Barbara po wodzie, Boże Narodzenie po lodzie.
Listen
What it means
“Barbara on water, Christmas on ice.” If it rains on Saint Barbara’s Day (December 4), Christmas will be frosty and icy. One of many Polish calendar proverbs linking a saint’s feast day to seasonal weather.
Vocabulary
- Barbara — Saint Barbara (feast day: December 4)
- woda — water; po wodzie = on water, amid water
- Boże Narodzenie — Christmas (lit. God's Birth)
- lód — ice; po lodzie = on ice
Grammar note
'Po + locative' here means 'on' or 'amid': po wodzie (on water), po lodzie (on ice). 'Boże Narodzenie' is a neuter noun phrase in the nominative.
Cultural context
Saint Barbara is also the patron saint of miners in Poland, celebrated on December 4 with Barbórka — the miners' feast.
Intermediate
Noticed a typo, a wrong translation, or anything that doesn't look right? We'd love to fix it — just let us know via the contact page. Thank you!
More Polish proverbs
- "A stepmother, even if made of sugar, is always bitter." No matter how kind a stepmother tries to …
- "For a wise head, two words are enough." A clever person needs only a brief hint to understand; …
- "A Pole is wise after the damage is done." Poles (or people in general) tend to learn from mistakes …
- "The wise will accept advice; the fool will scorn it." Intelligent people are open to counsel, while …