The legend of king Krak and the Dragon of Wawel Hill

Why is Cracow called Cracow?

Panorama of Cracow from the Nuremberg Chronicles (1493)

The latin name is Cracovia, but in Polish, we call it Kraków, which means 'City of Krak'. I pause here to let you have a giggle at how that sounds… now here's the story.

Krak, or Krakus (Grakhus in the earliest chronicles), was a prince from the 7th century, a tribal leader whose people settled in the area some six thousand years ago. Late 13th century accounts speak of a terrible dragon living in a cavern under Wawel hill.  (the word 'wawel' is said to derive from 'wąwel', meaning 'a rise in the marshes') As is in a dragon's habit, the beast demanded to be fed cattle every week, and would devour people if he was unsatisfied.

In the 13th century work Chronica Polonorum, historian Wincenty Kadłubek wrote that was Krak himself who slew the dragon and built his castle on top of the rock. The 15th century chronicler Jan Długosz attributed the deed to Krak's sons. In the 16th century, poet Marcin Bielski introduced a young tailor called Skuba or Dratewka into the legend.

That is the story I was told as a young child, and it goes something like this:

In the royal city of Kraków, King Krak lived in a castle on top of Wawel Hill. His city was built by the river, on fertile lands, and would have been rich and prosperous if not for the fierce dragon which lived in a cavern below the castle. The dragon would roam the countryside, stealing sheep, cattle, and people, and he delighted in the taste of virgin flesh.

The beast devoured virgin after virgin, until only the king's own daughter, Wanda, was left. It was then that King Krak declared that the brave hero who would slay the dragon would receive half the kingdom and his daughter's hand in marriage.

Knight after knight tried to kill the dragon; all were devoured. One day, a poor young cobbler's apprentice by the name of Dratewka announced that he would try his luck. The boy was no warrior; he had no armour, no  sword. What he did have, however, was his wits.

Dratewka knew he could not destroy the dragon by force, so he tried cunning instead. He took a sheepskin and stuffed it with sulfur, then sewed it back together and left it at the mouth of the cave. As expected, the dragon swallowed the stuffed animal whole. Soon, a dreadful ache started up in its belly. The suffering dragon crept down to the river, and began to drink...and drink...and drink...

...until it had drunk half the river, and burst into a million pieces.

An illustration of the legend from German cartographer Sebastian Munster's
1544 Cosmographia Universalis

It is sometimes said that the name 'Kraków' was derived from the cawing of ravens (in Polish: krakanie kruków) which flocked to eat the remains of the dragons.


So, did the dragon really exist? Well…

The cave under the castle hill is quite real. You can visit it in the warmer months, climbing down a long spiral staircase in a narrow turret. The turret was once a well, drawing water from the flooded caverns.

In the 16th and 17th century, part of the cave was used as a storage room and banquet hall for a tavern and public house built by the river. In 1843, the space was opened up for sightseeing.

Though the cave is no longer home to a dragon, another rare species can be found in its depths: a troglobitic crustacean called Niphargus tatrensis, seen only in underground karst reservoirs. It was discovered in 1887 by Polish biologist August Wrześniowski, and named after the Tatra mountains in which it was found.

After you have passed through all three limestone chambers, you will emerge at the foot of the hill, by the river, where, since 1972 a large statue of the dragon stands guard. Every five minutes or so, the dragon spits fire!

Nearby, the outer walls of the castle bear a plaque which states:

Krakus, Prince of Poland

Ruled between the years 730-750

(Peters, Royal Registers 2nd fascicle page 40)

This is the site of the cavern 

in which having slewn a wild dragon

then settling on the Wawel he founded the city of

Kraków

When you enter the Cathedral on Wawel Hill, you should look up at the arch. Three large bones hang over the doorway, suspended on chains. For centuries, these were believed to be the remains of the dragon.

In reality, they belong to a mammoth, a rhinoceros, and a whale.




That should put the silly legend to rest, shouldn't it?

Not quite. In 2007, the jawbone of an unspecified dinosaur was discovered near the village of Lisowice in the South-West of Poland. Dating back to the late Triassic, it was classified as a rather large, predatory Archosaur, and given the species name of wawelski in the genus Smok. A.k.a: the Dragon of Wawel!

And in 1965, author Stanisław Pagaczewski wrote a hilarious series of books for children called "The abduction of Balthasar Sponge" , depicting an alternative reality in which medieval Cracow blends seamlessly with  then modern-day Poland. King Krak is now friends with the sophisticated Dragon, and regularly goes down to visit the cave and play chess or discuss the most recent football match between the two local teams- Wisła and Cracovia. When famous professor Balthasar Sponge is kidnapped, the Dragon and his friends set out to retrieve him... The books featured dramatic adventures, international spies, mythical creatures, and ingenious inventions.

The work was later turned into a very popular and equally amusing animated series:

So...is the dragon real?

You'll have to go to Cracow and find out for yourself.

Meta information:

Location of the Wawel Castle on google maps:

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Zamek+++Wawel,+Krak%C3%B3w,+Polska&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=50.053949,19.935438&spn=0.002807,0.008256&sll=50.053956,19.935985&sspn=0.002807,0.008256&oq=zamek+&hnear=Zamek+Wawel,+Krak%C3%B3w,+ma%C5%82opolskie,+Poland&t=m&z=18

Official Website for Wawel Castle:

http://www.wawel.krakow.pl/en/

Article on the discovery of the Smok Wawelski fossils:

http://www.academia.pan.pl/pdfen/system_en_34-35_sulej.pdf

Cosmographia Universalis print on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:M%C3%BCnster_wawelski.jpg

Nuremberg Chronicle print on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nuremberg_chronicles_-_CRACOVIA.png

Deep Underground: The Wieliczka Salt Mine

Where does salt come from?

Legend says that when the Hungarian princess Kinga, daughter of Bela the IVth, was married to Bolesław the Chaste, Duke of Polish towns Cracow and Sandomierz, instead of gold or silver, she brought salt as her dowry.

She did not have it brought in barrels or ox-drawn carts, however. In her homeland, she threw her engagement ring down one of the shafts of a salt mine. As she rode back to Poland to meet her new husband, she ordered the party to stop near Cracow.

"Dig here," she commanded. Can you guess what was found in the excavation?

Salt rock, and Kinga's engagement ring, glittering within the savoury crystal.

A salt carving depicting the legendary finding of the ring.

This is the legend of the great Wieliczka Salt Mine, which, indeed, dates back to the the 13th century, and the reign of Bolesław the Chaste and princess Kinga. To fully appreciate the significance of the story, one has to understand that in the middle ages, salt was an incredibly valuable mineral. We think nothing of it today, but it used to be the privilege of kings. You could buy whole townships with the proper amount of the stuff! By the 14th century, the gains from the salt sources around Cracow formed one third of the whole country's income.

Excavation of rock salt may have begun in the 13th century, but the site of Wieliczka had been giving up salt since the Middle Neolithic period (3500- 2500 B.C.) And the source itself is fifteen million years old! Water sources in the area were not potable, flowing with a salty brine, but when evaporated, they left behind the tasty mineral. This was known to the local peoples well over five thousand years ago.

The briny springs were a good enough source until the middle of the 13th century, when men had to delve deeper, and began to build the first shafts. When you visit the town of Wieliczka, you will see many signposts marking the sites of historical shafts, long ago exhausted and filled up.

But the larger part of the mine remains active and open to the public. And it is a stunning place to visit.

The Daniłowicz Shaft, one of many in Wieliczka. This is how you enter and exit the museum.

The tour begins with a walk down exactly 380 wooden steps. This is what you see if you look over the railing.

First, it's huge. At present, the combined length of the underground corridors is over 300 km. There are  almost two and a half thousand excavated chambers (!!), spread out on three levels, the deepest lying 327 metres below the surface of the earth.

Second, it's the only mine in the entire world which has been continuously active since the Middle Ages.


All right, you might say. It's still just a mine. A dark hole in the ground. What's there to see?


Oh, I don't know...how about the huge chapel of St. Kinga, at 101 metres below the surface, carved entirely out of salt?

You see, once a large lode of salt is found underground, it can only be mined to a point before becoming unsafe. The miners would scrape out the centre of the salt block, leaving a hollow cavern and then moving on down the next corridor. And because mining was hard and risky work, the presence of God was very much welcome down below.

To this day, the customary greeting in the mine is 'Szczęść Boże': God bless. This is what you say when the lift starts going down. This is what you say whenever you meet someone on your way through the underground maze. It's a ritual, a sacred and unbroken custom, dating back to a time when the mine was a much darker and dangerous place.

Chamber after chamber was created by excavation, and over the years, miners would carve out sacred figures, crosses, and chapels in the salt rock, hoping for celestial protection.

The chapel of St. John, built in 1859. In 2009 it was moved from the first level to the third,
and is now a part of the tourist route.

St. Kinga's chapel is one such work of piety, the deed of miners and self-taught sculptors from the late 19th and early 20th century. They were the brothers Józef and Tomasz Markowski, and Antoni Wyrodek. Today, Mass is still celebrated in the chapel on special occasions.

You can even rent it out for a magical underground wedding, and have the reception catered in one of the salt ballrooms.

Yes, that chandelier is made of salt. All of them are. Every single little crystal.

And those are only some of the stops on the three hour tour. Other chambers hold exhibits showing how men worked to extract salt over the years of the mine's existence. You will see an authentic horse-powered mill from the 18th century, a chamber burned out by an explosion, and amazing feats of underground architecture.

 For instance, the Michałowice Chamber:

This huge, 35-metre-deep cavern is filled with a complex wooden scaffolding, erected in the 19th century with no help from any machinery, piece by piece as the vertical lode was excavated. This deposit was so huge, it was exploited for almost a hundred years!

Salt covers the walls of the mine corridors. The floor tiles are also carved out of salt, by the way.

What other mysteries does Wieliczka hold?


If you're very lucky, you might meet Skarbnik, the legendary spirit of the mine. 'Skarbnik' means 'Treasure Keeper', and salt, of course, is the treasure in question. Skarbnik is a good spirit, but he always comes bearing a warning. If he should appear, that means there is dangerous gas, or a cave-in up ahead.  Turn back!

The Weimar chamber, named after the prince of Weimar who visited it in 1790 in the company of Goethe.

Besides legends, there are many, many true stories that Wieliczka keeps in her memory. An often overlooked, yet important symbol is a Star of David carved deep into the face of the Staszic Chamber. Why is it there?

In 1944, the Nazis decided to use the chambers of Wieliczka as a war factory. In the Staszic Chamber, they set up an assembly line for aircraft machinery. The forced labourers, as you can probably guess, were Polish Jews.

In secret, they carved out the Star of David, a symbol of their people and religion, not only as a spiritual mark, but as a proof of their imprisonment and slavery. They wanted to make certain that whatever happened, in the future people would know they had been held there.

Another interesting tale will lead you to the Piłsudski Chamber, where a 19th century statue of St. John of Nepomuk stands guard by a disused ferry. This was once part of the Austrian tourist route, until 1915 when it was witness to a rather gruesome accident. Several Prussian soldiers tipped over the ferry, and fell into the brine.

Now, as you probably know, bodies of water with a high density of salt are practically impossible to drown in. The salt keeps you afloat, pushing you up and out of the water.

And yet, the soldiers died. They could not drown, but the raft tipped over and trapped them underneath it. They could neither lift it, nor dive into the salty water to swim out. They suffocated under the overturned ferry.

Hmm, all that salt in the air...is that healthy?

Yes, yes it is!

The mine actually has an underground spa, where people come to cure respiratory ailments and allergies. They have been doing so since the 19th century. The microclimate in the mine is very special- bacteriologically pure, allergen-free, rich in microelements such as sodium chloride, magnesium and calcium.

Good breathing!

The Wessel underground lake. Therapy sessions take place alongside it.

These stables, built in 1913, have been converted to a dormitory for the spa patients.

Patients ride down to the third level of the mine, 135 metres underground, and spend the day beside a brine lake. There is a library, a gym, a brine fountain; patients participate in breathing exercises, musical  therapy (underground sing-alongs!) and other activities, all under medical supervision.

Light physical exercise at 135 metres under the surface of the Earth.

Wow! But that's got to be all, right? That's all we can see?


Nope. 


If you book a couple weeks in advance,  you can also take a special tour which will take you off the regular tourist path, and deep into the abandoned parts of the mine.

You get to wear a stylish hat.

You will ride down with the miners, in a hard hat and with a flashlight as your only source of light.  The corridors are much grungier here than on the tourist route, with beautiful salt crystals forming everywhere. There are lost chambers, forgotten monuments, deep, salt-covered mineshafts that seem to have no bottom. Geology enthusiasts will be delighted as the structure of the mineral deposit is revealed to them. History buffs will find traces of Austrian and German invasions where corridors were named and renamed again according to whichever force held the mine.

On this Austrian sign, you can see ink graffiti from 1898(sic!),  disputing the renaming of the corridor
after a foreign nobleman, when it was originally named after general Tadeusz Kościuszko.

And those among you who simply want to feel the thrill of adventure will love the mysterious corridors, the narrow spaces, the sudden drops, the old wooden ladders and unbelievable darkness of the mine.

A few extra facts about the mine:

-The Wieliczka trademark is the first in Poland, and one of the oldest in the world. Very early on in the mine's history, special white, so-called 'royal' salt transports meant only for royal consumption were stamped with the mark.

-The mining of salt in Wieliczka ended in 1996, but conservation works yield rock salt that is used to manufacture memorabilia, and the mineral is still drawn from the brine water. You can buy Wieliczka salt for your table in any Polish supermarket. :) Just look for the trademark!

-There are no bugs or vermin in the mines- they couldn't survive! Any insects which get carried in on people's clothing quickly dry up in the salt-rich atmosphere. However, rats and mice did once live in the mines, back when its permanent residents were...

-Horses. Horses were kept in the underground stables and used to pull large loads and set heavy machinery in motion. The last horse, a mare called Basia (short for Barbara- st. Barbara being the patron saint of all miners) was removed from the mine in 2002, at sixteen, in good health. She is living out her retirement in a quiet pasture.

-Tourism is not a modern attraction in the mine. In the years 1772- 1918, when this part of Poland was under Austrian rule, visitors were first admitted underground.

-A new form of the behind the scenes tour called The Miner's Route will be opening this July. It involves lots of activities which will teach visitors about the realities of working in a salt mine. Personally, I can't wait!

-All tours are available in English and many other languages. You won't miss a thing.

-You'll have to find out the rest for yourself. Come visit! And if you do, let me know. I might just come with you. :)


I would like to thank the staff of Wieliczka, from the offices dealing with my requests to the miners, tour guides, geologists, therapists, cooks, everyone who was so kind and helpful during my visits. The Salt Mine is one of my favourite places in Poland, not just because it's a spectacular sight, but because of how unwaveringly friendly its people are.

Dziękuję!


Meta info:


Wieliczka official website: 


http://www.kopalnia.pl/

May Days and the famous Constitution of 1791

"Welcome, May, beautiful May,
 Poland is paradise today..."

So say the words of the May 3rd Mazurka. The lyrics do not refer to the chance of a nine-day weekend (see footnotes), but to the introduction of our first Constitution.

In Poland, May begins with a series of important holidays. May 1st is International Worker's Day, obviously very popular in our socialist years, and still an official day off. On May 2nd, we have Flag Day, when all flags should be up, if they weren't for May 1st  already. And on May 3rd, Constitution day. Displays of patriotism which are practically obligatory today were forbidden under socialist rule. Your flag had to be out on May 1st, or you would suffer repercussions, but if you dared to leave it up until May 3rd, you'd find yourself in much bigger trouble…

So, what was this Constitution, why did it bother Russia so much, and why is it still so important?

Manuscript of the Constitution

Let's go back a few centuries. Since 1385, Poland had been a sprawling empire often referred to as the Republic of Two Nations:  The Crown and Lithuania.  As the name itself suggests, it was a federal union between the two countries, precipitated among other things by a desire to strengthen the nations against the usual suspect: Russia.

The idea wasn't bad, but almost four hundred years later, the union was not faring so well. In 1772, the edges of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were sliced away and divided between Russia, Prussia, and Austria. That was the first partition.

Partitions were a direct result of the country being weak and unable to perform the reforms necessary to strengthen its military position. Why was this so? Well, the Polish nobility have a history of being a stubborn band of anarchists, and the great number of privileges they enjoyed under the Commonwealth made ruling the country in a unified manner troublesome. Nobles had immunity. Nobles could not be taxed. Nobles could not be controlled. Nobles came and went as they pleased, attending meetings of the Sejm (the Polish version of Parliament) with the pleasant certainty that they had more executive power than the monarchy. The law even allowed them the right to rebel against the king if he should violate any of their privileges!


But worst of all was the deputy right of liberum veto, which allowed any noble in the Sejm to end the current session and nullify all legislations passed. All he had to do was shout out: "Nie pozwalam!" (I do not allow this!)

The veto was not entirely a bad thing; in fact, in origin, it had served to curb the powers of the (elective!) monarch and keep noble landowners in control of the country. It was also a crucial tool in the upholding of religious tolerance, a weighty matter in a place as diverse as the Commonwealth, and especially important in contrast with the rest of Europe, where the faith of each country depended on the faith of its monarch. But the Republic could not function properly with every decision at the mercy of whim and veto. With the magnates enjoying their so-called Golden Age of Privileges, reform was all but impossible.

Szlachta- Polish nobility in the 2009 Constitution Day Parade in Warsaw.

So, imagine you are radical political thinkers nobleman Ignacy Potocki and priest Hugo Kołłątaj, and you are sick of seeing your country fall prey to its neighbours while the magnates bicker among themselves. Imagine you have sat down and prepared a lovely new Constitution which decreases the privileges of the nobility and abolishes the liberum veto. How do you possibly get it legislated?

You get crafty and call a Confederate Sejm- a special kind of parliament meeting during which the liberum veto is prohibited and majority vote rules. And you call this meeting in secret, right after Easter, knowing a great number of the deputees most likely to oppose you haven't returned to the capital from their holidays yet.

Snap. May 3rd, 1791, the first codified Constitution in Europe (second in the world after the US) was declared in Poland.


So, what did the Constitution change?

• It reformed the government, dividing it into legislative, executive and judiciary branches (after Montesquieu's model). It also decreed that ministers could be tried and judged.

• It improved the rights of the peasants and decreased the privileges of the nobility, doing away with the liberum veto. The Sejm and Senate would now pass legislations by simple majority vote. The voting rights of landless nobles were also taken away, thus making it impossible for wealthier magnates to purchase their votes.

• It made the peasants and townspeople political equals, and placed peasants who had previously been completely at the whim of their noble masters under the protection of the government. It also declared that refugees and new settlers would not be bound to any landlords.

• It gave the citizens of royal cities the right to hold posts previously reserved for nobility, such as public offices and military commissions and even seats in the Sejm. It also guaranteed them the right not to be arrested without warrant. These rights could be extended to citizens of private towns.

• It abolished free elections; the throne was now hereditary, with elections occurring only at the end of a dynasty. This was an attempt to decrease foreign influence on the choice of rulers (it was  starting to get silly). The instution of pacta conventa - a document each monarch had to sign to pledge his respect for the laws of the Commonwealth- was also preserved. 

• It established Catholicism as the national faith, but preserved the earlier freedom of religion. 

• It transformed the union between Poland and Lithuania into a unitary state called the Republic of Poland, which meant the armies and treasuries would no longer refer to two separate authorities. The Lithuanian deputies were concerned for their rights, many protesting the decision. To appease them, it was decided that Lithuanian deputies would hold a guaranteed proportional number of seats in the new government.

Detail from Jan Matejko's 1891 painting depicting the Crown Marshall of the Sejm being
carried out of the Royal Castle with the Constitution in his hand. At the left are Hugo Kołłątaj
and Ignacy Potocki, who helped shape the document. On the ground, deputy Jan Suchorzewski,
an opponent of the Constitution, threatens to kill his own six-year-old son if the document
is ratified. The painting may be full of symbolism, but, yes, this actually happened.

Unfortunately, the Constitution was short-lived. Fourteen months was all it took for the pot to boil over; not only was there a strong opposition within the country, but our neighbours did not take too kindly to our liberal reforms, either. Why would they? They liked Poland weak and chaotic, and thought of it as of a sort of land reserve with which to replenish their losses on other fronts. Catherine the Great found the idea of free peasants especially appalling- she feared a massive exodus from Russia.

So, in 1792, Russia attacked. Unable to push back, King Stanisław Poniatowski thought to stop the conflict by surrendering and agreeing to hand the reform over to a conservative confederacy mounted under the protection of...none other than Catherine the Great. (and just as a side note, the whole reason he was king in the first place was because Catherine, his former lover, supported his candidacy and staged a coup to get him the throne. The tsarina giveth, the tsarina taketh away...)

The results were disastrous. The Constitution was torn apart, almost all of its reforms scrapped, and many supporters forced into exile. Worst of all, Poland was once again forced under foreign heel and partitioned for a second time, losing over 100,000 square miles of territory to Russia and Prussia. Even the conspiring confederates hadn't predicted this one! The additional documents the creators of the constitution were working on- namely, a 'moral and economical constitution' which was to address the civil rights of all citizens, including the most overlooked peasants and Jews, were never completed.

Though the original Constitution was not a success (even its co-authors ominously called it "the last will and testament of the expiring Country"), May 3rd is now an extremely important national holiday in Poland, celebrated since 1918.

Riders in historical uhlan uniforms on parade for Constitution Day, 2009

Not unusually, we applaud the Constitution for what it stands for rather than what it actually achieved. In most of its decrees it was a revolutionary and progressive attempt at reform and strengthening our position on the map, and the way it was subsequently taken away from us by foreign forces makes it into a powerful symbol of the fight for independence.


Meta information:


Wikipedia entry on the Constitution of May 3rd:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_May_3,_1791


Wikipedia entry on the Second Partition of Poland:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Partition_of_Poland


Photo of the manuscript taken from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Manuscript_of_the_Constitution_of_the_3rd_May_1791.PNG


A detailed analysis of Matejko's painting:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_May_3,_1791_(painting)


About the nine day weekend:
Since May 1st and May 3rd are official national holidays, if May 1st falls on a Tuesday, all you need to do is convince your employer to give you Wednesday and Friday off in order to bag a nine day weekend. Yes, people do take advantage of this.

The legend of Besiekiery Castle

Castles. There are a lot of them in Poland, some ruined, some perfectly preserved, and all interesting. At times, we will travel the country and stop in a seemingly insignificant village- there to find ruins or foundations which reveal that the tiny settlement was once home to a great lord, or even a king.

I am rather fond of castles, so you will be hearing more about them soon. Today, I want to tell you about my favourite one.

The castle ruins of Besiekiery

The castle ruins in Besiekiery are not a very well known attraction, overshadowed by the nearby king's town and castle of Łęczyca. Their popularity is further diminished by their location in a very small village with no other tourist attractions. A few houses, a small school; Besiekiery is tiny, but it dates back to the 13th century.

Here's where it gets interesting. The name suggests that its original settlers were Scandinavian- viking mercenaries in the service of our first dynasty of kings, the Piasts. 'Besiekr' is a nordic word meaning 'man wearing a bear skin', and king Mieszko I did indeed purchase the services of a number of Scandinavian mercenaries. Not unusual, considering the strong hypothesis that his daughter married Swedish King Eric the Victorious, and later Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard. The princess eventually ended up in Norse mythology as Sigrid Storrada.

Such is the most probable history of Besiekiery; archaelogical findings of scandinavian remains in Poland support the theory. But in Polish, 'siekiera' means axe, and so there is also a legend about the devil Boruta (who also dipped his claws in the history of the nearby Royal Castle in Łęczyca) striking a deal with a local noble. Diabolical tricks are a common theme in Polish folklore, and such stories usually feature one of the lesser minions of Hell being outwitted and humiliated by the clever landsmen.

Look closely, at the top. That's a stork's nest.

Not so in this case. Boruta is an eminent character in the region's legends, appearing way back in slavic paganism as a forest and swamp demon. His name is an old Polish term for 'pine tree'. He would not be so easy to outsmart!

In the Besiekiery legend, a noble knight made a bet with Boruta. Perhaps the devil had disguised himself, or perhaps the knight was just that foolish, but he bet the demon that he could build a whole castle without using a single axe. In polish: 'bez siekiery'!

Presumably, the knight was promised riches and immortality if he won; upon losing, he would have to surrender his soul. And he would have won…except the poor man didn't know that one of the labourers working on the construction of his castle was named 'Siekierka'. The castle was built, but the bet and the soul was lost, and the Devil Boruta still haunts the area on his days off from guarding the castle in Łęczyca.

But that's only a legend. The castle is neither demonic nor Norse in origin, being somewhat younger than the settlement. It was built around the year 1500 by a court official named Sokołowski, and used to have a large tower which held the main gate and a chapel, an open courtyard and a three storey house in the back. It was modified several times over the years, but has been abandoned since the mid-19th century.

Currently, the municipality is gathering funds to revitalise the ruins and make them a safe and welcoming tourist attraction. So far they've strengthened the remainders of the main house and rebuilt the moat. There's a little beach, but swimming isn't a good idea as there is a lot of duckweed and leeches. Yuck!

Oh, another interesting thing about this castle is that it's home to a pair of storks. They come every year to build their nests on top of the ruins. Storks are very popular in Poland, we consider them to be one of our national symbols.

The stork is a bird that brings luck, and it's very good to have one on your property- they say lightning will not strike where a stork has his nest. And because storks like high places, many landowners will set up a special post or build a platform on top of the barn roof, or in the branches of a dead tree, to encourage storks to make their nest there. No wonder they appreciate the ruins of Besiekiery!

Meta information:

Location of Besiekiery on Google Maps:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=besiekiery,+poland&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=52.151239,18.973475&spn=0.042921,0.131836&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=55.981213,135&hnear=Besiekiery,+%C5%81%C4%99czyca+County,+%C5%81%C3%B3d%C5%BA+Voivodeship,+Poland&t=h&z=14

A page with drawings of the castle's original layout and shape:

http://www.zamkipolskie.com/besiek/besiek.html

Information about scandinavian presence in Poland (in Polish):

http://www.norwegofil.pl/norwegia/historia/slowianscy-wikingowie-o-wiezach-slowiansko-nordyckich.html

The shipyard where it all began.

Gdańsk- always a special one among our cities, always with something loud, something different going on. While it always had a particularly interesting and rebellious history, the modern world recognises it first of all as the backdrop for the Solidarity movement's stand against the Soviet Union.

You could say it all started in the shipyards.

The Stocznia Gdańska- Gdańsk shipyard.

First came the illegal strikes in August 1970- illegal, because under communist law, neither strikes nor the forming of independent trade unions were allowed without government approval and the endorsement of the only political Party- the communist party.

So the government responded with open fire, killing dozens and wounding more than a thousand. The years that followed brough repression and arrests for union leaders and activists- among them, shipyard electrician Lech Wałęsa.

The gate to the famous Gdańsk Lenin Shipyard, with militia (police forces during martial law) parked
in front. Luckily, they're only actors! A film about Lech Wałęsa is being shot there right now.

But in 1980, the strike that ended communism in Poland began at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk. In a move that was notably symbolic, Wałęsa, who had been fired from the shipyard four years earlier for his criticism of the union laws, leapt back over the wall and joined the strike. He was quickly appointed its leader.

The wave swept across Poland, unstoppable. Eventually, even the government-approved and party-controlled unions joined in.

The first victory was achieved quickly: the communist government signed an agreement which granted workers the right to strike, and allowed the formation of independent trade unions.

This is how Solidarity was born- post-war Poland's first legal independent trade union and mass movement. With ten million members all across the country, it was a force the communist government had no choice but to reckon with. Even so, its steady fight for freedom lasted ten years.

There were hurdles along the way; compromises, negotiations, hard choices, controversies, invigilations, murders, prison sentences. During the 1981 martial law (which I wrote briefly about this december), Solidarity activists were arrested and detained en masse. In 1982, Solidarity was outlawed again, and had to move to the underground for four years. In 1983, Wałęsa received the Nobel Peace prize for his efforts to resolve the conflict without resorting to violence. He always strove first and foremost to negotiate with the communists- a path which some will say was not radical enough. He could not even leave the country to receive the Prize, fearing that he would not be allowed back across the border.

History will judge us, they say. But the fact is that thanks to Solidarity's work, today, I live in a free country. I can speak my mind without being detained. I can challenge the laws and government if I find them unjust. I can purchase whatever goods I wish without needing permission from the government; I can own property, posess foreign currency, and travel abroad without restrictions. I can vote in an election and know that my vote will be counted fairly.

These and many other freedoms were denied to my parents for the majority of their lives. I myself was born into a country which did not guarantee me basic human rights. I consider myself extremely lucky to have had those rights restored while I was still a child.

There is more to be said about Gdańsk- much more to be said about Wałęsa, who eventually became our first non-communist President, about the work of Solidarity, and Poland's struggle to sever its communist bond with the USSR. I don't dare to try and explain it all on this fluffy blog ;). But there are many books and films which you can turn to. As we speak, Oscar-winner Andrzej Wajda is filming a biopic about Wałęsa at the same Gdańsk Shipyard (my photo of the shoot at the beginning of this post). I expect it will be a good primer to the subject.

So, if you're in Gdańsk, take a stroll away from the picturesque medieval part of town. Go West, past the train station, to the three crosses memorial for the fallen shipyard workers, the looming cranes, and the famous Second Gate. History was made here.

Shipyard wall and cranes, as seen from Ulica Robotnicza- 'Worker's Street'

Meta Information

Wikipedia entry about the Gdańsk shipyard:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gda%C5%84sk_Shipyard

Wikipedia entry about Lech Wałęsa:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lech_Wa%C5%82%C4%99sa

Wikipedia entry about Solidarity:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solidarity_(Polish_trade_union)

Solidarity logo is copyrighted to Solidarity and used under the terms of fair use with the intent of identifying the organisation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Solidarity_(Polish_trade_union)_(logo).png

An Automaton Nativity Scene

After a hearty Christmas meal (or three days later, depending on how well your stomach handles the twelve obligatory courses) it's time to take a walk.  If you're in Warsaw, head to the Old Town, where, even on a snowless winter, everything looks magical and festive. As I already mentioned, one of the traditions is to visit the many churches in that historical part of town in order to see the various Nativity scenes.

But if you only visit one, it should be the automaton Nativity at the Capuchin Church on Miodowa Street.

The Nativity in its full glory. Upper right: the Holy Family, left: the Pope and Vatican. Far right: Old Town Warsaw.

The Capuchins are a jolly bunch, being part of the Order of Friars Minor- Franciscans, those most humble of monks. And quite creative, too. It was St. Francis who invented the creche, or nativity scene, and Capuchins all over the world follow well in his tradition every Christmas.

But the nativity on Miodowa street is quite special. In 1948, so very shortly after the War that left Warsaw in ruins, brothers Pius Janowski and Konrad Wyczawski began to build their famous mechanical Nativity. The baroque church itself was not yet fully rebuilt. Originally constructed in 1683 by King Jan III Sobieski expressly for the newly-introduced Capuchins, it had been burned not once but twice during that war, once in 1939, and once in 1944.

In fact, Old Town Warsaw as it is depicted in the Nativity stands rebuilt, proud and colourful, but at the forefront are ruins, with a soldier in the broken window, aiming his rifle, and in the street, the figure of a young scout insurgent, his helmet too large for his brow, holding a sealed message- or perhaps a grenade.

Although the mechanism, once set in motion by hand, now runs on electricity and has recently been fitted with low-energy LED lighting, all of the original characters and decor have been preserved. A sneaky look behind the scenes reveals a complicated system of tracks, wheels, pulleys and levers which make the horses prance and the musicians play.

Each character is double-sided, as it moves along a looped track that winds all through the set, and so must be presentable from all angles. A closer look dates the automatons well- the painted clothes are a memory of the fourties, the horse-drawn wagon a reminder of how, not so long ago, even a short journey could be as harsh as a pilgrimage.

But not far behind rides the founder of the church, King Jan Sobieski, followed by two winged hussars- the legendary romantic ideal of Polish cavalry.

Although my favourites were always the camels.

This Nativity has a definite patriotic theme, with a parade of characters important to Polish history peeking out from behind the buildings. They change and vary from year to year. Last Christmas, just  after we lost ninety six of our countrymen, including the Presidential Pair, in a plane crash, the monks placed a model of the destroyed airplane in the foreground.

The Nativity can be viewed every day from 10 am til 6 pm, from Christmas Day until February 2nd. Admission is free, but there is a collection box and gift shop. The proceeds go, of course, to the upkeep and renovation of the Nativity.

Below is a short video of the mechanism in motion. :)

Meta information:

Wikipedia entry on Capuchin church in Warsaw (Polish only)

http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ko%C5%9Bci%C3%B3%C5%82_Przemienienia_Pa%C5%84skiego_w_Warszawie

Wikipedia entry on the Order of Friars Minor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Friars_Minor_Capuchin

Polish Christmas Necessities

Is a Polish Christmas really all that different from an American or British one?

Well, yes. Yes it is. Mainly, Poles celebrate Christmas Eve more festively than Christmas Day.

Here are a few things worth knowing about Christmas in Poland.


The first star


Christmas Eve is a day of fasting. You're not supposed to eat anything until the big evening meal, which begins once the sun has set and the first star has appeared in the sky. This is a good way to keep kids busy as lookouts...

Especially in the city, one must look out for the star.  An illustration of mine for "The Star of Betlehem"

Christmas is also often referred to as 'Gwiazdka', or 'the little star'. This is a pretty name which everyone has adopted in good spirit, but its origins actually lie in the ploys of our socialist government of 1952-1989 to secularise the seasonal celebrations. The Polish term for 'Christmas' is 'Boże Narodzenie', quite literally, The Birth of God.


Opłatek

 Before the meal, the family gathers around to share opłatek. Opłatek (pronounced op-wah-tekk) named from the latin word 'oblatum' meaning 'offering'. It is just like communion wafer, except rectangular, embossed with Nativity imagery, has not been consecrated and thus is not sacramentally the body of Christ. It is typically made by nuns, and always blessed by a priest. Charities and churches distribute it in exchange for a donation.

It works like this: you take a piece of opłatek, then go around the room, hugging and kissing each guest in turn. He or she will take a small piece from your opłatek, and you must take a piece from theirs. Then, you exchange best wishes for this Christmas and the upcoming New Year.

Opłatek

Opłatek is an extremely important tradition in Polish culture, extending even beyond Christian households as a way of acknowledging each of our close ones individually, if only that for that one brief moment every year. If you don't have any handy, break some bread together, for as the saying goes, enemies will not sit down to a meal together. Therefore, anyone you share bread with is your friend.



The Christmas Eve table

There is a very particular set of rules regarding the setting of a Christmas table. Hay must be placed under or on the tablecloth, as a reminder of the manger that Jesus was born in.

Hay on the table, a baby Jesus figurine dating back to my childhood, and, of course, one extra place setting.

There must also be one extra place setting, no matter how crowded the dining room. This place setting is meant for the Weary Traveler, whomever he may be- whether a lost soul, a loved one who could not make it home that year, or Jesus himself. In theory, anyone who seeks shelter and company on that night should be invited to share the Christmas meal with the family. In practice...well, some people are more welcoming than others.



The animals

Twelve dishes take a long time to consume, so once the meal is over, there is a small window of time in which people usually sing carols and exchange gifts. Children have another reason to be excited- legend says that at midnight on Christmas Eve, animals speak in human languages. One should be cautious, though. Many is the story of the landlord who crept into the barn to listen to his horses and cattle speak, and overheard them talking about his own death. Though they are not mentioned in the Bible, common faith has it that the ox and the donkey were the first and last at Jesus's birth- they often know more than we do.

My parents' dog, Guinness, probably has a lot to say.

The Shepherd's Mass

But alas, few people hear the beasts speak, for midnight is the hour when Shepherds' Mass begins. Bellies full and mouths yawning, people flock to the churches to witness Christmas Eve turning to Christmas Day. It is during that mass that they will first see the nativity scenes unveiled, with the baby Jesus in place.

Each church must have a nativity scene, and while some parishes are content with the traditional figures...

 ...many go out of their way to create an original and sometimes philosophical setting for the baby Jesus' arrival.

The Word became Body, and lived among us- the baby Jesus lies cradled in an open book at the Artists' Church.

An unforgettable icon in Polish history, and symbol of the Church's involvment in the defeat of communism was a nativity scene where the baby Jesus was placed inside the trunk of a car. This was a reaction to the brutal murder of a Solidarity activist priest, Jerzy Popiełuszko. The Secret Service beat him to death, stuffed the body into a trunk and then dumped it in the Vistula river in October 1984. The film 'To Kill a Priest', starring Christopher Lambert, tells a fictionalised version of this story.

Photo used with kind permission of the author, Mark Carrot . The car used for the nativity was of the same make
and colour as the car in which Father Popiełuszko's body was transported.

I was only one year old when this happened, but for many years after that, crowds would gather at Popiełuszko's old church to light candles on the anniversary. My parents would take me with them, and I remember people crying.

After Midnight Mass, the family comes home. They may sleep in the next day, but Christmas Day, or as Poles like to call it, The First Day of Christmas, is usually celebrated by visiting relatives to sample leftovers from the previous night's feast. It is also the first time meat products may be eaten during the holiday, which many people look forward to. Those who did not attend Midnight Mass may spend Christmas Day strolling from church to church, taking part in Mass and visiting the nativities.



Caroling

Carols, in Polish tradition, are not sung before Christmas, but instead all through the month of January. Think about it- carolers are not the ones who announce that Jesus will be born, but those who are passing on the joyous news that he has arrived!

We differentiate, as in English, between Carol and Christmas Song. The first is 'Kolęda', pronounced koh-len-da, from the latin calendae which signifies the first day of the month- January, in this case, when carols were sung. The second is 'Pastorałka', pronounced pass-toh-rahw-kah, from the Polish word 'pasterz' meaning shepherd. So, shepherd's song.

A kolęda will strictly tell the religious story; a pastorałka contains secular elements, and will never be sung at church during service.

Here is one of the most beautiful Polish Carols, set to a polonaise tune and written in 1792. Its text is based on a juxtaposition of opposites, and often called the Great Oxymoron. The song's title is often translated as 'God is born', but the actual tense of the verb implies that God is being born. The miracle of the birth is supposedly occurring during the song.

God is born, the might trembles

The Lord of the Heavens lies naked

The fire stills, the light darkens

The infinite one has limits.

Disdained, covered in glory

Mortal everlasting King

And the Word became the Body

and lived among us.

Bolding mine to emphasise the paradoxical contrasts, which I included in this literal translation but which are often omitted from the lyrical English version. The performance is by the world famous folk dance and song ensemble, Mazowsze.

In many regions, carolers will dress up as an array of characters symbolising various aspects of daily life and the Christmas story- traditionally the group might contain shepherds, kings, King Herod, an Orthodox Jew, angels, Death, various animals, a goat-like monster called the Turoń, and of course, the Star of Betlehem, carried propped up on a stick and often spinning like a pinwheel. Nowadays, especially in cities, it's rare to see such carolers.

A group of carolers. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Fiberek.

So, it's the day before Christmas Eve.
I had planned to make a detailed tutorial on celebrating a Polish-style Christmas for you this year. Unfortunately I fell a little bit short! As it turned out, preparing such a celebration and documenting it at the same time is practically impossible.

We didn't cover all the recipes. We didn't talk about so many things that should have been mentioned!

That's okay. Christmas does come around every year, and I hope you'll join me for the next one. And don't forget, there are twelve days of holiday ahead of us.

Besides, today, I still need to write about how to finish your barszcz... you're probably really worried about it by now!




Meta Information


Photograph of the Popiełuszko nativity used with kind permission of the author, mr Mark Carrot. Thank you!
http://homepage.mac.com/zbigniew/
It can be seen here among other photographs of the mourning of father Jerzy Popiełuszko:
http://homepage.mac.com/zbigniew/past_present/popieluszko/farewell_jerzy.html
Photo of Carolers from Wikimedia Commons
http://pl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Plik:Kol%C4%99dnicy_2008.JPG&filetimestamp=20100112185645
Wikipedia entry on 'God is Born' carol
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%B3g_si%C4%99_rodzi
Wikipedia entry on opłatek
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_wafer