Poland
by Lisa Barrington
About Poland
Geography and Travel:
The capital of Poland is Warszawa, with a population of 1,709,624 in December, 2007. Warszawa's voivodeship is Masovian. Most of Poland's population lives in Warszawa, probably because it's the capital and the largest city in Poland. Kraków has a population of 766,583, making it the second major city in Poland. Kraków's voivodeship is Lesser Poland. Poland's average temperature is about 46 degrees Fahrenheit, and is different for each region, depending on the distance from the Baltic Sea. The lowest temperatures are in the mountains and the highest are in central and western Poland. The several mountain ranges in Poland are, east to west, Bieszczady, Pieniny, Gorce, Tatry, Beskidy, and the Sudety Mountains. The Beskidy Mountains are south of the Gory Swietokrzyskie range. Except for the Gory Swietokrzyskie and the Sudety, all of the mountain ranges belong to the Carpathia Mountains. The longest river in Poland is the Vistula, which goes from the Beskidy mountains, through Warsaw and Krakow, and up the bay in Gdansk, to the Baltic Sea. Methods of transportation in Poland include buses, trams, and subways.
Government/Foreign Policy in Poland:
Poland's government is a democracy. The current president is Andrzej Duda, and the law-making body is the Polish Parliament, which consists of two houses: the actual legislator, which is called the Sejm, and the Senate. Poland has a limited government. Polish citizens have the same rights we do. Polish citizens' freedom to assemble and join associations is limited by the Assembly and Association Law of 1932. Poland is a member of the U.N.. Poland gives aid to foreign countries, and also receives it.
Economy:
Poland uses Polish zloty as their currency. Polish zloty are worth a quarter in the US. Polish exports include, but are not limited to wood, machinery, furniture, food, and textiles. Polish imports include, but are not limited to petroleum, pig meat, and vehicle parts. The GPD per capita is 23.7K. Compared to the US, I would consider Poland not an unwealthy country, but not exactly a wealthy country, because the US's GDP per capita is 53K.
Social and Ethnic Groups:
Between age 7 and age 18, it is compulsory for children in Poland to go to school. Public school is free. In Poland, men and women have equal rights. Literacy rate is 100% in Poland, for both genders, at least in 2013. Since the literacy rate is 100%, I think that the schools are cheap and teach well, and there are good reading and writing programs in Poland. Ethnic groups include Belorussians, Czechs, Lithuanians, Germans, Armenians, Russians, Slovaks, Ukrainians, Polish, and Jews. Polish is the majority ethnic group. There have been conflicts between the different ethnic groups in Poland. In 1795, there was an issue over how to leave multiethnic empires, on what basis to form and determine the boundaries of the reconstituted state.
Religion, Language, Country Flag:
The dominant language spoken in Poland is Polish. Poles are mainly catholic.
Traditional Holidays, Traditional Clothing, and Food.
A traditional festival in Poland is the Drowning of Marzanna. It is a springtime festival that signals the end of winter, usually held on the fourth Sunday of Lent.
Data Graph: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1i-VFVGBvKCVs9Ju0tofcLFEkmfL10wlTxZ6nw2b6WNw/edit#gid=0
Polish Flag
Drowning of Marzanna pic 1
Drowning of Marzanna pic 2
Traditional Polish Festival Clothing
Everyday Wear pic 1
Everyday Wear pic 2
Pierogis
Recipe for a pierogi
This is a recipe for a meat filled pierogi.
http://www.tastingpoland.com/food/recipes/pierogi_with_meat.html
Ingredients in this recipe:
- 0.5 kg of beef
- 3 carrots
- 1 parsley
- 1 leek
- half of a celery
- 1 onion
- butter or oil for frying
- 1 roll
- parsley leaves
- two eggs
- salt & pepper
- pierogi dough
- crackling or fried onion
takes 1.5 h
Recipe:
- Wash 0.5 kg of beef without the bone. Put in salted water. Cook, until the meat softens.
- Prepare wloszczyzna vegetables: peel and cut into small stripes three carrots, one parsley, one leek and half a celery. Throw this vegetables into stock with meat and leave gently cooking on half an hour. I usually don't buy raw vegetables in such situations. I prefer buying in a grocery those already cut up frozen vegetables.
- While the meat is being cooked with vegetables peel onion and cut it into cubes.
- Fry onion on the frying pan with the addition of butter, until it lightly browns itself.
- Take the meat out of stock and tear into smaller pieces.
- Put one roll into the bowl and fill with stock. Wait a while, as far as the roll will become soaked. Then take it out of the bowl, drain and add to the meat.
- Add also fried onion and precisely mix everything.
- Grind the blend of onion, meat and roll in a meat mincer.
- Chop parsley leaves up and add to stuffing.
- Break two raw eggs into a meat mixture.
- Add salt and grinded black pepper. Mix. Season to taste.
- If your stuffing is too dry add some stock.
- Now arrange this stuffing with teaspoon on pierogi dough circles and carefully glue the dough, forming pierogi.
- Cook pierogi on salted water. After floating to the surface cook until become soft. Then sift out.
- We pan-fry the cooked pierogi. Use butter or sunflower oil. Fry pierogi from both sides - from time to time turning from side to side. Fry pierogi, until become firmly browned from both sides.
- Lay pierogi on plates. To make the dish more tasty sprinkle pierogi with crackling prepared in the meantime, or use onion fried to gold.