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  What it means

  “Barbara on water, Christmas on ice.” If it rains on Saint Barbara’s Day (December 4), Christmas will be frosty and icy. One of many Polish calendar proverbs linking a saint’s feast day to seasonal weather.

  Vocabulary

  • Barbara — Saint Barbara (feast day: December 4)
  • woda — water; po wodzie = on water, amid water
  • Boże Narodzenie — Christmas (lit. God's Birth)
  • lód — ice; po lodzie = on ice

  Grammar note

  'Po + locative' here means 'on' or 'amid': po wodzie (on water), po lodzie (on ice). 'Boże Narodzenie' is a neuter noun phrase in the nominative.

  Cultural context

  Saint Barbara is also the patron saint of miners in Poland, celebrated on December 4 with Barbórka — the miners' feast.

  Intermediate

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