned a dragon called Leviathan who was suppose to be able to escape on the first day of the year 1000, devour the land and the people, and was suppose to have set fire to the heavens. On New Year’s Day, when the world did not come to an end, there was great rejoicing and from then on this day was called St Sylvester’s Eve.
When it comes to celebrating the New Year, every country and every culture has its unique routines and charms to influence the incoming year. They’re believed to bring into the new year good fortune, health, prosperity, and love. Whether superstitions first showed up as a deep-seated need to make sense of the world around us, or whether it was to control the world around us isn’t important. What is important is the curiosity, hope, laughter, and family unity that traditions undoubtedly bring to every family from every culture.
Kolejny rok znowu minął Kolejny rok jest już historią Nowa liczba starą przegoniła I datę w kalendarzu zmieniła
Another year has passed again Another year is history New number chased the old one And changed the date on the calendar
✺ Każdy z nas jest o rok starszy Lecz czy dojrzalszy? Nie jednemu poleci łza Że tak szybko mija czas
Each of us is a year older But more mature? More than one will cry That time passes so quickly
✺ Sentyment w tym dniu wszystkich ogarnie Coś się kończy coś zaczyna Tego, co już było nie da się zatrzymać Przyszedł dzień na podsumowanie Co dobrego się zdarzyło A co złego nas spotkało
Everyone wil be sentimental on this day Something ends something begins What happened ca not be undone The day came for summary What good things happened What bad things happened to us
✺ Z nowymi postanowieniami I czystymi myślami Robimy do przodu krok Z nadzieją, że będzie To dobry rok
With the new resolutions And pure thoughts We make a step forward With the hope that it will be a good year
Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)
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My name is Kasia Scontsas. I grew near Lublin, Poland and moved to Warsaw to study International Business. I have passion for languages: any languages! Currently I live in New Hampshire. I enjoy skiing, kayaking, biking and paddle boarding. My husband speaks a little Polish, but our daughters are fluent in it! I wanted to make sure that they can communicate with their Polish relatives in our native language. Teaching them Polish since they were born was the best thing I could have given them!
I have been writing about learning Polish language and culture for Transparent Language’s Polish Blog since 2010.
Comments:
David Roberts:
Hi Kasia. I’m just starting to learn Polish – it’s now the second most spoken language in the UK, having overtaken Welsh, so there’s an incentive. Your blog looks very good! I’ve done quite a lot of Russian, so I can see a lot of similarities and differences. The word ” łza” in the line “Nie jednemu poleci łza” – does it mean “tears”? I’m guessing from the Russian slez (I’ll not risk Cyrillic here).
I enjoyed your piece about Marie Curie (Skłodowska) – what is the feminine form of what she was (masc naukowiec)? Is it naukowieczka? Or naukowieca? Or…?
I’ve noticed that the number 200 is dwieście (not dwieśca, which one might expect). It is similar in Russian, and on the Russian blog I wrote a guest post “The answer to the 200 rouble question – why is it dvesti and not dvesta?” If you’re interested to read it and maybe convert it to “The answer to the 200 złoty question”, drop me an email and I’ll send it to you – or of course you could look it up on the Transparent Russian Blog (it was about 2 years ago).
David Roberts:
Correction – it’s probably something like dwaśca, not dwieśca, that we might expect for 200
Comments:
David Roberts:
Hi Kasia. I’m just starting to learn Polish – it’s now the second most spoken language in the UK, having overtaken Welsh, so there’s an incentive. Your blog looks very good! I’ve done quite a lot of Russian, so I can see a lot of similarities and differences. The word ” łza” in the line “Nie jednemu poleci łza” – does it mean “tears”? I’m guessing from the Russian slez (I’ll not risk Cyrillic here).
I enjoyed your piece about Marie Curie (Skłodowska) – what is the feminine form of what she was (masc naukowiec)? Is it naukowieczka? Or naukowieca? Or…?
I’ve noticed that the number 200 is dwieście (not dwieśca, which one might expect). It is similar in Russian, and on the Russian blog I wrote a guest post “The answer to the 200 rouble question – why is it dvesti and not dvesta?” If you’re interested to read it and maybe convert it to “The answer to the 200 złoty question”, drop me an email and I’ll send it to you – or of course you could look it up on the Transparent Russian Blog (it was about 2 years ago).
David Roberts:
Correction – it’s probably something like dwaśca, not dwieśca, that we might expect for 200