The Polish History and Culture Challenge

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Poster designed by footnoteMaven!

Poster designed by footnoteMaven!

October is Polish-American Heritage Month!  In honor of this national celebration, What’s Past is Prologue is hosting the Polish History and Culture Challenge.  If you have Polish ancestry, it’s a great time to learn more about those ancestors and their lives.  But, even if you do not have any Polish blood, I invite you to take the opportunity to learn more about the country, its long history, and its people.

What’s involved with the “challenge”?  Simply do one, some, or all of the following “tasks” – or similar ones of your own invention.  Then, write about it on your blog.  Email me the link and I’ll post a round-up at the end of the month to see how much we all learned.  The best part is that you don’t have to have Polish ancestry to participate!  Become an honorary Pole by joining in on the fun!

Here are some ideas on how to celebrate Polish-American Heritage Month and participate in the challenge:

Genealogy

  • Find a Polish ancestor’s hometown
  • Decipher a Polish record
  • Write about one of your ancestor’s hometowns
  • Write a biography of one of your Polish ancestors
  • Develop a research plan for a hard-to-find ancestor
  • Join a Polish genealogical society
  • Contribute to a Polish genealogical record indexing project

History

  • Read a book about Poland or its history and tell us about it
  • Research an event in Polish history
  • Write about a Polish historical figure
  • Write about a famous Pole in the arts or sciences
  • Learn about Poland’s history through maps or photographs

Culture

  • Experiment with Polish food – make a recipe or try a restaurant
  • Read a novel by a Polish author or one set in Poland
  • Write about a famous Pole that you admire
  • Watch a Polish film
  • Learn how to Polka
  • Learn about some Polish customs or folklore

The possibilities are endless, but hopefully at least one of these ideas will be interesting to you.  I hope you will join me in celebrating Polish-American Heritage Month.  If you would like to participate in the challenge, email me with the title, subject, and URL of your post at djpoint at gmail dot com.  You can either send me emails as you post, or one at the end of the month if you post on multiple subjects!  All of the posts will be published in a round-up during the first week of November. Dziękuję!

5 thoughts on “The Polish History and Culture Challenge”

  1. Good going Donna! I hope to read a lot of great stuff about Polish history and culture on my fellow genea-bloggers’ blogs. I’m especially looking forward to restaurant reviews… I can’t wait to read about pierogi, kielbasa, paczki, and bigos! I have a lot of good ideas to write about myself… now if I can just find the time 😉

  2. I am going to try my hand at pierogi and galumpki now that the cold weather is setting in!

  3. Can I celebrate by going to Poland? We’re off at dawn Monday for 2-1/2 weeks in Warsaw, Cracow, Tarnow and Niedomice where my grandfather was born in 1869. One branch of the family still lives in that house and I’m going to meet them! Several cousins are planning a party for us – we’ve only met via e-mail – altho my mother visited 30 years ago. But in 30 years the cast of characters has changed quite a bit. There are second cousins in all the above mentioned towns and cities and I’m eager to meet all of them. We’ll rent a car and see what is along the road, too. We’re packed and ready.

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