Toruń
Last weekend my Erasmus friends and I took a day trip to Toruń. Toruń is two hours north-east of Poznań and is famous for being the birth place of Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543). Copernicus undertook the research which discovered that it was in fact the sun that was the centre of the planetary system, not the earth. Unfortunately, the museum (Muzeum Koperinika) was closed the day we visited, so we had to settle on exploring another famous aspect of Toruń... its gingerbread! In Toruń there is an opportunity to visit a ginger bread museum (Muzeum Piernika) where visitors can discover how it was made five hundred years ago. Polish gingerbread is different to ours, as it is much less dense, tasting more like a cake. 
There remains of the old buildings which were destroyed during the war are still visible throughout the city. During WW2, Toruń had been subject to systematic Germanization after being captured by the Nazis. However, in the twentieth century Toruń was returned to Poland, and liberated in 1945. I thought that it was interesting that the city had kept the remains as a reminder of what had happened. In contrast, the rest of the buildings were very grand and colourful, similar to those in Poznań. From visiting Wroclaw and Torun, it seems that a number of cities each have a signature staues dotted around the city, for example, Wroclaw have gnomes on every street. Toruń, have novelty statues of knights, peasants and maidens, throughout the city, which represent the history of the Castle, when Toruń was ruled by the Teutonic Knights.
My cousin has lived in Toruń for two years now teaching English in a private primary school. I really enjoyed getting to explore the city he now calls home and began to understand why he wants to stay there for the imminent future. It was good to see a familiar face and hear a Northern Irish accent after two months! Find out more:
The history of Toruń: http://picturesque-poland.com/torun.html
Burning the Winter Witch, Marzanna!
On Wednesday, we arrived at school to see the children dressed in brightly coloured clothes and carrying armfuls of food for their spring festival. Last week, during the children’s art class they made a giant puppet, which represented Marzanna, the Winter Witch. Marzanna is the Polish incarnation of the old Slavic goddess of winter, plague and death. Each year on the first day of Spring, (21st March) the school burn their puppets, to say goodbye to Winter and welcome Spring. Although this is a Pagan tradition and Poland holds strong Catholic beliefs, this is a ritual they have held onto. In the past they would have drowned their puppets, however, as this is now seen as an environmental hazard, they settle for burning!! It was a very bizarre sight to see these puppets burning in the playground with the children only a few metres away. This would definitely not be allowed in schools back home! They also played drums and sang different songs. For example: Już wiosenne słonko wzbija się po niebie | W tej wezbranej rzece utopimy ciebie! (Translation: As the spring sun rises in the sky of blue | in this swollen river we are drowning you!) However, as our school is English and they could not drown the witch, their song went a little differently, which you can hear in the video. It was a cultural experience I won’t forget in a hurry.
There remains of the old buildings which were destroyed during the war are still visible throughout the city. During WW2, Toruń had been subject to systematic Germanization after being captured by the Nazis. However, in the twentieth century Toruń was returned to Poland, and liberated in 1945. I thought that it was interesting that the city had kept the remains as a reminder of what had happened. In contrast, the rest of the buildings were very grand and colourful, similar to those in Poznań. From visiting Wroclaw and Torun, it seems that a number of cities each have a signature staues dotted around the city, for example, Wroclaw have gnomes on every street. Toruń, have novelty statues of knights, peasants and maidens, throughout the city, which represent the history of the Castle, when Toruń was ruled by the Teutonic Knights.
My cousin has lived in Toruń for two years now teaching English in a private primary school. I really enjoyed getting to explore the city he now calls home and began to understand why he wants to stay there for the imminent future. It was good to see a familiar face and hear a Northern Irish accent after two months!
No comments:
Post a Comment