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  What it means

  Pancras, Servatius and Boniface — bad lads for gardens. The feast days of these three saints (12, 13, 14 May) fall during the Ice Saints period, when late frosts can destroy garden plants.

  Vocabulary

  • Pankracy — Pancras (saint's name)
  • Serwacy — Servatius (saint's name)
  • Bonifacy — Boniface (saint's name)
  • zły — bad, evil, wicked
  • ogród — garden
  • chłopak — boy, lad (here used playfully for the saints)

  Grammar note

  'Źli' is the nominative plural masculine of 'zły'. 'Na ogrody' uses the accusative after 'na' indicating effect or impact.

  Cultural context

  The Ice Saints (Święci Lodowi) — Pancras (12 May), Servatius (13 May), Boniface (14 May) — are associated with the last cold snaps of spring in Central European folk meteorology.

  Intermediate

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