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  What it means

  “If geese walk on water on Saint Catherine’s day, Christmas will be on ice.” A weather proverb: if there is no frost and water is still unfrozen on Saint Catherine’s day (November 25), then Christmas will be cold and icy.

  Vocabulary

  • Katarzyna — Catherine
  • gęś — goose
  • woda — water
  • lód — ice
  • Boże Narodzenie — Christmas

  Grammar note

  'Na Katarzynę' uses the accusative of 'Katarzyna' after 'na' in a temporal sense. 'Po wodzie' and 'po lodzie' use the locative after 'po' meaning 'on/over'.

  Cultural context

  Saint Catherine of Alexandria's feast day is November 25. This proverb is a folk weather forecast linking late-autumn conditions to the Christmas period.

  Intermediate

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