Life / How do you celebrate Easter in Poland? [29]

I was wondering whether the night of confessionals this custom is restricted to Szczecin diocese or maybe practised elswhere in Poland or in other countries.

Incidentally, churches acorss Poland are being besieged today by basket-toting faithful coming to have their hallowfare blessed. This custom is known world-wide wherever Polish people are found. Easter found Polish troops serving under Napoleon in Samosierra, Spain, but, alas, the local Spanish priests lacked the proper prayer for the Holy Saturday blessing.

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Merged: Celebrating Polish Easter?

How many of you will celebrate Easter this year the Polish way? That would include attendance at Holy Thursday and/or Good Friday services, blessing Easter baskets on Holy Saturday and adoration of Christ's Tomb, visiting the tomb tableaux of several churches (this evening Poles will be queuing outside Old Town's churches to file past), Easter morning Mass and Holy Communion ( having earlier made one's Easter confession), Easter breakfast and sharing of blessed Easter eggs. The Święcone (hallowfare) comprising biały barzscz or żurek, hard-cooked eggs, sauasge, ham, pâté and other cold meats, hot white sausage, horseradish and ćwikła, mazurek, babka and sernik. Finally Wet Easter Monday.

Life / How do you celebrate Easter in Poland? [29]

Merged: Night of confessionals

Church in the Szczecin area held a night of confessionals (noc konfesjonałów) on Holy Thursday, allowing penitents to make their confression round the clock. Churches were besieged by the faihful. Poliosh media are reporting long queues of young people waiting to confess. As you all know. makign one's Easter dutry (spowiedź wielkanocna) is a conditon for remaining a Catholic in good standing. Those who do not have effectively self-excommunciated themselves.

Life / Why is Prostitution still legal in Poland? [106]

Isn't it time to stop molly-coddling offenders of every type. I was shocked to hear that a mother suspected of killing her baby (the Baby Madzia case) cannot be forced to take a lie-detector test. If she's got nothing to hide+ Isn't the prupsoe of the jsutice system to determine the truth. Or is it really all about corrupt judges and pricey lawyers in cahoots with prosecutors on the take and police who also want their cut.

Food / BABKA: Bread or Cake? [9]

The pound cake I'm familiar with is not yeast raised. That is what gives babka its specific flavour and texture. Of coruse there are variants such as sand babka/babka piaskowa (made with potato flour), but the 'real' babka is yeast raised.

Life / Why is Prostitution still legal in Poland? [106]

When speaking of the moraltiy or immorality of prostitution, shouldn't one consider the kids prostitutes invariably give birth to and often infect wtih AIDs and other STDs?

Regarding an effective crackdown on drug users, there would have to be wholesale round-ups outside clubs and discos: Hefty fines and even jail terms would have to be slapped on which would remain on their records forever, and their portraits would have be plastered all over the web so they couldn't even find a job.... With such prospects in store, most potheads would think twice before reaching for a joint. But there isn't the determination to do this because police and other authorities (not only in Poland) are probably on the take.

Language / Birthday wishes / jokes in Polish? [9]

squirtle
Dunno if introducing the mortality motif is apporpairte for a 90+-year-old, but here goes anyway: You be the judge:
Zdrowia, szczęścia, forsy, chelba - a po śmierci myk do nieba!

Food / BABKA: Bread or Cake? [9]

Language (translation) and gerography come into play. On the one hand babka is sometimes translated (mistranslated?) into English as egg bread. But Anglos overuse the word bread --- things such as what they call nut bread,date bread, etc. would be called keks (fruit cake) or ciasto orzechowe, and toast bread goes by the name of pieczywo tostowe. So much for language.

I have heard that in old SE Poland (now Ukrainian-occupied territory) at Easter ham was eaten with babka so it played the role of a bread without being called that. In general Poles don't feel the need to label babka as a bread or a cake -- it's just babka, pure and simple.

Life / Why is Prostitution still legal in Poland? [106]

The Swedes got it right by not harassing the poor girls but arresting their johns. Posting their pictrues on websites might also work. If there'+s nothign wrong with prostitution then why should they be ashamed?! Demand end would also curb drug abuse. Go after the small-time pot smoker and scare them shitless and the dealers will soon go out of business.

Language / Birthday wishes / jokes in Polish? [9]

Can't think of any birthday jokes in Polish suitable for a Polish granddad in his 90s, so just a more straightforward greeting:

Kochany Dzadunio -- wszystkiego najlepszego z okzaji urodzin, dużo radości, dobrego zdrowia, pogody ducha, pociechy z dzieci, wnuków i prawnuków oraz obfitych łask Bożych życzy Ci Twój kochający wnuk..... (and your name).

I presume someone in his 90 must have grandchildren and great-grandchidren.

Food / Borscht - Zurek / Bialy barszcz recipe [153]

Merged: biały barszcz and żurek?

Is there any substantive difference between these two Easter soups in terms of ingredients, preparation, seasoning, additives?
Someone told me that barszcz is zabeielany (creamed) whilst żurek is not .and that marjoram is not added to barszcz.

Genealogy / DUTCHEVICI - HISTORY OF THE NAME [8]

No-one's got a monopoly on being right. With surnames most anything is possible. Maybe someone was called dudek by people in outlying areas because he hailed from the village of Dudki (there are several such plales in Poland). When he sired a son -- presto -- instant Dudkiewicz! Since the 'd' in this poiston is devoiced, someone wrote down Dutkiewicz and it stuck. Many other scenarios are possible.

Genealogy / DUTCHEVICI - HISTORY OF THE NAME [8]

Names emerged centuries ago, so the only important thing is the meaning of their root-word at the time of emergence, not at present or even 50 years ago. However, it is impossible to establish whether perhaps in this particular case someone got niccamed dudek (after the bird) because he was a strojniś (fop, somene attaching excessive importance to appearance).

Law / Retirement laws in Poland [11]

Polish chivalry. Women are still addressed first (Sz. Państwo Maria i Edward Szypulscy) , served first by hosts and waiters, have doors opened for them and walk on the rgiht.

Love / SINGLE SUCCESSFUL POLISH DOCTOR IN NY SEEKING ADVICE [28]

Attend Sunday Mass at one of the Polish churches in Greenpoint. You may touch base with something better than the run-of-the-mill pub, club and disco pick-ups.

Law / Retirement laws in Poland [11]

[Moved from]: Poles to work till 67?

How do you assess Tusks' pension reform requiring people to work till 67? What is retirement age in your country?

Language / How similar are Polish and Romanian languages? [75]

Just out of curitoisty, would Romanian be the most difficult Romance language for a Pole or English speaker to learn? I understand it still has inflected noun and adjective endings like Latin -- something other Romance tongues have long since abandoned.

Life / Do trailer park people exist in Poland? [18]

I don't think there are any trailer parks in Poland in teh MAerican sense of the term. Caravans are an upscale possession in Poland for the better-to-do.

Language / How similar are Polish and Romanian languages? [75]

Many dzięks. Nice explanation!

Language / How similar are Polish and Romanian languages? [75]

Maybe some Paddy can explain why the Israelis succeeded where the Irish failed to turn Gaelic into a living, main language. Lack of determination, national pride or what?

News / Capitalism unravelling in Poland? [7]

Not a single secret sect by a given elite or power structure during given time periods...all following what we noiw know as divida et impera. In today's Poland, we can talkk about the pro and cons of Tusk's pension reform, Father Rydzyk, Palikot, homosexual marriages, abortions, etc., etc., but maybe its all only a clever ploy to stir people up and distract them away from what the movers and shakers are really doing to stay in control. Critics of the Churhch often accuse it of trying to keep people ignorant to better control them in the middle ages, but so did the Soviet system with its censorship and the so-called West by drownign people in mounds of useless trivia and entertainment. Maybe the principle is the same, only the doer and his tools change from one era to the next.

News / Capitalism unravelling in Poland? [7]

Just something to consider..... feudalism in its developed form existed for over 1,000 years, capitalism a good two centuries, Marxist central planning only 70 years.... Some believe the entire West is on the way out -- its values, ideals, phobias, obsessions and lifestyles....

What might come next? Where might it come from?

Genealogy / Lublin - Looking for Klepacki - Klepadlo - Klepackzi - Blaschik - etc Ancestors [18]

KLEPACKI: root-word klepacz (smith, hammerer, tinker); possibly patronymic nick for the smith's son (compare English Smihson)

B£ASZCZYK: patronymic tag from Błażej (Blaise's boy).

Language / My family's original last name is roughly pronounced Yarrogojenski. Jargocinski/Jargosinski? Spelling guess. [13]

Interesting point! With surnames nothing can be arbitrarily ruled out and every hypothesis should be considered..

Language / My family's original last name is roughly pronounced Yarrogojenski. Jargocinski/Jargosinski? Spelling guess. [13]

JAROGODZIEŃSKI ** DYCZKOWSKI ** ŚCIS£OWSKI ** DYCZKOWSKI

JAROGODZIEŃSKI(?) : Back-tracking froim yoru phonetic version would produce something like this. Unfortumately, such surname could be found. Could it have been Jarogniewicki? That is a topo nick from the locality of Jarogniewice. If you are basing your phoentic version on a handwritten document, maybe some of the letters got misread,

ZWOLIŃSKI: topop nick from Zwola or Zwoleń

ŚCIS£OWSKI: topo nick from Ścisłów or Ścisłowo.

DYCZKOWSKI: topo nick from Dyczków.

News / Drunken Brit beats up young Polish policewoman [62]

In recent years most visiting Brits (aka lager louts) in places such as Kraków and Wrocław seem to have gone out of their way to dispel the once prevailing stereotype in Poland of the prim and proper Englihsman in a suit, tie and bowler hat driking his 5 o'clock tea tea and munching scones.

Food / Cooking Polish kiszka [99]

If something is fully cooked, then it cannot be raw. It may be warm or cold but not raw!