After reading several British online articles, it seems that the Eastern European wave of immigration to Great Britain is still one of the top subjects of the concerned British citizens. Because of the sheer numbers (800,000 or more), Poles are singled out as the one nationality that is overtaking the fragile British job market. In my previous post "Can Brits accept Poles living in Britain?", I had a chance to discuss the subject with the interested parties.
As a Polish immigrant living in the US for 19 years, I understand the pushback and worries of the native population when it comes to a rapid influx of a foreign culture. I probably shouldn't mention native population realizing the fate of the native American Indians. All my Polish friends traveled the same immigrant road so both sides have valid arguments.
Perhaps US is a bit different when it comes to treatment of the immigrants but the struggle of the new immigrants is very similar. Lack of English language skills, unknown environment, learning how things work, getting around bureaucracy, and homesickness are the roadblocks of every immigrant.
So why are the Brits are so afraid of the new immigrants?
They don't understand the culture and language. All the sz, rz, cz, dz sounds just don't make any sense.
They think that the immigrants steal their jobs. The BIG question is which jobs?
They want the immigrants to blend in and fully adopt the British culture. For the most part the tea time and cucumber sandwich.
They are afraid of the whole social warfare system collapse. I would deflect that worry toward the non-European refugees. Let's leave it at that.
They want the immigrants to pay their fair share of taxes. I suspect that most of them do already.
They can't deal with the increase of the crime. Statistics dear Watson!
Those are my 6 more important worries. Feel free to comment and add more below.
Why Brits should be grateful for the new Eastern European immigrants?
Kids of the immigrants will basically pay for your retirement. This is a big one.
Your aging population will get a healthy kick of working-age, young workers.
Your stiff culture will be injected with revitalized and lively traditions. Get ready for some kielbasa, pierogi, bigos, makowiec, Wielkanoc, Boze Narodzenie, Constituion Day… the list goes on.
Your country will save tons of money on trade education since Poland and other counties already paid for the training. In return, you can spend money on our kids who will repay you in about 50 years.
Recently, BBC came out with a great documentary about Eastern European immigrants in a town of Peterborough. The best comment: Part 3 @ 5:29. Watch it and draw your own conclusion.
Since 2004, May 2nd is the official Polish Flag Day. The Polish flag consists of two horizontal stripes: white on the top and red on the bottom. Variation of the flag displaying a crowned, white eagle national coat of arms on the white stripe is flown abroad and at sea. Read more about the Polish flag here.
White and red were officially adopted as national colors in 1831. They are of heraldic origin and derive from the tinctures (colors) of the coats of arms of the two constituent nations of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, i.e. the White Eagle of Poland and the Pursuer of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a white knight riding a white horse, both on a red shield. Prior to that, Polish soldiers wore cockades of various color combinations. The national flag was officially adopted in 1919. Since 2004, Polish Flag Day is celebrated on May 2.
The flag is flown continuously on the buildings of the highest national authorities, such as the parliament and the presidential palace. Other institutions and many Polish people fly the national flag on national holidays and other special occasions of national significance. Current Polish law does not restrict the use of the national flag without the coat of arms as long as the flag is not disrespected.
May 2nd is a second public holiday after the May 1st, currently known as State Holiday, before the May 3rd, which is a Polish Constitution Day.
Besides the important religious holidays like Christmas, Easter, and Corpus Christi, the three day long May holiday is the longest public holiday in Poland. Even the reminiscence of the old, communist International Labor Day of May 1st, won't shadow the obvious benefits of the couple days off from work.
So if you sit in traffic in Chicago and notice Polish flags on cars and trucks, now you know why.
This year’s Chicago celebration of the Polish Constitution of 1791 will be held on Saturday, May 4th, 2013 with another massive parade on Columbus Drive in Grant Park on Chicago’s beautiful lakefront. This 122st Chicago parade in honor of this historic document, the first democratic constitution in Europe and second in the world only to the United States Constitution is once again expected to draw 250,000 eager revelers to the lakefront and untold thousands more to the television coverage of the parade expected to once again be provided by ABC-7 and Polish stations.
Time and location: 11:30 AM on Columbus Drive and Balbo, in front of Buckingham Fountain in Chicago.
Out of the all Polish traditions, the Easter celebration is one of the most pronounced traditions in Polish culture. Combination of the Roman Catholic faith and strong identity of various Polish regions make the Easter the most important holiday in the country.
Poles celebrate The Holy Week (Wielki Tydzień) with the intense preparations for the upcoming Easter Sunday starting on Palm Sunday.
Definition: Holy Week is the week preceding Easter and the final week of Lent. Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday and ends with Holy Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday. Holy Week includes Holy Thursday (also known as Maundy Thursday) and Good Friday, which, together with Holy Saturday, are known as the Triduum. Before the revision of the liturgical calendar in 1969, Holy Week was the second week of Passiontide; in the current calendar, Passiontide is synonymous with Holy Week.
During Holy Week, Christians commemorate the Passion of Christ, Who died on Good Friday in preparation for the sins of mankind, and rose on Easter Sunday to give new life to all who believe. Thus, while Holy Week is solemn and sorrowful, it also anticipates the joy of Easter through the recognition of God's goodness in sending His Son to die for our salvation. Source
On Palm Sunday (Niedziela Palmowa), Poles bring their “palms” to church for blessing. Since there are no actual palm trees in Poland, the “palms” are made from pussy willows, colorful paper, and other greenery. Check out this great description of “palm” tradition here.
On Good Friday, the local firemen begin the watch next to the tomb of Jesus. Having done the watch as a teenager, I remember how important it was for us to walk the line and keep the straight pose while holding the swords being dressed up i the official uniforms. I got a little pale during my turn but that's a story for another time.
On Holy Saturday, everyone attends the morning blessing of the food baskets (koszyk ze święconką). Kids prepare painted eggs (pisanki or kraszanki) using wax or boiling eggs in the onion peels. Depending on the region, the eggs can be decorated with all kinds of color paper. Hollow eggs (wydmuszki) are particularly crafty to make since one must drill small holes in the eggs to remove the yolk before decorating the fragile shell. Besides eggs, baskets usually contain salt, pepper, white or dark sausage, lamb made out of butter, wine, ham, horseradish, and yeast or coffee cake.
If you haven't had a white Polish sausage, trust me, you will enjoy it immensely. In fact, you might not go back to your regular sausage. Interestingly, many catholic churches in the United States, especially ones with a significant Polish or Polish-American population, adopted the food basket blessing tradition allowing the Americans to enrich their culture.
Take a look at the baskets from my church on Holy Saturday. Afterwards, the kids had a blast with the Easter egg hunt.
During the Easter Sunday lunch, right after the mass celebration, everyone at the table must taste at least a little bite of every blessed food before starting the Easter feast. Among regional dishes, traditional Polish Easter tablet should have: vegetable salad (sałatka jarzynowa), white borscht (biały barszcz or żurek wielkanocny) served with eggs, smoked bacon slab (boczek wędzony), deviled eggs (jajka faszerowane), white Polish sausage (biała kiełbasa), baked ham (szynka pieczona) Growing up in Poland, I still remember the smell of poppy seed roll (makowiec), yeast cake with plums (placek drożdżowy ze śliwkami), and classic cake (babka).
But wait, there’s more! In Poland, Monday after Easter is known as Wet Easter Monday (Śmigus-Dyngus aka Lany Poniedziałek), where boys spray the girls with buckets of water. You start as a little kid with little egg-shaped squirters and move on to empty dishwasher liquid bottles to finally end up with a 20 liter bucket as a teenager. The firemen also get some action with their hoses. Check out the video!
Yes, sometimes the fun gets out of control but it’s only one day a year so girls are forgiving. 2013 Wet Easter Monday will be substituted with a snowball fight since there is 15 cm of snow in most parts of Poland. Snow Easter bunnies are also planned so that will be interesting.
So there you have it, Polish Easter in a nutshell. If you want to add your traditions or foods, please contribute. Thanks.
Couple of minutes ago, white smoke came out over the Sistine
Chapel. The new Pope was elected after only 5 votes. My young son seems to be
semi-interested in the whole process. I did explain to him about the
whole process so something might sink in.
Now, everyone is waiting to find out who will be the new head of the Roman Catholic Church. And, what his name will be.
Update: New Pope: Jorge Mario Bergoglio - Francis - from Argentina, Buenos Aires.
Comparing to France, Italy, or Great Britain, Poland's architectural
wonders receive less attention in the media around the globe. It's not
because of the quality of the offer but rather due to a minuscule advertising budget the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage
allocates toward the advertisement in the western media. The
shortsighted lack of pow factor, directly affects the image of Poland as
a tourist destination and cuts into substantial profits from the
tourism.
Luckily, the well organized Euro Cup 2012 have
proven to be a hit among football fans (translate: soccer fans for the
Americans) and gave Poland much needed exposure. However, besides the
brand new football stadiums, city centers, restaurants, and gorgeous and
friendly Polish women, foreign visitors haven't discovered the true
beauty of Poland: it's history and architecture.
There
are countless websites dedicated to introducing the Polish goodies to
the would-be travelers. However, one website, which came to my
attention just recently, provides a panoramic view of the most amazing
buildings in Poland and other locations in Europe.
The website http://zieba.wroclaw.pl is a work of art put together by Jan Zięba.
If you are interested in his work, the contact information is available
on the home page. The images are fantastic, and I urge you to take a
look at his work. Enjoy.
After reading The Telegraph’s article “Why Poles love coming to Britain“,
I was surprised with all the comments, both positive and negative,
about Poles and the British immigration situation in general. The
conversation became quite heated, so, I jumped in with my own arguments.
The diversity of the comments was quite enjoyable. It must be a
different readership sampling or more involved citizens. In any case,
arguments from the pro-immigration group and the
not-so-much-for-more-immigrants people, were interesting and
illuminating.
It seems that Brits, as any other nation obviously, are quite
disgusted with the freeloading hordes of immigrants taking over their
country. No argument here. Germans deal with their Turks, France with
Gypsies, Denmark with Pakistanis and Somalis, and United States with
Mexicans. However, British situation is different since a majority of
the latest immigrants are from the Eastern Europe making them an easy
target.
Why an easy target? Because, immigrants from the EU member states
are eligible for all the social net goodies enjoyed by the native
Brits. And that is the real issue here. Speaking broken-English, fresh
of the plane or a bus, newcomers looking for a chance of a better life,
chipping away the status quo of the “regular” or “integrated”
immigrants. Doesn’t matter that an overwhelming majority of Poles are
willing to work hard and establish their households to bring or start
their families. To some Brits, they are a threat.
For some reason, some of the comments marginalized Polish soldiers
sacrifices during the WWII, mentioned in the article. Perhaps Brits
don’t want to remember this fact but Poles did fights on all fronts of
the WWII, including UK.
UberNibbler: So 5,820,000 Poles,
including 3,000,000 Polish Jews, or 16% of the total population killed
during the WWII is not enough for you? Looks like UK lost 450,900 people
or 0.94% of the total population. US lost 418,500 people. France
567,600. When you take the number of total pre-war population of
Western Europe, it looks to me that Poland suffered its fair share. How
many unaccounted murders were committed on the Polish anti-communists
after the war? Well, that’s a book. So don’t you dare insult our
patriotism.
zeppelin: The Poles were some of the best spitfire
pilots that we had in WW2. I visit some Polish graves of some downed
Polish pilots on Romney Marsh, and as far as I am concerned, we are
indebted to these men who allowed us our freedom today, and we should
remember their sacrifice.
UberNibbler: First of all, the telegraph website comments are quite an adventure. In a positive way. Great conversations.
Well, since you started, let’s have a quick history WWII lesson, shall we?
—RAF No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N…
—Battle of Monte Cassino http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B…
—Breaking the Enigma code – surprised? http://www.polandinexile.com/e…
—1st Armoured Divison – Polish http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1…
—Cichociemni – “The Unseen and Silent” covert operation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C…
…and finally, a nice summary of the Polish contribution during the WWII http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P…
As a first country in Europe, Poland took on Hitler and said no to
his insane view of new Europe. You can say anything about Poles but
when it comes to the credit for our history, we take what’s ours.
pry: Do not forget the “doomed soldiers” of the biggest anti-communist uprising in Europe lasting till nearly 60′s.
UberNibbler: Absolutely. To the West - virtually
unknown story of the Polish underground resistance during and way after
WWII. Home Army AK and National Armed Forces NSZ, prosecuted after the
war and continuing fighting the communist regime. If anyone wants to
get a feel of that time, watch one of the greatest and most compelling
movie released in recent times: General Nil (2009). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…
After years of half-baked productions, this movie, based on a true
story of general Emil Fieldorf, shows the real deal. Another movie,
Historia Roja (Story of Roj) currently in production struggling with
financing to finish the masterpiece, will tell another true story about
Polish commander Mieczyslaw Dziemieszkiewicz. http://ratujmyroja.pl After years and years of communist and post-communist lies, the true history of those times is finally reaching the light.
…since I’m on the roll here, people tend to forget about France and
its sins during WWII. Comparing to Poland, France shamelessly took the
collaborator exit. So much for the 1939 “power” in Europe. But talking
fecal matter about Poland and our “weakness” is ok. Wrong.
There are tons of more great comments for you to enjoy. And one that
gets right to the point of all that frustration with the immigration is
from RodPolisher. Great nick btw. Read the articles. If you dare.
For the rest of us, the number game should provide the best overview
of just how much of a burden on the British society are the immigrants.
The IZA (Institute for the Study of Labor) put together a great document summarizing all of the handouts in UK. You can find it here.
One fact that won’t change regardless of the arguments is: Poles see
UK as a great place to work and live. The big question is: can Brits
accept Poles in the long run without prejudice? I leave you with this:
UberNibbler: Please read between the lines. This
article is trying to tell you something. Legally, UK government cannot
pick and choose between “desirable” and “less desirable” immigrants.
Will Poles have easier time adjusting to the British culture, religion,
values? Of course they will. Poles are Christians, raised in a
traditional country, share the patriotism and history of a national
pride with the UK. In fact, regular Polish families see UK as a perfect
opportunity to continue their lives in a similar environment, bar the
corruption, distrusted political “elites”, and lack of good paying
jobs. Can the article flatly say: thank you white, conservative, Polish
people for rescuing our country? No, it’s illegal. But deep down, we
all know the game. The game of racial and religious balance. Why is
Germany no longer seeing Turks as a crisis? Because Eastern Block
balanced the scale. Yes, all immigration brings spice to every country.
As with genetic pool, diversity is needed. You can thank all the
Eastern Europeans in about 20 years when their children start paying for
your overrated social benefits. Don’t mention it, you’re welcome.
