About that rooster

Hi again.

Today we are going to have a brief talk about geography, and that funky colourful rooster up in our blog banner (if I say rainbow cock, will I get more hits? Let's try it.)

The rooster is a stylised vector image based on traditional folk art from the region of Łowicz (pronounced Whoa, vitch!).

Okay, says you, but what and where is Łowicz? Could be on the moon for all I know! Where's Poland, anyway?

There is actually a 16th century Faustian folk hero in Poland called Pan Twardowski who did ride
a magical rooster to the Moon. Legend says he is up there to this very day.  I'll talk about him at some point too.

I'm going to pretend you didn't ask that last question (seriously!) and move on to answer the first.

Today, Poland is divided into sixteen geographical regions which we call voivodships.

Say that word. Voivodships. Accent on the second syllable, please. Voiiiivodshipsss. Isn't it cool? It really just means 'provinces', but the term comes from wojewoda, or literally 'leader of the warriors'.

Oh, and it gets better. Each voivodeship consists of a number of poviats. Which in turn are made up of gminas.

Here's a pictorial demonstration, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Click to enlarge:

For now, all you need to pay attention to are the voivodships. As I write about all the Awesome Things that you can find in Poland, I will always include a map to show you exactly where they are. Just in case you'd like to come and see for yourselves.

Łowicz, for instance, lies in the Lodz voivodship (click here for google map!), and dates back at least as far as the 13th century. The themes of its folklore are among the most recognisable in the country and abroad, and still very much in use in the region, especially during events of importance. For the ultimate ethnographic delight, I recommend you show up in the little town exactly sixty days after Easter Sunday, and watch the Corpus Christi procession.

Adorable little Łowicz children!

Hundreds of people walk through town in handmade, traditional costumes,
carrying hand-embroidered religious banners. 

The prayer on the wine-red banner asks the Mother of God to bless fields,
orchards, and neighbours. The blue one asks for protection.

If that doesn't satisfy your hunger for folklore...well, you can always hit the marketplace afterwards and get your own handmade Łowicz Swag. Paper cut-outs, embroidered accessories, even whole costumes, if you can afford them.

So, in brief (very brief) that's the origin of the rooster in the logo. He's a stylised, yet distinctively Polish cousin of the koguciki (cockerels) that adorn so many of the colourful paper cut-outs of Łowicz.

Meta info:

Maps remixed from CC Wikimedia Commons files:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wojewodztwa.svg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:POLSKA_mapa_powiaty2.png
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:POLSKA_mapa_gminy.png

Moon image remixed from CC Wikimedia Commons files:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Full_Moon_as_Seen_From_Denmark.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Earth_seen_from_Apollo_17.jpg

Łowicz photos from my Flickr set:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cefeida/sets/72157624073570837/