On May 15 Poles celebrate the holiday established by Andrzej Zalewski, a journalist who was also the host of Ekoradio in the First Program of the Polish Radio – Forget-me-not Day. This holiday encourages us to remember our relatives, kindness, and openness to other people, to notice them in our housing estate, district, or city. It reminds us of the essence of caring for our surroundings.
Andrzej Zalewski was the initiator of the Polish Forget-me-not Day holiday. These flowers are typically 1 cm in diameter or less; flatly faced; coloured blue, pink, white, or yellow with yellow centres. He used to say that forget-me-nots are modest, graceful flowers that need a little light, a little warmth, just like a human being.
Andrzej Zalewski with forget-me-not flowers // echodnia.eu (photo by K. Cuch)
In 2008, was awarded by the Society for Jordanów an order of merit on behalf of Jordanów. He worked together with Robert K. Leśniakiewicz as part of Eko Radi and as a result, his radio broadcasts included information about Jordanów and weather forecasts for this city.
What is interesting, a literal translation of forget-me-nots means “a mouse ear” in Greek. In Poland, it is commonly named “niezabudka”. Scientists assume that this word is a borrowing from the East Slavic languages or an adapted copy of the German word Vergissmeinnicht.
These flowers are also an inspiration for the artists. For example, Maria Konopnicka wrote the following poem about them:
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English adaptation (retrieved from forum.mlingua.pl): |
Polish original poem by Maria Konopnicka: |
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Forget-me-not
Forget-me-not These flowers have plot They grow near the stream and look through the dream
When you boat they laugh with a quote And whisper demurely: ‘don’t forget me so purely’. |
Niezapominajki
Niezapominajki to są kwiatki z bajki! Rosną nad potoczkiem, patrzą rybim oczkiem.
Gdy się płynie łódką, Śmieją się cichutko I szepcą mi skromnie: „Nie zapomnij o mnie”. |