3 Oct /16

Polish Facts and Trivia

Polish facts pierogi
Polish Facts and Trivia – EVS Translations

The name Poland originated in the 8th century and comes from a West Slavic tribe located in the Warta River basin: this tribe was called the Polanie, meaning “people who live in open fields.” And while most know the country as Poland, some regional languages, such as Hungarian and Lithuanian, also refer to Poland/the Poles as Lechites, a reference to the legendary ruler of the West Slavic Polanie, Lech I.

Though he died before Columbus set sail for America, the Polish King Kazimierz Jagiellończyk, is still widely regarded as the “Father of Europe.” Looking at his offspring, it is difficult to argue: 1 son became a cardinal, 4 became kings, 1 was canonized, and most of his 7 daughters married into powerful European dynasties, such as the House of Wettin, the House of Wittelsbach, the House of Pomerania, and the House of Hohenzollern.

Poland has a close history with Space. Several hundred years before Mirosław Hermaszewski became the first Polish national in space (aboard the Soyuz 30 in 1978), Polish astronomer Jan Heweliusz had published an exact map of the moon (1647); moreover, a century before Heweliusz, Mikołaj Kopernik’s (better known as Copernicus) work, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, proved that the Sun, not the Earth, was the centre of our planetary system.

30% covered by forests, Poland also boasts the 380,000 acre Białowieża Primeval Forest, which, apart from being Europe’s last ancient forest, also hosts Europe’s heaviest land animal, the European bison.

Though World War 2 may be the most recent occurrence, Poland has long suffered the consequences of being the bridge between Western and Eastern Europe, having either been invaded or fighting for its freedom 43 times between 1600 and 1945, or approximately once every 8 years.

Speaking of the war, though Poland was invaded and occupied within the first month of World War 2, the country still produced 144 fighter pilots to the Allied effort, notably organised as RAF units 302 and 303, which, combined, shot down 12-14% of all German planes downed during the Battle of Britain.

While Poland may be culinary synonymous with pierogies, a Polish filled-doughnut, called a pączki, is also becoming widely known. Synonymous with the Lenten season, on Fat Thursday (before Ash Wednesday) alone, over 100 million pączki are consumed in Poland, with likely more consumed by the 20 million people of the Polish diaspora.

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