Yesterday in Poland we had Labour Day. Today we celebrate Polish National Flag Day. Tomorrow it’s gonna be 3rd of May Constitution Day, when we celebrate the adoption and ratification of the groundbreaking act that was intended to be the key element in the (unsuccessful) plan of saving & reforming the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. While the Flag day isn’t a public holiday, people here often take a day off to make for a longer break, which can make for a long weekend.
What you can see on the picture below is the Flag of Poland on the flagpole in our frontyard, taken in the Spring of 2017 by my dad. We raise the flag each year thrice - to celebrate the 3rd of May, Armed Forces Holiday on August 15th and Independence Day on November 11th. I love this picture so much and cannot count how many times I’ve been staring at it while listening to some finest renditions of our national anthem (especially theseversions).
Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła!
Wczoraj było Święto Pracy, dzisiaj jest dzień Flagi RP, jutro z kolei Święto Konstytucji 3 Maja. Zdjęcie przedstawia flagę Polski na maszcie w przedniej części ogrodu przy domu mojej rodziny. Zostało zrobione wiosną 2017 przez mojego tatę. Flagę wywieszamy trzykrotnie - z okazji święta Konstytucji 3 maja, święta Wojska Polskiego 15 sierpnia oraz Święta Niepodległości 11 listopada. Uwielbiam to zdjęcie i nie jestem w stanie zliczyć godzin spędzonych na wpatrywaniu się w nie, słuchając najpiękniejszych wykonań Mazurka Dąbrowskiego (zwłaszcza tychwersji).
Agree with Ines, the American National Anthem is hard to sing, a fact that never stops me from singing . I just adjust the scale to meet my range. And it never fails to bring tears to my eyes. Max, your photo is gorgeous! I love seeing flags flapping in a good breeze, rather than drooping on the pole.
Thanks, Carole! The thing with the wind here is that sometimes it blows, sometimes it doesn't, but rarely when it's useful for a photo, which is why we treasure this pic so dearly. Your and Ines' thoughts on US anthem reminded me of the time in my first year of junior high school, when on the subject called Music we had to sing the Polish one and were graded for it. The issue here was that we were graded not by our predispositions or attitude to the subject, but by the sound of our voice (which was rude of the teacher, especially given some of my peers had their voice mutation early). Luckily for me I still had unchanged, high voice and the singing went rather smoothly, so I didn't (in teacher's perception) "butcher" our national anthem.
Here in America we celebrate Labor Day on the first Monday of September ( this year it’ll be the 2nd). We don’t fly the flag that day, but we do for Independence Day ( 4th of July) and Memorial Day ( the last Monday of May).
In Chile ( my country of origin). We celebrate Labor Day on May 1st, but we only fly the flag 🇨🇱 on Independence Day ( September the 18th) . National Anthems have something emotional that ties as to the rest of our folks in our country. My only complaint about the American National Anthem is that is absolutely impossible to sing if you don’t have a fabulous voice range. My Chilean anthem is easy to sing and everyone joins in when we sing it.
Thank you for sharing, it's incredible how similar the holidays are between each of our countries, despite the different dates! Plus it looks for me like having more than one homeland means more holidays to celebrate with close ones. Perhaps it's something I should consider😉.
I didn't initailly think about writing it, so maybe here I'll say one more thing on the holidays of Labour Day and 3rd of May is that the former was more celebrated and important in the communism era, with the latter being forbidden to celebrate officially. My parents and grandparents rememeber also being forced to participate in parades with people from their schools or workplaces. After the Eastern Bloc fell, the importance shifted back to the holiday of the Constitution, with 1st of May being now more about the anniversary of joining the European Union.
Agree with Ines, the American National Anthem is hard to sing, a fact that never stops me from singing . I just adjust the scale to meet my range. And it never fails to bring tears to my eyes. Max, your photo is gorgeous! I love seeing flags flapping in a good breeze, rather than drooping on the pole.
Thanks, Carole! The thing with the wind here is that sometimes it blows, sometimes it doesn't, but rarely when it's useful for a photo, which is why we treasure this pic so dearly. Your and Ines' thoughts on US anthem reminded me of the time in my first year of junior high school, when on the subject called Music we had to sing the Polish one and were graded for it. The issue here was that we were graded not by our predispositions or attitude to the subject, but by the sound of our voice (which was rude of the teacher, especially given some of my peers had their voice mutation early). Luckily for me I still had unchanged, high voice and the singing went rather smoothly, so I didn't (in teacher's perception) "butcher" our national anthem.
Here in America we celebrate Labor Day on the first Monday of September ( this year it’ll be the 2nd). We don’t fly the flag that day, but we do for Independence Day ( 4th of July) and Memorial Day ( the last Monday of May).
In Chile ( my country of origin). We celebrate Labor Day on May 1st, but we only fly the flag 🇨🇱 on Independence Day ( September the 18th) . National Anthems have something emotional that ties as to the rest of our folks in our country. My only complaint about the American National Anthem is that is absolutely impossible to sing if you don’t have a fabulous voice range. My Chilean anthem is easy to sing and everyone joins in when we sing it.
Thank you for sharing, it's incredible how similar the holidays are between each of our countries, despite the different dates! Plus it looks for me like having more than one homeland means more holidays to celebrate with close ones. Perhaps it's something I should consider😉.
I didn't initailly think about writing it, so maybe here I'll say one more thing on the holidays of Labour Day and 3rd of May is that the former was more celebrated and important in the communism era, with the latter being forbidden to celebrate officially. My parents and grandparents rememeber also being forced to participate in parades with people from their schools or workplaces. After the Eastern Bloc fell, the importance shifted back to the holiday of the Constitution, with 1st of May being now more about the anniversary of joining the European Union.