Kashubian Informational Site

The Kashubians’ Unity Day is held annually on March 19th to commemorate Pope Gregory IX’s promotion of the Dukes of Pomerania to the title of the “dux Slavorum et Cassubia” (Duke of the Slavs and the Kashubs), which dates back to 19 March 1238.

The tradition of the Kashubians’ Unity Day was established in 2004. Since 2006, thanks to Marek Wantoch-Rekowski, as part of the celebrations, accordion players from around the country meet for a mass performance.  This year, the organizers hope to break the Poland’s record in concurrent accordion playing. Thousands of accordion players are expected to arrive, including the Koszalińska Orkiestra Akordeonowa “Akord.”

The main celebrations will take place at the Secondary School Chain Nr. 2,  located in the Wybicki housing area in Kartuzy. If this year’s festivities resemble those of yester years, you can rest assured that leaving your house and mingling with the crowds will be worthwhile. A performance by Weronika Korthals (known from the “Szansa na sukces” (A chance for success) singing talent show) and a concert of Niwa Modrego Lnu (a music group from Smoldzino) are some of the perks for those who decide to show up.

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Mark Kwidzińsczi has compiled, and made available as an ISO, Kubuntu 9.10 Linux distribution optimized for the Kashubian language. This repackaged distribution defaults to the Kashubian language K Desktop Environment (KDE), as localized by Mark Kwidzińsczi and Michôł Òstrowsczi. Because many Linux programs are yet to be localized into Kashubian, Polish language menus will appear in the untranslated applications. Arguably, a bonus feature of this distribution are the video and audio codecs normally unavailable in a CD-based distribution. Thanks to these codecs, users will be able to play files encoded in the most popular video/audio formats.

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Gdańsk 2016

Thanks to the translation efforts of Zbigniew Jankowski Gdańsk has lately published Kashubian version of its Web site promoting the city’s aspirations to become the European Capital of Culture in 2016.

Although the idea of promoting the diverse cultures of Europe has been born in 1995, it’s been only lately that two separate European cities are being nominated concurrently: one from the original EU countries and one from the states that have recently joined the Union.  In this case, the contestants will represent Spain and from Poland.

What is still disappointing (and we’re also referring here to the City of Gdańsk homepage we wrote about last year) is the static nature of the Kashubian-language portals. Aside from short news stories, the content is largely stagnant; still, the new Kashubian Web site is a step in the right direction and supports the ultimate goal of the language’s presence on the WWW.

I have started a Kashubian bibliography page in English. Although definitely incomplete, hopefully it will keep growing affording the English-speaking researchers a place where they can initiate their academic queries. Having said that, you may send me references to be added to the list, as long as they are electronically available.

• en.kaszubia.com/culture/bibliography

Yurek

Stolem's Medal (source: www.pomorania.pl)

On 28 May 2009, at 6PM in Gdańsk’s Staromiejski City Hall on Korzenna Street 33/35, Ida Czaja and Roman  Drzeżdżon will be recognized with the Stolem’s Medal award. From its inception in 1967, this Pomorania Student Club’s award recognizes organizations and individuals who have distinguished themselves by popularizing or otherwise impacting the development of the Pomerania region and Kashubia.

Ida Czaja is a school teacher and a Kashubian poet who has been publishing since the 1990’s. She debuted in a Kashubian periodical “Tatczëzna”.

Roman Drzeżdżon is a Kashubian publicist, published author, and a poet.  When not writing, Drzeżdżon can be found at the Puck Regional Museum where he holds a fulltime position.

Five schools have submitted their candidate nominations for this year’s Student Nobel award organized by the University of Gdańsk Independent Student Association (ISA), a venture aimed at recognizing outstanding students. Of the submitted entries, 56 Pomerelia  student nominees were acknowledged in the academic, social, sports, arts, and volunteer categories.

This year’s Student Nobel recipient is a Kashub, a graduate of the University of Gdańsk’s Polish Philology Master’s program and a multi-discipline PhD student of the Slavic Studies, Russian Philology, and Philosophy, Hanna Makurat.

Makurat has contributed a number of academic papers, mostly dealing with Kashubian culture (especially the language), and has  published several works in Kashubian. She is also the author of the first thesis entirely written in the Kashubian language.

In 2007, Hanna Makurat had claimed the regional Primus Inter Pares award considered to be the Student Nobel’s preliminary.

More information about Makurat can be found on these Web sites:

• Hanna’s home page: hana.kashubia.com
• Biography and poetry published on the ZYMK portal
• Biography and works (original and translations) published on the Czëtnica portal
• Pictures from the Student Nobel award ceremony are available at ISA.

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To accommodate reviews of Kashubian books, I have started a new section called “Book Reviews” located in the “Culture” section of the portal.

If you would like to contribute to this section, please let me know (reviews don’t have to be written in English).

On 31 January 2009, in Dwór Artusa in Gdańsk, TVP Gdańsk, Radio Gdańsk, and Gazeta Wyborcza held a deliberation aiming at addressing the question of  “Kashubians:  who are they?”

Paweł Zbierski, in the next episode of his “For two voices” multimedia debate will present two competing outlooks on Kashubian movement:  “traditional” and “modern.”

The program will air on the TVP Gdańsk channel on 7 February at 6:50 PM. In addition, it will be available online at the station’s portal.

Radio Gdańsk is planning to rebroadcast the program on 9 February at 8 PM. Again, it will be accessible via the Internet, for those who missed the original broadcast.

Verba Sacra - Kashubian Bible

As part of the Verba Sacra – Polish Cathedral Prayers series, on 19 January, at 5 P.M. at Wejherowo Collegiate (Fara), The Gospel  According to St. Matthew will be presented in Kashubian language.  The author of the translation (including commentary on the Book) is Fr. Adam Ryszard Sikora (OFM)also know by other Kashubian New  Testament translations. Fragments of the Gospel (in Kashubian) will be read by Danuta Stenka, with remarks by prof. Jerzy Treder and Fr. Adam Ryszard Sikora.

Verba Sacra is a project realized since 2000 and established by a film director, Przemysław Basiński.

The Verba Sacra 2009 music was composed by Tadeusz Korthals (Northstudio) and Cyprian Wieczorkowski (Lud Hauza). The variety of music to be performed during the event will be provided by a band consisting of: (more…)

On 10 January 2009, at the Main Library of the University of Gdańsk, 86 students representing 31 high schools of the region attended the 22nd Pomerania Knowledge Contest organized by the Student Club “Pomorania.” Contestants were selected at the school level preliminary eliminations (500 participants.)

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