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  What it means

  “When on Saint Catherine’s Day the ice doesn’t form – prepare a sleigh; when on Saint Catherine’s Day there is frost – prepare a cart.” If it is mild on November 25, expect a snowy winter requiring a sleigh; if it is frosty, expect a dry winter where a wheeled cart will do.

  Vocabulary

  • Katarzyna — Catherine (Saint Catherine's Day, November 25)
  • lód — ice
  • stanąć — to form, to stand (here: ice forming)
  • sanie — sleigh
  • szykować — to prepare
  • mróz — frost
  • wóz — cart, wagon

  Grammar note

  'Lód nie stanie' — 'stanąć' in the perfective future means the ice 'will not form'. The contrast between 'sanie' (sleigh) and 'wóz' (cart) encodes the weather prediction.

  Cultural context

  Saint Catherine's Day (November 25) was a key date in the Polish folk calendar for predicting winter conditions.

  Intermediate

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