Na zdrowie
Growing up in a family of Polish
heritage provided me and my cousins with a handful of Polish words and phrases.
I cannot say "I would like some milk for my cereal", but I can say "I need to use the outhouse". (My grandma, or "Babcia" was from the old country). My cousin Bev recently wished me Na
zdrowie for my birthday. Meaning “for health” or “to your health, it is the
Polish toast. Pronounced, nahz drove
yay, it also doubles as “bless you” after a sneeze. Both customs, raising
glasses with kind words and blessing after sneezes have ancient origins and no
concrete evidence seems to exist how they came about. Do you sneeze your soul
out? Does a sneeze mean you might be catching the plague? Does your heart stop
momentarily when you sneeze? Is your
wine so bad you put stale bread in it, (toast), to “soak up the bad flavors”?
Do you clink glasses to splash liquid with your host to safeguard against being
poisoned or is it to make noise to ward off the ever present evil spirits? Ah,
maybe it dates back to when folks did not have individual cups and the drinking
vessel was shared. Left floating in a bowl, the community cup was “raised” to
others when a drink was taken.
I find it curious that, in many
languages, the same word or phrase applies. “Did someone sneeze? No but I’d
like a drink”.
I know…no travel news. It is a
rainy day in Santa Fe. Hey, maybe that will be the start of a poem.
Anyway, at the end of the battle, Viking warriors would decapitate the king or leader of the tribe/army they had just vanquished and that night would drink from his skull--spelled skoll--as a sign of respect for the fallen opponent. It was only then, Viking warriors believed, could an opponent who had fought valiantly be allowed into Valhalla.
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