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| Ioannes Dantiscus (1485-1548) |
On 1 October, 2015, Prussian Bishop Ioannes Dantiscus turned 530 years old. Because Bryan performs his research in a lab with six other people whose jobs are to catalogue and digitize Dantiscus' massive early modern correspondence, Warsaw is the center of the world when it comes to celebrating Dantiscus' birthday. In fact, Warsaw witnessed what was almost assuredly the world's only celebration of Dantiscus' birthday! On 15 November, the Dantiscus Lab's director - Anna Skolimowska - hosted a (slightly late) birthday impreza (party) for Dantiscus at her house in Wilanów, a neighborhood in the south of Warsaw. Most of the people for the Lab were able to attend and we enjoyed one of our most bizarre and entertaining afternoons yet in Poland.
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| Carcassonne with Anna Skolimowska |
We arrived in midafternoon and were greeted by a full array of soups, meats, salads, and drinks that Anna had prepared for everyone. We contributed a homemade sweet potato pie, something that was new to almost everyone at the party. Anna kept bringing out fresh dishes throughout the afternoon, so we really never stopped eating. For the first few hours, we all played the board game Carcassonne, a game in which you construct medieval villages and cities. Several times Team Kozik was foiled by the appearance of the smok (dragon) from the wulkan (volcano) - the Polish version of Carcassonne is considerable more complicated than the American version we'd played before! But it was great to participate in cross-cultural board game nerd-iness! After the game, we continued the celebration with a series of cakes in honor of Dantiscus, accompanied by some intense sparklers (indoors), proudly waved around by Anna's husband!
The party got even more interesting later in the evening. In addition to another round of food and a third cake, Anna also brought out her homemade liqueur in s
everal fruity flavors, all of which were sweet and delicious. Those of us who stayed into the evening sang historic and patriotic Polish songs as Anna accompanied on guitar. We sang folk songs, military songs, and songs from famous movies. Kasia was kind enough to print out the lyrics for us non-Poles. Then, in yet another unexpected turn, Anna brought out her collection of medieval swords and spears, which we all wielded as we marched around the room singing about the Polish troops marching across the Ukrainian steppe! Then at the suggestion of Bryan's advisor - Marek Janicki - we all sang a canon (round) in harmony. This was complicated only by the fact that it was in German! We didn't leave Anna's house until well after 10pm, but we had a wonderful time and experienced our first traditional Polish party - at least we think that's what it was!
The party got even more interesting later in the evening. In addition to another round of food and a third cake, Anna also brought out her homemade liqueur in several fruity flavors, all of which were sweet and delicious. Those of us who stayed into the evening sang historic and patriotic Polish songs as Anna accompanied on guitar. We sang folk songs, military songs, and songs from famous movies. Kasia was kind enough to print out the lyrics for us non-Poles. Then, in yet another unexpected turn, Anna brought out her collection of medieval swords and spears, which we all wielded as we marched around the room singing about the Polish troops marching across the Ukrainian steppe! Then at the suggestion of Bryan's advisor - Marek Janicki - we all sang a canon (round) in harmony. This was complicated only by the fact that it was in German! We didn't leave Anna's house until well after 10pm, but we had a wonderful time and experienced our first traditional Polish party - at least we think that's what it was!
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