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WORLD CULTURES and FOLK CUSTOMS

SIMO JELACA, Ph.D.

FOREWORD

This book summarizes information about culture and customs of different nations. Noticeable differences in customs are among Christian, Islamic and Buddhist’s nations, although in all prevails intention for nice and greatest.

It will be too much to include every country, as there are similarities among many nations of the same or close nationalities. Characteristic are Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, Belarus, Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia, or as well as Germany and Austria. The similar conclusion values for Latin nations, among themselves too.

Readers will find basic information about each country, such as its location and size, population and Ethnic Make-up, Religion, Climate, Language, Etiquettes and others.

This book can equally be used for travelers, either as tourists or business people, therefore everyone will find necessary information about Etiquette of people at their homes as well as at the business.

My intention was to find as much good information as possible. How much I have succeeded readers will judge it.

Author

POLAND

CULTURE AND FOLK CUSTOMS

Facts and Statistics 

Population: 38.5 million

Capital

: Warszawa population 1.7 million.

Size: 312.680 square km.

Climate: The average annual temperature in Poland is about 8'C. In the summer, temperatures are lower in northern Poland because of the Baltic Sea.

The population of Poland is around 40 million. The World War II toll on Poland was a staggering 6. At present, more than 98 percent of the people are Poles, with small groups of Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Germans, Slovaks and Lithuanians.

The Poles speak a Slavic language and have a special fondness for English. English is the most popular foreign language in Poland. The Polish population is largely urban centric with 60% of the population living in cities. There are a number of large cities, including five with populations of more than 500,000. Warsaw, the capital, is the largest with a head count of 1.7 million inhabitants. Krakow (Cracow), Wroclaw, Poznan, Gdansk, Szczecin and Lodz are some other large metropolises.

Location and Geography

Poland is located in Central Europe. It covers 312,680 square kilometers. On the north, Poland is bordered by the Baltic Sea, Russia, and Lithuania; on the east by Belarus and Ukraine; on the south by Slovakia and the Czech Republic; and on the west by Germany. Originally, the capital was Cracow (Kraków), but in 1611 it was moved to Warsaw (Warszawa), the current seat of government.

Demography

The estimated population was about 40 million. Of this, 38.2 to 38.5 million were ethnic Poles. Worldwide there are an additional 13 million Poles who live abroad. The largest ethnic minorities include approximately 400,000 Germans and perhaps an equal number of Ukrainians, followed by 275,000 Byelorussians, then 25,000 Roma (Gypsies), and 13,500 Lithuanians. The over three million people of the Jewish population that inhabited Poland before World War II has been reduced to some six thousand to ten thousand people.

Linguistic Affiliation

Polish belongs to the west Slavic group of languages of the Indo-European language family. Poles use the Latin alphabet. Literary Polish developed during the sixteenth century and is based on the speech of educated city people, upper class usage, and the Great Polish and Little Polish Dialects. Starting in the nineteenth century, technological and cultural changes introduced a new vocabulary.

Government

The highest law is the Constitution of 16 October 1997. The Polish government is divided into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. The executive branch includes a president, a prime minister, two deputy prime ministers, and a cabinet or council of ministers. The president, who is the chief of state, is elected by a popular vote for a five-year term. The prime minister and the deputy prime ministers are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Sejm. The prime minister nominates and the president appoints the members of the council of ministers who are then approved by the Sejm.

Symbolism

Poland's flag consists of two equal-sized horizontal bars. The upper bar is white and the lower red. The coat-of-arms is a white eagle on a red field. Legend has it that while hunting the first king of the Poles encountered a huge white eagle making a strange cry and hovering over a nest of young. Such white birds were not known in the land and the King took it as an omen. The national anthem, Jeszcze Polska nie Zginȩła ("Poland Has Not Yet Perished"), was written in 1797 by an émigré soldier-poet, Józef Wybicki, serving in the Polish legions of Napoleon Bonaparte's army in Italy. It was adopted in 1918.

Urbanism and Architecture

The vast majority of the urban population lives in apartments and relies on mass transportation. The increasing ownership and use of private automobiles has produced associated traffic and parking problems. In most Polish cities, there are three types of areas or "cities." The "socialist city" was constructed after World War II to accommodate the influx of people caused by industrialization. The city has broad streets and large public spaces. Housing consists of four- or five-story apartment buildings. Apartments commonly consist of two or three rooms plus a kitchen and a bathroom. All apartments have access to gas, electricity, and municipal water and most have central heating. There is minimal space for parking and children's play.

Food in Daily Life

The mainstays of the Polish diet are meat, bread, and potatoes. For many Poles, dinner is not dinner without meat, primarily pork. Bread is consumed and treated with reverence. Peasants trace a cross on the bottom of a loaf of bread with a knife before slicing it. Poles consume three-hundred pounds of potatoes per capita per year. Vegetables consumed are local cool weather crops such as beets, carrots, cabbage and legumes (beans, peas, lentils). Another important source of nutrition is milk.

Dinner, the main meal of the day, is served between one and five in the afternoon and contributes 40 to 45 percent of the calories for the day. It consists of a large bowl of soup, a main course, and dessert. Salads, when served, are eaten with the main course. On Sundays, appetizers may start the meal. The last meal of the day is a light supper eaten between six and eight in the evening. The Christmas season is the traditional time for baking cookies, honey-spice cakes, and cheese-dough apple cakes.

Basic Economy

Poland is changing from an economy where the state sector, dominated to one where the economy is controlled privately. In 1999, the private sector generated about 70 percent of economic activity. Polish farms are small, inefficient, lack capital, and have surplus labor. The main products are potatoes, fruits, vegetables, wheat, poultry, eggs, pork, beef, milk, and cheese. The average farm sells most of its products and buys about a fourth of the food consumed by the family. Most of the industrial enterprises in the politically "sensitive sectors" such as coal, steel, telecommunications, aviation, and banks are still owned by the government.

Commercial Activities

Poland produces agricultural products, minerals, coal, salt, sulfur, copper, manufactured goods, glass, textiles, beverages, machinery, and ships. The major industries are machine building, iron and steel, coal mining, chemicals, shipbuilding, food processing, glass, beverages, and textiles.

By 1997, Poland exported mainly to Germany, Russia, Italy, Ukraine, the Netherlands, and France. Its main exports are manufactured goods, chemicals, machinery and equipment, food, and live animals, and mineral fuels. It imports primarily from Germany, Italy, Russia, France, United Kingdom, and the United States. Poland's main imports are manufactured goods, chemicals, machinery and equipment, mineral fuels, food, and live animals.

Division of Labor

In the cities, both men and women are employed outside the home. Proportionately, more women are unemployed than men. In rural areas, women participate fully in farm work. Additionally, women operate a large number of farms.

Polish women perform "the second shift"; the phenomenon of simultaneously managing an external job and a household. Shopping, especially for groceries, and housework are considered women's jobs. Marriage

People typically married before age twenty. Both men and women expect to marry, have children, and have only one spouse for a lifetime. Traditionally, most marriages were arranged to improve family fortunes. Love was not important. Formal divorce was difficult.

Inheritance

Traditionally, a father could divide the inheritance any way he saw fit. Now there are legal restrictions, especially on the division of real estate. The rural inheritance system does not work well. Often properties are inherited by several heirs. One heir takes possession and is expected to make cash payments to the others.

Infant Care

Breast-feeding is seen as beneficial and healthy. Afterwards infants sleep in a cradle. Selection of godparents is important, because the child is assumed to acquire the characteristics of the same sex godparent. Children who misbehave are called "impolite." Boys, in particular, are raised to be brave, independent, self-reliant, and tough. Patriotism is also stressed. Farming people and workers use physical punishment while upper classes tend to rely on psychological sanctions. The father is the stern disciplinarian, an authoritarian who should be respected and obeyed.

Higher Education

The Cracow Academy was founded in 1364 and is one of the oldest universities in Europe. By 1939, Poland had six universities, including the Catholic University in Lublin, which later became the only private university in the Communist Bloc countries. By 1989, the country had ten universities and a number of specialized schools geared to the needs of agriculture, industry, medicine, and teaching.

Etiquette

There is great stress on being polite and courteous. Men are expected to kiss ladies' hands and to behave with decorum. An acceptable gift for women is an odd number of flowers, regardless of whether a woman is the recipient or presenter. Most men consider themselves judges of a fine drink, and for men the standard gift is alcohol. One must always drink from a glass.

Religious Beliefs

Approximately 95 percent of Poland's inhabitants are Roman Catholics, with about 75 percent attending church services regularly. The other 5 percent are Eastern Orthodox, Protestants and other Christian religions. Judaism and Muslim are the largest non-Christian religions.

People preferred that death be speedy and painless and that it comes as a result of illness rather than without warning. The dying individual was placed on the ground, and doors and windows were opened so that the soul could go to heaven. The dead may be buried in their Sunday best. Formally, there are two types of modern health care. One is provided by dentists and physicians in private practice on a fee basis to those able to pay. The other is by the national and regional governments.

Arts

Polish literature was written in Latin and can be said to have begun with the annals of the tenth century. In the twentieth century, three Polish writers were awarded Nobel prizes: Henryk Sienkiewicz, 1905; Wladyslaw Reymont, 1924; and Czeslaw Milosz, 1980.

Theater and movies have a special potency in Polish society. People tend to see their own life and history as filled with drama and romance, and they love theater.

Physical and Social Sciences

Over the centuries, Poles have made notable contributions to the sciences, including the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (Mikolaj Kopernik).

Gift Giving Etiquette

The usual times for present giving are birthdays, name days (birth date of the saint after whom they are named), and Christmas.

. Do not give gifts that are overly expensive; this may embarrass the recipient.

. Employees bring cake and champagne to the office to celebrate their name day.

. At Christmas, it is common to give small gifts to service workers such as postal workers, refuse collectors, etc.

. If invited to a Pole's home for dinner, bring wine, flowers, pastries or sweets for the hostess.

. Give an odd number of flowers.

. Do not give yellow chrysanthemums as they are used for funerals. Do not give red or white flowers, especially carnations and lilies.
. Gifts are generally opened when received.

Dining Etiquette

If you are invited to a Pole's house:

. Be punctual.

. You may be expected to take off your shoes. (Check to see if your host is wearing slippers).

. Dress conservatively.

. Offer to help the hostess with the preparation or clearing up after a meal is served. This is good manners. This will more often that not be turned down out of politeness.

. Do not ask for a tour of the house.

. Table manners are Continental, i.e. hold the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right while eating.

. Wait for the hostess to invite you to start eating.

. Most meals are served family-style.

. Take small amounts of food initially so you can accept second helpings.

. Try a bit of everything.

. Expect frequent toasting throughout the meal. The host offers the first toast.

. Toasts are only made with hard liquor (generally vodka).
. You should reciprocate with your own toast later in the meal.
. Alcohol is served in small glasses so you can swallow in one gulp.

Business Etiquette and Protocol

General tips include:

. Shake hands with everyone upon arriving and leaving.

. Handshakes are quite firm and eye contact is valued.

. Wait for a woman to extend her hand.

. Some older businessmen may kiss a woman's hand upon meeting. Do not imitate this behavior as it may be seen as poking fun.

. Titles are considered prestigious. Academic or professional titles are used with the honorific titles with or without the surname.

. Wait to be invited before moving to first names. You may do business with people for years and not be on a first name basis.

. Business cards are exchanged without formal rituals.

. Try to have one side of your card translated into Polish.

. Include advanced university degrees and titles on your business card; qualifications are impressive.

Communication Styles

. Generally speaking, Poles judge others by their personal qualities. They therefore like to spend time getting to know people as individuals.

This allows them to size people up.

. Honesty is highly valued in Poland since trust is the cornerstone of business relationships. Building personal relationships is essential for successful business dealings, especially if you are looking for a long-term business relationship.

. Poles are known for being direct communicators, i.e. they say what they are thinking. However they are also very sensitive to other’s feelings and let that determine how and what they say.

. While direct communication is valued in Poland, there is also emphasis on finessing what is said in order to deliver information in a diplomatic way.

. The level of the relationship mostly determines how direct someone can be.

. For newly established and more formal relationships, a great deal of emphasis is placed on diplomacy. Once a relationship has passed through the initial phases, people feel more comfortable speaking frankly with each other and animated exchanges become more common.

Business Meetings

. The most senior Pole generally opens the meeting and sets the groundwork for what is to be discussed.

. He may also verbally offer a recommended agenda for the discussions.

. Small talk is the norm at the start of meetings; do not rush proceedings as this is part of the relationship building process.

. The first few meetings may in fact seem to be more small talk than business discussions. If this is the case it means that your Polish colleagues are still sizing you up and have not yet made up their minds.

. You may want to consider this as an opportunity to get more personal and try to form that relationship.

. Lunch and dinner meetings are often used to further the personal relationship.

. Meetings tend to be relatively relaxed once the personal relationship has been established.

. Hard facts are important so participants come well-prepared with facts and figures to back up their statements. Foreigners would be expected to do the same.

. Business decision-making processes tend to have a hierarchical basis, and therefore many decisions will be taken at the top echelons of the company.

. Final decisions are translated into rigorous, comprehensive action steps that you can expect will be carried out to the letter.

It will be continue

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