The local dialect of Poznań

In Poland there are a few local dialects. It is caused by 123-years occupation by the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia and Habsburg Austria. Because of that Polish in different part of the country is not the same.

In Poznań a lot of words in a local dialect came from German language.

In the small restaurant, "Knajpka na fyrtlu" there is a wall with the most popular words characteristic to Poznań:

In Półwiejska Street there is the one in Poland statue of the local dialect. It is Stary Marych, a fictional hero of a radio station. 

My great-grandmother taught me that local  dialect... or rather she uses it all the time, so I've learnt some words ;)

For example, her favourite sentence is: "Ino nie kładź tytki na ziemi, bo bejmy uciekają" ("Don't put your bag in a floor because the money run away") :D This sentence doesn't have any logic - it is only a superstition. In spite of it, you can see in this sentence three words: "ino" - using in the beginning of the sentence, "tytka" - means "bag" (and also "sachet") and "bejmy" - "money". Not to mention about the most popular sentence in Poznań - "Wuchta wiary tej!", which means "a lot of people" ;)

 Also some people change popular names or titles into Poznań's dialect, for example:

or: "Pińdziesiunt sznupów Szaroka"

Anyway, using a local dialect is fantastic... Particulary when you aren't in your city and no one understands you :D

Historical Polish memes

Webside memes are very common nowadays. Internet users comment in a funny way current situations, but not only. They also change great paintings, for example by adding a funny text...

A lot of people say it is bad and we shoul not joking about something serious. But in my opinion it is a good opportunity to familiarize with paintings and painters. When you're talking with your friend about what you saw on the Internet, you're mentioning about painting and the name of arthist. So it is good for the knowledge of the art ;)

You can see some examples:
(click to enlarge)

Not only the Poles, but also people from the USA are laughting about their history, especially about George Washington.
There are some examples:

On the Internet you can find more examples ;)

Feast of St. John the Baptist/Kupała's Night

Feast of St. John the Baptist, also named as Kupała's Night, is a very old festival. It was celebrated before Christianity. After 966 it was declared that this festival is forbidden, because it is a Paganism festival. But still people celebrated it. Then they changed their way of thinking and declared that it is an official catholic festival and it name's "St. John's Eve" ("Noc świętojańska").

In this day you should light a bonfire and jump across it - because of that you will be rid of bad ghost and it covers you from bad luck. Girls were doing wreaths of flowers and let it on a river. 

Nowadays it is still celebrating. For example, in Poznań people sent in a sky Chinese lantern (now fire departament said that it is too dangerous). 

In my opinion it is a nice festival and we should remember of old Slavs believes ;)

Religion in Poland

Poland is one of the most religious country in the Europe. The main religion in the country is, of course, Christianity. The Baptism of Poland was in 966. A lot of people still declare that thay are Catholics. But unfortunately, I think that many people take religion too serious... When somebody tells about religion but in a different (than normal) way, this person is criticised.

Why am I writing that?
 A few years ago some people were thinking - how to encourage teenagers to read the Bible? Personally, I tried to read The Old Testament when I was in middle school... Yeah, I tried it twice and two times I fell asleep...^^' To solve this problem of young people, a group of friends wrote a book "Dobra Czytanka wg św. ziom'a Janka".

It is the Gospel of John, but... its sophisticated language was changed into teenage slang. The effect is very interesting :D Because of that it is easy to understand.
I think the better way is to show you an excerpt from this book:

"4. (Pan) musiał przechodzić przez Samarię. 5. Więc wbił się do samarytańskiego blokowiska (Sychar) blisko pola, które Jakub odpalił swojemu synowi Józkowi. 6. I tam była studnia Jakuba. Więc zmordowany podróżą Jezus, glebnął se przy studni; to było koło szóstej. 7. A tu wbija się samarytańska laska, żeby nabrać wody. Jezus powiedział do niej: „Daj mi pić!” 8. Bo jego uczniowie poszli do miasta, żeby kupić żarło. 9. Wtedy ta panna powiedziała mu: Pogięło cię? Jesteś Żydem i prosisz mnie, Samarytankę, o wodę? (bo Żydzi nie zadają się z Samarytanami). 10. Jezus na to: Gdybyś znała Boży dar i gościa, który mówi do ciebie: Daj mi pić, sama byś go prosiła, a on by ci dał żywej wody. 11. Mówi mu: Stary, nie masz nawet czerpaka, a ta studnia jest zawaliście głęboka; skąd wytrzasnąłeś żywą wodę? 12. Może jesteś większy od naszego ojca Jakuba, który nam odpalił tę studnię i sam z niej pił, i jego synowie, i jego stada? 13.Jezus odpowiedział: Każdego, kto pije tę wodę znowu będzie suszyć. 14. Ale kto napije się wody, którą ja mu zapodam, tego już nie będzie nigdy suszyło, ale woda, którą mu dam, będzie w nim, źródłem tryskającym aż do życia wiecznego. 15. Panna do niego: Master, zapodaj mi te wodę, żeby mnie nie suszyło i żebym nie poginała tutaj po wodę! 16. On na to: Dobra, to spadówa po męża i wracajcie tutaj! 17.Panna przyczaiła: Koleś, ale ja nie mam męża. Jezus do niej: Proste, że nie masz. 18. Miałaś pięciu a ten gość, którego teraz masz, to nie twój maż. Prawdę zapodałaś. 19. Panna: Ej stary, normalnie jesteś prorokiem!"

As you can see, this book is very controversial. Old people critise it, but teenagers love it. They say in this way the book is easy to understand. When you read it, at first you laugh, but lately you think "Oh yeah, that makes sense"...

What is more, in the book there are drawings, for example the Samaritan woman was presented as a teen with T-shirt and jeans. And these are the apostoles:

In spite of this, I still recommend that book. The teacher from my school told me about it and now I am telling to you - to educate and to have some fun ;)