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  What it means

  “Saint Catherine ties up Advent — she herself feasts and drinks, yet forbids us.” A humorous, irreverent proverb: Catherine’s feast day (25 November) kicks off the austere Advent fast, yet the saint’s own feast is a day of eating and drinking.

  Vocabulary

  • zawiązywać — to tie up, to bind, to start
  • hulać — to revel, to feast wildly
  • zakazywać — to forbid, to prohibit

  Grammar note

  'Zawiązuje', 'hula', 'pije', 'zakazuje' are all third-person singular present forms. 'Nam' is the dative of 'my' (us).

  Cultural context

  The proverb pokes fun at the irony that the feast of Saint Catherine (25 November) is a day of celebration, yet it ushers in the penitential Advent season.

  Intermediate

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