Travel / Gdansk Easter - open on Sunday / Monday? [9]


I agree, it's a family holiday so people spend time at home with families and yes it is a good thing, that's how it should be.

Food / Recipe for babka? [5]

Can? that's first mistake, buy them loose and grind at least 3 times, it will take a long time all together 3 days and then it will be soft. also, keep wrapped up in paper like wraps that way it willl stasy fresh for long, I'm not a cook but that is how much I remember of the preparation; last time I saw it prepared was some 6 years ago.

Life / A detailed description of the Easter tradition in Poland [41]

Merged: What happened to the Easter tradition of wydmuszki?

Wydmuszka is part of Polish Easter tradition of sucking the yolk out of the raw egg, then drying it and then painting some decorations on it. I will make one or two tonight, I will make a hole at the top of the egg (on either of the pointy ends) and I will such the yolk either with my mouth or with the straw if the straw fits. I will then either rinse it a bit or will place the whole egg in a basin filled with warm detergent water to get the rest of yolk out as well as the smell. Then I will leave it to dry and someone else will paint it for me - I am not an artist - or I will scribble some decoration on it to my ability and that will be it - we will have wydmuszka!

I see less and less wydmuszkas in the shops, it the church baskets (swieconka) and I assume people don't make them themselves as much anymore as I do not hear much about them. Instead what I see more and more of are chocolate eggs. This is a great Polish tradition, I hope it doesn't die out it dates back to pre-Christian times, to the Slavic pagan era, a great period.

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


Zurek, for the past few years it's been zurek for me. I don't remember the last I had bialy barszcz. I agree about the Knorr and Winiary soups but there are the better ones and the worse ones. I usually buy the ones in the 2 litre box and they taste fine I don't even look for the brand or anything else. However, I miss the home cooked ones. I don't remember ever eating zurek home made but barszcz for sure, the best zurek I ate was at a small restaurant, not evemn a restaurant more like bacowka, it was a country zurek and was the best.

Genealogy / Last name - Murzyn [33]


The word "murzyn" denotes black person, correct, but it is not a derogatory terms by any means in Polish or when used in Poland. It is used mainly to point out a black person of, as someone here already explained, Negroid type. It is a more specific term than another commonly used phrase - "czarny" - which simply means black colour. Derogatory term would "czarnuch". From what I noticed "murzyn" is used almost as often in Poland as the term "black" in Western countries applied in the same contexts, only it is more specific a term.