Students of the Department of Polish Language for Foreigners began their Christmas Eve meeting in a carnival atmosphere. The programme included cloth dance, African rhythms, and Ukrainian Blues. There were also Christmas carols and the shearing of opłatek (holy wafer).
Iranian, Turkish, and Brazilian girls received great applause for their dancing performance. It was a mixture of Arabian, Persian and Turkish dances with Brazilian samba. Then the guests were taken to Africa, when a student from Tanzania danced to her native rhythms with a singing accompaniment by her colleague from Rwanda. There were also elements of the culture of Far East – a student from China presented a few Kung Fu stances with background music.
Solo performances by Ukrainian guitarists and choirs reminded of the forthcoming Christmas. The songs performed by an international choir directed by Marian Górecki, MA, brought much joy to the guests. They sang the Christmas carol “Oj maluśki, maluśki” and the Skaldowie’s song “Z kopyta kulig rwie”. Another group, with a guitar accompaniment by Grażyna Balkowska, MA, an instructor of Polish, performed the “Jest taki dzień” song written by Czerwone Gitary.
“There are over 50 international students from 22 countries (the largest group is from Ukraine) that attend an intensive Polish course at our Department. The course is paid, the students are directed to us by the Admission Department. There is also a group of Polish Government scholars that have Polish roots – mainly from Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan, but also from Romania, Moldavia and Brazil. They have already had their own Christmas Eve meeting, organized by the ‘Wspólnota Polska’ association.” – says Joanna Kozieja-Ruta, Head of the University’s Department of Polish Language for Foreigners.
After the performances, the students, teachers and guests shared the opłatek and exchanged Christmas greetings, and then they tried the Christmas Eve dishes of Polish cuisine.
km
Translation: Dariusz Więcławski
|