# obchodzisz imieniny



## lrforever1

This is from a girl to a guy . Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

_Skarbie wlasnie zobaczylam ze dzisiaj jest Artura nie wiem czy obchodzisz imieniny_

Also, does anyone know what _tesknie_ means?


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## mcibor

Hi Irforever and welcome to forum!

It means roughly:

Darling, I just saw that today it's Artur's namesday. Do you celebrate that?

Tęsknię means I miss you.


In Poland we celebrate birthday, till around 20 - 30y, nameday starting from 20 years old.


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## Koalino

Dear Mcibor, maybe in Szczecin you celebrate your birthday till you are 20-30 years old and your namesday after you are 20. In Masovia region we celebrate birthday and namesday every year starting from the moment we were born.   You are not obliged to do a party, but wishes and gifts are more than acceptable!! 
Best wishes and take care!


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## majlo

I don't think that's a fixed rule. I have never celebrated my name day in my whole life. I don't even know when my name day falls.


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## Koalino

It depends on your family background, but according to Polish culture you celebrate your namesday as well. In my family for instance everybody knows all important dates, namesdays included and we celebrate them the way we want. My namesday falls only once a year so I know exactly when..


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## majlo

Koalino said:


> It depends on your family background



That's pretty interesting. Could you elaborate on that?


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## Koalino

If you haven't celebrated your namesday so far, it means that this tradition isn't so important for members of your family... My parents, my relatives and my friends know exactly when my namesday falls beacuase they have always observed this tradition in their families...I don't know if it's clear enough for you... Anyway, the Polish, as you know, are one of the most religious people in the world, and according to our catholic roman religion we should celebrate our saint patron's day. For instance, I'm Anna, the catholic church celebrates S.Anna's day on 26.July, so on that day I celebrate my laic namesay and I should celebrate my saint patron's day as well... However, the last one "rule" isn't observed by all catholics, but I know that the Italian leaving in the southern Italy do celebrate their namesday.
Anyway, if you want to start celebrating your namesday, look on a calendar and check your saint patron's day. S.Anna's day is only once a year, but for instance S.Maria is celebrated almost every month! You should choose your s.patron's day which falls immediately after your birthday. E.g. if you were born on 16.April, you choose your patron's day after that date.  Am I clear enough? If you would like to, we can write in Polish as well, eh?  Have a nice day!


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## katie_here

I'm having trouble understanding this too. Is the names day, a saint's day, like St. George's day April 23rd, or is it your christening day, the day you were christened in church? I know it's another question, but are all Polish people named after saints too?


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## Koalino

Yes, all Christians in the remote past (Middle Ages) were named after saints and then celebrated their saint patron's day every year according to the church calendar. I'm not talking about Polish, but all christians in Europe (my Hungarian friend confirms that this tradition exists in her country as well). So, the names day is also your patron's day, and surely NOT your christening day. Nowadays, like other people in the world, we receive names which our parents like, regardless of christian religion. It functions in the same way that in all European countries: we are born and then christened with the name which our parents had chosen. However, the only one difference is that we have a calendar with names in order to know when our names day falls. Look, in our home here in Genoa, Italy, we have on the wall a similar calendar with all saints' names, it belongs to our religious landlord, so I think that Italians used to observe the same tradition, but they forgot about it, except for those leaving in the southern Italy. To give you an example: my boyfriend is from Naples and he and his family always remember their names days...So it also depends from which background you come from... I hope that it is more or less clear now...Bye and good night.


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## katie_here

Yes, it is more or less clear!!    .   I think the tradition has long gone in England, since the country split from Rome and the Catholic church.  Thanks for taking the time to explain!.


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## Koalino

Welcome, the forum exists for that!   I'm glad to be helpful, bye bye! If you have more questions about Polish culture, don't hesitate to ask! We, Slavics and Hungarians, are a little bit more "conservative" nations...


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## Koalino

Just one other thing... If you are curious to see what a calendar with names is like, click simply on link: "calendar" on your Wordreference homepage and choose "Italian calendar". There are some saint patrons days, but not all.


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## majlo

Koalino said:


> If you would like to, we can write in Polish as well, eh?  Have a nice day!



I actually prefer English, if you don't mind. 



Koalino said:


> If you haven't celebrated your namesday so far, it means that this tradition isn't so important for members of your family... My parents, my relatives and my friends know exactly when my namesday falls beacuase they have always observed this tradition in their families...I don't know if it's clear enough for you



All right, but what does it have to do with a family background, which is what you were referring to. What is the interrelationship?



Koalino said:


> ... Anyway, the Polish, as you know, are one of the most religious people in the world,



Yes, I know. Almost 90% of Roman Catholics - 'half' of them haven't practised in years or don't practise at all (even though they're officially Christians, and appear as such in the legal documents), and the other 'half' don't know anything about this religion. 

Going on to say, I do prefer other pretexts to throw parties and exchange gifts. I don't know if I should be ashamed of this, but I didn't even realize name day was in any way related to 'our' religion. Does it only apply to people who are named after saints?


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## Koalino

I would like to reply to Majlo:
1. "*Polacy nie gesi, swoj jezyk maja*". 
2. "background", accoridng to Cambridge Dictionary is your family and your experience of education, living conditions, wealth, etc. (e.g. "The school has pupils from many different ethnic/cultural/religious backgrounds."). I referred to cultural and religious background - if you have never celebrated your names day, it means that this custom probably has never been observed in your family, because, I'm guessing, you have been living abroad for many many years far away form Polish traditions or it isn't important for your family or maybe you don't remeber it at all.
3. Even if we don't practise our religion, generally we remember to celebrate our names day. By now this tradition belongs to our culture, regardless of our religion.
4. This tradition is not applied only to those who are named after saints. People leaving in the Middle Ages thought in that way. Nowadays parents choose names they like, and if a name doesn't appear in a calendar, it doesn't matter. However, modern calendars are being constantly filled with new names and it doesn't mean that there must exist any saint  However, generally, if you think of it, our names are christian names... Apart from strange names, like Jagoda, Roza, etc... which you can find as well in some calendars.


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