Poland

=**Get a Glimpse of Poland!**=


 * By:**
 * Julie O'Leary - Story Teller**
 * Ilona DiCosmo - News Reporter**
 * Marlon Alphonse - Contemporary Artist**
 * Angelic Segond - Anthropologist**

Story Teller:
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 * The Legend of Rusalkas**



It is said that there are Slavic water spirits called Rusalka who are believed to live in the forests and lakes of western Poland. Rusalka are thought to be the spirits of murdered girls, brides who died on their wedding night, or young women who died an unnatural or violent death who exist by drawing the energy of life from nearby living things. During certain times of the year Rusalkas come out of the water and sit on branches of willow and birch trees. It is believed that Rusalkas miss the human world and want to share the company of men and the men who are seduced by a Rusalka die in her arms.

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News Reporter:


GEOGRAPHY Poland is located at the heart of the European continent. The country is a meeting place not only for cultures and ideas, but also for conflict and confrontation. Poland has a variety of striking landscapes, from the sandy beaches of the Baltic Sea coast in the north and the rolling central lowlands to the snowcapped peaks of the Carpathian and Sudeten Mountains in the south.

NATURE Poland's large tracts of forested land provide refuge for many animals, including wild boar and the European bison, called a wisent. Once extinct in the wild, the wisent was reintroduced using animals bred in captivity. Poland's Bialowieza Forest is home to the world's largest population of these rare bovines.

PEOPLE AND CULTURE Religion is a very important part of Polish life. Almost all of the population (at least 90 percent) is Roman Catholic. In 1978, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, archbishop of Krakow, became the first-ever Polish pope. He took the name John Paul II and was head of the Catholic Church until his death in 2005.

GOVERNMENT AND ECONOMY Under communism, Poland became a highly industrialized country. Mining, steelworks, and machinery production are still the major industries there. Changing from communist to a free market economy in the 1980s caused much upheaval in Poland. Even today, though most people are better off than they were under Soviet rule, wages are low and unemployment is high. Since joining the European Union in 2004 Poland’s economy has grown rapidly.

What's New? [|Poland has warned the world "stands on the brink of conflict" as the Russian and Ukrainian stand off continues] [|Politican was reportedly drunk when he told customs officer he should 'go to Auschwitz'] [|Radoslaw Sikorski, who said protesters should 'sign a peace deal or die', has been giving running commentary of negotiations on his Twitter account] [|Relic belonging to Polish pope found after thieves mistake for rubbish] [|A Polish conman who posed as at least two priests, accepting donations, holding mass and even hearing confessions has been arrested after years of apparently scamming the faithful] [|Poland's prime minister wades into a high-pitched British row over welfare benefits for migrant workers] [|Poland steps up its attack on Cameron's benefits reform and says Britain should sort out its benefits system, rather than attacking immigrants] [|British taxpayers must continue to pay welfare benefits to children living in Poland while their parents work in UK, says Polish foreign minister] [|An appreciation of the Polish composer, best known for film scores such as Francis Coppola's Dracula] [|Polish president hits out at David Cameron, saying British prime minister is being short-sighted] [|Office for National Statistics says 7.5 million people living in England and Wales were born overseas, as new Census data sheds light on migration trends]
 * [|Ukraine crisis: 'World stands on brink of conflict,' warns Polish prime minister]
 * [|Polish MEP arrested for shouting 'Heil Hitler' in airport]
 * [|Ukraine crisis: Poland's foreign minister tweets his way to a peace deal]
 * [|Italian police find John Paul II relic discarded]
 * [|Polish thief poses as priest to con donations]
 * [|Polish PM offended by Cameron comment about Poles]
 * [|Polish foreign minister: Britain should sort out its welfare system]
 * [|Poland attacks plan to ban migrants from claiming child benefit]
 * [|Wojciech Kilar: 'his work enhances the film, yet stands on its own']
 * [|Lech Walesa: David Cameron is irrational over immigration]
 * [|Foreign-born migrants quadruple in 60 years]

Weather in Poland:

Anthropologist: