F for Fiedler's Museum

 

Arkady Fiedler (1894/1985) was a Polish writer, traveler, and naturalist. During his life, the man took part in numerous expeditions to several countries on all continents. 

Some years ago, I happened to see the museum situated in Fiedler's family home in Puszczykowo (not far from Poznań, Poland), and I did enjoy watching all the exhibits there. The small items are on display in the house. Others, placed in the yard, are interesting reconstructions.

Some of the structures are:
a statue from Easter Island,
a monument to Crazy Horse, Lakota chief,
Sitting Bull statue,
and the Gate of the Sun (Lake Titicaca area, Bolivia).

The place is worth visiting, but probably not many people know about it.

Santa Maria - replica

Fiedler wrote 32 books. One of them, "303 Squadron" (about the WWII Battle of Britain fighting squadron), was on our school reading list. 

"The River of Singing Fish" ("Ryby Spiewają w Ukajali") about his trip to South America, bought by my sister, we had at home.

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"My Polish Alphabet" is related to things, places, and people that come to my mind when I think about Poland.

A Little Rose Song

Recently, my mom has asked me whether the local German choirs sing a song about a little rose. I do not think they have it in their repertoire, but I do know they sing about a white rose of Athens.
The song which mom remembers from her childhood is "Heidenröslein".

Its lyrics were originally a poem written in 1791 by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (born 1749/ died 1832). The poem was dedicated to Miss Friederike Brion, a pastor's daughter. Goethe and Friederike were involved in a love affair.

The words of the poem tell a story about a boy who picks a little rose without her consent and her suffering because of that. Metaphorically, it can be taken as a situation when the boy forces himself on a girl.

Who knows what really happened between the two considering that the romance between the writer and Friederike did not last long. Allegedly, the man cut the relationship short, and the lady never married, despite having a proper suitor later. Or maybe it was all the poet's imagination?

Several composers, including Schubert and Lehar, wrote the music for "Heidenröslein". However, it was the tune created by Heinrich Werner in 1829 that made the poem a popular song.

Source: Wikipedia

A Christmas (Related) Story

My auntie had a Nativity set. 

During non-Christmas time, she kept it on the top of the wall unit in their living room. Once, in the summertime, I visited her (I think I was about 5 then). The aunt told me not to touch the Nativity set figurines. Being made of holy communion-type wafers, they were fragile. 

I was too little to see what exactly was up there on the furniture. The aunt's remark made me curious, though. When nobody else was in the room, I took a chair, climbed up, and aahhhh! There they were! Jesus looked so good to me! So good that I ate him. The figurine was a bit dusty, but tasted really good! Baby Jesus was the smallest of them all so I thought little damage was done. 

When my aunt found out that Jesus had disappeared from the crib, she knew it was me. Well, the lady was very displeased, to say the least. My thought then was - auntie should not have told me about the wafer figures. Did I feel guilty? Not really. However, I was ashamed I ate Jesus. 

Dear Aunt, God bless your soul.

Photo: from Nativity display at Holy Ghost Lutheran Church