1.
Nativity scene
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A nativity scene (also known as a manger scene, crib, crèche is the special exhibition, particularly during the Christmas season, of art objects representing the birth of Jesus. Nativity scenes exhibit figures representing the infant Jesus, his mother, Mary, other characters from the nativity story, such as shepherds, sheep, and angels may be displayed near the manger in a barn intended to accommodate farm animals, as described in the Gospel of Luke. A donkey and an ox are typically depicted in the scene, several cultures add other characters and objects that may or may not be Biblical. Saint Francis of Assisi is credited with creating the first live nativity scene in 1223 in order to cultivate the worship of Christ and he himself had recently been inspired by his visit to the Holy Land, where hed been shown Jesuss traditional birthplace. The scenes popularity inspired communities throughout Catholic countries to stage similar pantomimes, Nativity scenes have not escaped controversy, and in the United States their inclusion on public lands or in public buildings has provoked court challenges. A nativity scene takes its from the accounts of the birth of Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew, Lukes narrative describes an angel announcing the birth of Jesus to shepherds who then visit the humble site where Jesus is found lying in a manger, a trough for cattle feed. Matthews account does not mention the angels and shepherds, while Lukes narrative is silent on the Magi, the Magi and the angels are often displayed in a nativity scene with the Holy Family and the shepherds although there is no scriptural basis for their presence. The nativity scene created by Francis is described by Saint Bonaventure in his Life of Saint Francis of Assisi written around 1260, staged in a cave near Greccio, Saint Francis nativity scene was a living one with humans and animals cast in the Biblical roles. Pope Honorius III gave his blessing to the exhibit, such reenactment pantomimes became hugely popular and spread throughout Christendom. Within a hundred years every church in Italy was expected to have a nativity scene at Christmastime, eventually, statues replaced human and animal participants, and static scenes grew to elaborate affairs with richly robed figurines placed in intricate landscape settings. Charles III, King of the Two Sicilies, collected such elaborate scenes, the scenes popularity inspired much imitation in Catholic countries, and in the Early modern period sculpted cribs, often exported from Italy, were set up in Catholic churches and homes. These elaborate scenes reached their apogee in the Papal state, in Emilia, in the Kingdom of Naples. Different traditions of nativity scenes emerged in different countries, hand-painted santons are popular in Provence. In southern Germany, Austria and Trentino-Alto Adige the wood figurines are handcut, colorful szopka are typical in Poland. A tradition in England involved baking a pie in the shape of a manger which would hold the Christ child until dinnertime. When the Puritans banned Christmas celebrations in the 17th century, they also passed legislation to outlaw such pies. In the United States, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City annually displays a Neapolitan Baroque nativity scene before a 20 feet blue spruce, Nativity scenes have not escaped controversy. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals indicates that animals in living displays lack proper care, static nativity scenes may be erected indoors or outdoors during the Christmas season, and are composed of figurines depicting the infant Jesus resting in a manger, Mary, and Joseph
2.
Christmas in Poland
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Christmas in Poland is a major annual celebration, as in most countries of the Christian world. Later influences include mutual permeating of local traditions and various folk cultures, Christmas trees are decorated and lit in family rooms on the day of Christmas Eve. Other trees are placed in most public areas and outside churches, Christmas is called Boże Narodzenie in Polish. Among the special tasks carried out in private homes during Advent is the baking of the Christmas piernik, pierniki are made in a variety of shapes, including hearts, animals, and St. Nicholas figures. St. Nicholas does not play a role on Christmas Day. He visits good children in secret and leaves presents for them and they are lit on Christmas Eve before Wigilia. At the top of each there is a star or a glittering tree topper. In many homes, sparklers are hung on the branches of the trees for wintery ambiance, sometimes the trees are left standing until February 2, the feast day of St. Mary of the Candle of Lighting. During Advent and all the way until Epiphany, or the baptism of Jesus, some of them sing carols, others recite verses or put on szopki, or herody. The last two customs are inspired by the traditional manger scenes or Jaselka, one tradition unique to Poland is the sharing of the opłatek, a thin wafer into which a holy picture is pressed. In the old days people carried these wafers from house to house wishing their neighbors a Merry Christmas, nowadays, opłatek is mostly shared with members of the family and immediate neighbors before the Christmas Eve supper. As each person shares pieces of the wafer with another, they are supposed to forgive each other any hurts that have occurred over the past year, in Poland, Christmas Eve is a day first of fasting, then of feasting. The Wigilia feast begins at the appearance of the first star, there is no red meat served but fish, usually carp. The supper, which includes many dishes and desserts, can sometimes last for over two hours. It is followed by the exchange of gifts, the next day, the Christmas Day, is often spent visiting friends. In Polish tradition, people combine religion and family closeness at Christmas, although gift-giving plays a major role in the rituals, emphasis is placed more on the making of special foods and decorations. On the night of Christmas Eve, so important is the appearance of the first star in remembrance of the Star of Bethlehem, on that evening, children watch the sky anxiously hoping to be the first to cry out, The star has come. Only after it appears, the members sit down to a dinner table
3.
Christmas carol
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A Christmas carol is a carol whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas, and which is traditionally sung on Christmas itself or during the surrounding holiday season. Christmas carols may be regarded as a subset of the category of Christmas music. The first known Christmas hymns may be traced to 4th century Rome, Latin hymns such as Veni redemptor gentium, written by Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan, were austere statements of the theological doctrine of the Incarnation in opposition to Arianism. Corde natus ex Parentis by the Spanish poet Prudentius is still sung in churches today. In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Christmas Sequence or Prose was introduced in Northern European monasteries, in the 12th century the Parisian monk Adam of St. Victor began to derive music from popular songs, introducing something closer to the traditional Christmas carol. In the 13th century, in France, Germany, and particularly, Italy, the songs we know specifically as carols were originally communal songs sung during celebrations like harvest tide as well as Christmas. It was only later that carols begun to be sung in church, many carols which have gained popularity today were printed in Piae Cantiones, a collection of late medieval Latin songs which was first published in 1582. Early, Latin forms of such as Christ was born on Christmas Day, Good Christian Men, Rejoice. Adeste Fideles appears in its current form in the mid-18th century, the origin of the tune is disputed. Carols gained in popularity after the Reformation in the countries where Protestant churches gained prominence and this was a consequence of the fact that the Lutheran reformation warmly welcomed music. The publication of Christmas music books in the 19th century helped to widen the appeal of carols. The first appearance in print of God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, The First Noel, I Saw Three Ships, the Herald Angels Sing was in Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern by William Sandys. The publication in 1871 of Christmas Carols, New and Old by Henry Ramsden Bramley, in 1916, Charles Lewis Hutchins published Carols Old and Carols New, a scholarly collection which suffered from a short print run and is consequently rarely available today. The singing of carols was further popularised in the 20th century when OUP published one of the most popular books in the English-speaking world. First published in 1961 and edited by David Willcocks and Reginald Jacques, today carols are regularly sung at Christian religious services. Some compositions have words that are not of a religious theme. For example, the 16th century song A Bone, God Wot. appears to be a wassailing song, as recently as 1865, Christmas-related lyrics were adopted for the traditional English folk song Greensleeves, becoming the internationally popular Christmas carol “What Child is This. ”. It is not clear whether the word derives from the French carole or the Latin carula meaning a circular dance
4.
Lyrics
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Lyrics are words that make up a song usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist, the words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a libretto and their writer, as a librettist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit, some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of expression. Rappers can also create lyrics with a variation of rhyming words or words that create, Lyric derives via Latin lyricus from the Greek λυρικός, the adjectival form of lyre. It first appeared in English in the century in reference, to the Earl of Surreys translations of Petrarch. Stainer and Barrett used the word as a substantive, Lyric, poetry or blank verse intended to be set to music. By the 1930s, the present use of the plurale tantum lyrics had begun, the singular form lyric still appears, its present use, however, is to refer to a specific phrase within a songs lyrics. The differences between poem and song may become less meaningful where verse is set to music, to the point that any distinction becomes untenable and this is perhaps recognised in the way popular songs have lyrics. However, the verse may pre-date its tune, or the tune may be lost over time but the words survive, nursery rhymes may be songs, or doggerel, the term doesnt imply a distinction. The ghazal is a form that is considered primarily poetic. See also rapping, roots of hip hop music, analogously, verse drama might normally be judged as poetry, but not consisting of poems. In Baroque music, melodies and their lyrics where prose, rather than paired lines they consist of rhetorical sentences or paragraphs consisting of an opening gesture, an amplification, and a close, in German Vordersatz-Fortspinnung-Epilog. For example, When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, But when I became a man, I put away childish things. -1 Corinthians 13,11 In the lyrics of music a shifter is a word, often a pronoun, where reference varies according to who is speaking, when. For example, who is the my of My Generation, see Royalties Currently, there are many websites featuring song lyrics. This offering, however, is controversial, since some sites include copyrighted lyrics offered without the holders permission, music Publishers Association, which represents sheet music companies, launched a legal campaign against such websites in December 2005. The MPAs president, Lauren Keiser, said the free lyrics web sites are completely illegal, Lyrics licenses could be obtained worldwide through one of the two aggregators, LyricFind and Musixmatch. The first company to provide licensed lyrics was Yahoo, quickly followed by MetroLyrics and Lyrics. com
5.
Polish language
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Polish is a West Slavic language spoken primarily in Poland and is the native language of the Poles. It belongs to the Lechitic subgroup of the West Slavic languages, Polish is the official language of Poland, but it is also used throughout the world by Polish minorities in other countries. It is one of the languages of the European Union. Its written standard is the Polish alphabet, which has 9 additions to the letters of the basic Latin script, Polish is closely related to Kashubian, Silesian, Upper Sorbian, Lower Sorbian, Czech and Slovak. It is also the second most widely spoken Slavic language, after Russian, in history, Polish is known to be an important language, both diplomatically and academically in Central and Eastern Europe. Today, Polish is spoken by over 38.5 million people as their first language in Poland. It is also spoken as a language in western parts of Belarus and Ukraine, west and central Lithuania, as well as the northern parts of the Czech Republic. There are 55 million Polish language speakers around the world, Polish began to emerge as a distinct language around the 10th century, the process largely triggered by the establishment and development of the Polish state. With Christianity, Poland also adopted the Latin alphabet, which made it possible to write down Polish, the precursor to modern Polish is the Old Polish language. Ultimately, Polish is thought to descend from the unattested Proto-Slavic language, Poland is the most linguistically homogeneous European country, nearly 97% of Polands citizens declare Polish as their first language. Elsewhere, Poles constitute large minorities in Lithuania, Belarus, Polish is the most widely used minority language in Lithuanias Vilnius County and is found elsewhere in southeastern Lithuania. There are significant numbers of Polish speakers among Polish emigrants and their descendants in many other countries, in the United States, Polish Americans number more than 11 million but most of them cannot speak Polish fluently. The largest concentrations of Polish speakers reported in the census were found in three states, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey. Enough people in these areas speak Polish that PNC Financial Services offer services available in Polish at all of their machines in addition to English and Spanish. According to the 2011 census there are now over 500,000 people in England, in Canada, there is a significant Polish Canadian population, There are 242,885 speakers of Polish according to the 2006 census, with a particular concentration in Toronto and Montreal. The geographical distribution of the Polish language was affected by the territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II. Poles settled in the Recovered Territories in the west and north and this tendency toward a homogeneity also stems from the vertically integrated nature of the authoritarian Polish Peoples Republic. The inhabitants of different regions of Poland still speak standard Polish somewhat differently, first-language speakers of Polish have no trouble understanding each other, and non-native speakers may have difficulty distinguishing regional variations
6.
Polonaise
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The polonaise is a dance of Polish origin, in 34 time. Its name is French for Polish, the polonaise had a rhythm quite close to that of the Swedish semiquaver or sixteenth-note polska, and the two dances have a common origin. Polonaise is a dance in carnival parties. Polonaise is always a first dance at a studniówka, the Polish equivalent of the prom that occurs approximately 100 days before exams. The notation alla polacca on a score indicates that the piece should be played with the rhythm. For example, the movement of Beethovens Triple Concerto op. 56, marked Rondo alla polacca, and the finale of Chopins Variations on Là ci darem la mano both feature this notation, frédéric Chopins polonaises are generally the best known of all polonaises in classical music. Another more recent prolific polonaise composer was the American Edward Alexander MacDowell, john Philip Sousa wrote the Presidential Polonaise, intended to keep visitors moving briskly through the White House receiving line. Sousa wrote it in 1886 at the request of President Chester A. Arthur who died before it was performed, Polonaise is a Polish dance and is one of the five historic national dances of Poland. The others are the Mazurka, Kujawiak, Krakowiak and Oberek, Polonaise originated as a peasant dance known under various names – chodzony, chmielowy, pieszy or wielki, recorded as early as the 15th century. In later centuries it gained popularity among the nobility and townspeople, waltz Mazurka Varsovienne Redowa Polonaise ‒ The Royal Dance Every Polish Teenager Has to Master
7.
Hymn
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A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word hymn derives from Greek ὕμνος, which means a song of praise, a writer of hymns is known as a hymnodist. The singing of hymns is called hymnody, collections of hymns are known as hymnals or hymn books. Hymns may or may not include instrumental accompaniment, although most familiar to speakers of English in the context of Christianity, hymns are also a fixture of other world religions, especially on the Indian subcontinent. Hymns also survive from antiquity, especially from Egyptian and Greek cultures, some of the oldest surviving examples of notated music are hymns with Greek texts. Surviving from the 3rd century BC is a collection of six literary hymns by the Alexandrian poet Callimachus, patristic writers began applying the term ὕμνος, or hymnus in Latin, to Christian songs of praise, and frequently used the word as a synonym for psalm. Originally modeled on the Psalms and other passages in the Scriptures. Many refer to Jesus Christ either directly or indirectly, since the earliest times, Christians have sung psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, both in private devotions and in corporate worship. One definition of a hymn is. a lyric poem, reverently and devotionally conceived, which is designed to be sung, others are used to encourage reverence for the Holy Bible or to celebrate Christian practices such as the eucharist or baptism. A writer of hymns is known as a hymnodist, and the practice of singing hymns is called hymnody, a collection of hymns is called a hymnal or hymnary. These may or may not include music, a student of hymnody is called a hymnologist, and the scholarly study of hymns, hymnists and hymnody is hymnology. The music to which a hymn may be sung is a hymn tune, in many Evangelical churches, traditional songs are classified as hymns while more contemporary worship songs are not considered hymns. The reason for this distinction is unclear, but according to some it is due to the shift of style and devotional thinking that began with the Jesus movement. In ancient and medieval times, stringed instruments such as the harp, lyre and lute were used with psalms, since there is a lack of musical notation in early writings, the actual musical forms in the early church can only be surmised. During the Middle Ages a rich hymnody developed in the form of Gregorian chant or plainsong and this type was sung in unison, in one of eight church modes, and most often by monastic choirs. While they were originally in Latin, many have been translated. Later hymnody in the Western church introduced four-part vocal harmony as the norm, adopting major and minor keys and it shares many elements with classical music. Today, except for choirs, more musically inclined congregations and a cappella congregations, hymns are sung in unison
8.
Poland
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Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church
