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Post by PinkDreams on Jul 7, 2008 23:41:16 GMT 1
Hi folks, it's been an age since I was on here!
Last week my good friend who is Russian and myself, were invited to a birthday night out of a guy who we are acquaintances of, nothing more. My Russian friend said he would have to go out and buy a present now and I asked him why? He said in his country is was the done thing, no matter how well you knew the person or not.
He then said it was traditional in Polish culture for people to buy gifts for people they hardly knew too. I'm not sure about that so I was looking for some opinions. My Polish friends have never mentioned this before.
I know where I come from if you do not know the person all that well, a present is not expected. Probably we'd buy a card. After all, it is only a night out in a pub, not a special party. If it was a special party then yes, I could understand why a present would be bought.
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Post by tufta on Jul 8, 2008 11:14:19 GMT 1
Hi PinkDreams, your friend is right. Poles give presents or flowers very often and certainly a birthday party even if it's night out is a good occasion. The present needs not to be grand. And of course it is not 'compulsory', all depends on circumstances. When a group of friends that know each other meet at the pub to celebrate bithday (or more often namesday in Poland) they sometimes buy one bigger present.
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Post by PinkDreams on Jul 11, 2008 2:20:17 GMT 1
Thank you for that reply tufta. I was surprised by this. I knew that a gift is brought when invited for a dinner or something like that but the birthday thing threw me a little. I will know it future. Talking of "Imieniny" I have had two dates already this year which have been my nameday. Does it matter which day you would celebrate your imieniny? Does it have to be the first after your birthday or doesn't it matter? And is it better to celebrate you nameday rather than your birthday? After all, if you celebrate imieniny you don't have to reveal your age, only your name!  |
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Post by tufta on Jul 12, 2008 12:14:43 GMT 1
Does it matter which day you would celebrate your imieniny? Does it have to be the first after your birthday or doesn't it matter? And is it better to celebrate you nameday rather than your birthday? After all, if you celebrate imieniny you don't have to reveal your age, only your name! It used to be a tradition that imieniny are after birthday. This tradition seems to be dead now. It is better to celebrate both imieniny and birthday of course There's absolutely no need to reveal age, you are right. On the other hand most of my female friends including my wife do like to reveal their age very much. But they change age very very rarely, if ever. For instance one of my friends is 32 since so many years. Lately she said she's planning to try some new trend and will turn 39 next birthday. That' s a new and great 'tradition' here  |
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Post by PinkDreams on Jul 17, 2008 21:52:01 GMT 1
That's a pity that the tradition of celebrating imieniny is dying out. I think it's a lovely idea. After my next birthday I think I'll just celebrate my imieniny only! Thanks for the help and information.  |
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Post by tufta on Jul 17, 2008 22:12:03 GMT 1
The tradition of imieniny is still there and flourishing I would say.
It is the old tradition that one's imieniny are AFTER birthday same year, that is slowly coming to an end.
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Post by PinkDreams on Jul 17, 2008 22:20:11 GMT 1
OK. Thanks, I've got you now I wonder why that part of the tradition is dying out then? |
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Post by Bonobo on Jul 17, 2008 22:20:31 GMT 1
The tradition of imieniny is still there and flourishing I would say. It is the old tradition that one's imieniny are AFTER birthday same year, that is slowly coming to an end. Slowly? I think it had already been dead before I was born. ;D Living 40 years in this country I have never heard of it... Pink, the truth is that if there are several days with your name to celebrate the nameday, you just choose the most popular. If it is less popular or you don`t know how to establish its popularity, you choose one day and stick to it. From time to time I run into situations that two people of the same name celebrate their namedays on different days. Funny.... |
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Post by tufta on Jul 17, 2008 22:31:04 GMT 1
OK. Thanks, I've got you now I wonder why that part of the tradition is dying out then? I am not sure. My guess is that some time ago, if a boy was named, ie. Jan (John), there were enough of St. John's Days after his birthday date to chose from. Now, the boy is often 'Adrian' or 'Oliver'. There are not that much Saint Adrian's or Saint Olivers Days to choose from. The parents are lucky if there is at least one. And that only one is sometimes earlier in calendar than boy's birthday... |
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