Author Archives: Melanie Grindle

Proverb – Polish

Nationality: Polish
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA (Current)
Performance Date: April 25, 2011
Primary Language: Polish
Language: English

W marcu jak w garncu.

“March’s weather is like a pot.”

The weather in March changes all the time; sometimes rains, sometimes the sun is out. It is like a pot—mixing the weather together; everywhere in Poland.

The informant is from Poland. She is currently attending university in Los Angeles, CA. She has been studying in the United States for the past four years.

The informant said she learned the phrase in school.

This is an example of a fixed phrase proverb that utilizes a simile. The simile that March’s weather is like a pot does not make sense out of context, but if the idea that inside a pot the mixture can always be changing is considered, the meaning is relatively easy to grasp.

Proverb – Polish

Nationality: Polish
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA (Current)
Performance Date: April 25, 2011
Primary Language: Polish
Language: English

“Kwiecien plecien”

“April’s weather changes all the time, similiarly to March.”

“It’s hard to translate it—the word is like very specific from old Polish.”

It applies to all of Poland. The informant learned it in school. She was referring to the fact that it is very similar to the other Polish proverb that “March’s weather is like a pot,” meaning that the weather is always changing.

The informant is from Poland. She is currently attending university in Los Angeles, CA. She has been studying in the United States for the past four years.

The knowledge of this proverb implies that the speaker is from Poland as he or she know the weather there.

It is very similar to the western proverb in “Proverbs, East & West,”: “Woman is as fickle as April weather” (Kim 174)

Kim, Yong-chol. Proverbs, East and West: an Anthology of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese Sayings with Western Equivalents. Elizabeth, N.J., U.S.A.: Hollym, 1991. Print.

Wedding Tradition – Bulgarian

Nationality: Bulgarian
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA (Current)
Performance Date: April 25, 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: Bulgarian

“On the weddings, the bride has a little pot. And they put it on the floor in front of her. And it has two flowers inside; one white and another one is red. White is for woman, red is for boy. And she should kick it and which flower should be ahead will be the first child.”

“I learned it through experiences going to weddings. And I think they are awesome; that traditions and this kind of things should be kept and go through generations.

The informant is from Bulgaria. She is currently attending university in Los Angeles, CA. She has been studying in the United States for the past two and a half years.

The time of a wedding is a liminal period that is highly ritualized. The activities in a wedding typically center around the uniting of the groom and bride– they must do many traditions together that symbolize they are now man and wife and others that attempt to divine what their future together will hold, such as the kicking of the pot to determine the gender of the first child.

Wedding Tradition – Polish

Nationality: Polish
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA (Current)
Performance Date: April 25, 2011
Primary Language: Polish
Language: English

Polish Wedding Tradition

“To welcome the couple for their wedding party they are welcomed with bread with salt. They usually break, like, a special bread. They are supposed dip the bread in salt and eat it—they make a funny expression. And then later they take champagne in two glasses—sometimes they are tied together. They drink the champagne. Once they finish they throw it behind them and it breaks for good luck. It’s a tradition—you have to break them [the champagne glasses] no matter what. If it doesn’t break, you have to do it again.”

“It’s a really old tradition—like really old. I think it’s cool because we keep this tradition—it doesn’t disappear. I’m not sure exactly why they do it. They just do.”

The informant is from Poland. She is currently attending university in Los Angeles, CA. She has been studying in the United States for the past four years.

The time of a wedding is a liminal period that as such is highly ritualized. The activities in a wedding typically center around the uniting of the groom and bride– they must do many traditions together that symbolize they are now man and wife.

Deborah Silverman’s “Polish-American Folklore” presents two separate reasons behind the tradition. One, which Silverman adds is the most common definition, is the couple’s parents greet them with salt and bread to ensure there will always be food on the table. Another definition however, stated that the salt represented the bitter parts of life and the bread the sweet; the portion of bread was to be larger than the portion of salt to protect the couple from life’s bitterness (64).

Silverman, Deborah Anders. Polish-American Folklore. Urbana: University of Illinois, 2000. Print.

Wedding Tradition – Bulgarian

Nationality: Bulgarian
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA (Current)
Performance Date: April 25, 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: Bulgarian

“There’s a special bread—a round bread. The groom and bride stand back-to-back and they have it on their heads and they break it. Whoever breaks the bigger piece is going to bring in the greater salary.”

“I learned it through experiences going to weddings. And I think they are awesome; that traditions and this kind of things should be kept and go through generations.

The informant is from Bulgaria. She is currently attending university in Los Angeles, CA. She has been studying in the United States for the past two and a half years.

The time of a wedding is a liminal period that is highly ritualized. The activities in a wedding typically center around the uniting of the groom and bride– they must do many traditions together that symbolize they are now man and wife and others that attempt to divine what their future together will hold.