Katarzyna Zielińska
A Lesson of Ułańska Fantazja
Polish culture beyond pierogi and sausage
Ja jestem Polak, a Polak jest wariat,
a wariat to lepszy gość (…).
Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński “Liryka,liryka, tkliwa dynamika”
Thankfully, the times when Poles were considered as car thieves (in Germany), plumbers (in
the United Kingdom) and drunkards (in France) are long gone. In the last 20 years or so we
have shown the rest of Europe and the world that we are an exceptional nation indeed. There
is an abundance of very talented Polish people working abroad in a variety of professions.
They are scientists, doctors, inventors, designers, artists… They are very different when
compared with one another. They make different contributions to the country in which they
live. But they all have something in common. They carry a load of Polish heritage with all its
colours and flavours and they promote Polish culture in the most straightforward and at the
same time the hardest way- by the way they are and the way they live.
“Poles, Poles everywhere!”
There is something is the history of Poland that makes Poles different. We are the nation of
travellers who has chosen a life away from our beloved motherland to find what we could not
have in Poland. It could have been freedom (both political and of art), money or opportunities
for personal development. Our strife for the mystical more has taken us to some very distant
lands in Latin America, Africa, Far East and Oceania. If you go abroad, it does not matter to
which country, after a few days you could exclaim ‘Poles, Poles everywhere!’ There is much
truth in that saying as there is not a country in the world where there would not be a Polish
community of some sort- smaller or bigger, looser or tighter. Poles really are everywhere.
And thanks to that we have countless possibilities of promoting our culture in various ways.
Living among other nations we can show them what it means to be Polish in a very direct and
effective way. There is no need for books, podcasts, albums and university courses- Poles can
teach Englishmen, Frenchmen, Chileans and New Zealanders everything that there is to
discover in Polish culture just by living among them. But despite all these opportunities, we
somehow failed on that field and are still failing, because we do not focus on what is truly
exceptional, feeding people with what they already know or what they can experience in an
encounter with any culture. This fundamental mistake slows down the promotion of what
Polish culture can offer outside Poland.
Pierogi, sausage and cabbage
It is interesting how the notion of Polish culture has changed over time. When the great artists
like Chopin, Mickiewicz or Słowacki have been working in France, Polish culture was
something to be proud of. This trend followed through the decades, but we were somehow
losing it and after the Second World War, when so called imigracja za chlebem (immigration
for bread, i.e. for economic reasons) has begun on a mass scale. I do not know what happened
to our pride in Polish roots, but there was clearly some process of decline. The times when
Napoleon Bonaparte used to say ‘For my Poles there is no such thing as impossible’ were
forgotten. Feeling of pride was replaced with a sense of intimidation and shame. Coming
from Poland was a troublesome fact from one’s life. It seems that it was then when all the
harmful, and in the majority of situations unjust, stereotypes has entrenched in the mentality
of the Western world in particular.
In the 21st century the picture looks slightly different. When you ask a foreigner what he
thinks when he hears ‘Poland’, he usually exhibits an excellent knowledge of Polish cuisine.
He has eaten pierogi on his trip to Łódź twenty years ago, has tried wódka with his Polish
mate at university and he knows Polish sausages because in his neighbourhood there are two
Polski Skleps with the best meat supply in the area. He also claims that the main ingredient in
a Polish kitchen is cabbage. Polish culinary culture is excellent indeed, but it is rather
worrying that it has become the main thing we are proud of. Clearly there is nothing better
than freshly-baked chleb krakowski, with butter and kabanos, but is it really something
exceptional? Germans have their weisswurst, the English have bread pudding and the French
have soupe à l'oignon. Even when we couple it with well-known Polish hospitality, this is not
something that would intrigue people abroad. Polish cuisine has become our successful
‘export product’ and it is important that there are Polish food festivals organised outside
Poland, but don’t we have something else? Don’t we have a national treasure that should be
finally revealed to the world, shouted about on street corners? Years ago we managed to
export Chopin to Japan, but times of praise of Polish cultural achievements have already
gone. We need to concentrate on something else, something more exceptional.
And there is something exceptional that we, Poles, have that cannot really be found
elsewhere. It is ułańska fantazja.
Ułańska fantazja
The term ułańska fantazja is incapable of being translated, because it carries with itself a load
of what can be called quintessentially Polish culture. Bravado does not relay reflect the
wealth of meanings and shades that ułańska fantazja entails. It is a combination of bravery,
hardihood, fervour and creativity unparalleled in any other nation. Why is this so? It seems
that because of our history, our ancestors had to develop an ability to improvise in a variety
of situations. In times of annexations, Poles had to use their fantasy to preserve their sense of
Polishness. This fantasy has even brought some of the Poles living in the late 1800s to
Cameroon where they sought to establish a Polish colony. Now we perceive this as an
irrational idea that could not end up as anything else but a failure. However, try to get into the
minds of those incredibly brave and imaginative men who genuinely believed that a second
Poland could be built away from the land by the Vistula. During both world wars Poles have
exhibited an unprecedented level of creativity when fighting for freedom and lives of their
families. The period of the communist ruling was not in any way easier. Empty shelves in
shops, basic articles rationalised, inability to move freely and censorship. How can you
survive in such an absurd reality without this ułańska fantazja that sustained the nation for
centuries? Have a look only at Bareja’s films (although they are a hyperbole) to see what was
the Polish state of mind at the time! Continuous improvisation, exchanging ration stamps and
trying to sieve the truth from the news on a national radio. Those who have never
experienced life under such conditions can only try to imagine what a blessing ułańska
fantazja was for those people. This inborn quality helped Poles to get through the hardest
times- and make most of it! As Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński said, a Pole is a lunatic, but a
lunatic is a better man. And it seems that his life is also better because of his lunacy.
A lesson for today
What does ułańska fantazja have to do with culture anyway? Culture is not only music,
cuisine, art, architecture and theatre. This is how we traditionally see culture, because this is
how we are taught in school, but culture is also the way of life and attitudes toward the world.
It is precisely in this sense that ułańska fantazja is an integral element of Polish culture. I
would even say that it is the quintessence of Polish culture.
You might also ask what the idea of ułańska fantazja has to do with the modern world and
how it relates to promotion of Polish culture abroad. The times of struggle for survival are
long gone. No one thinks about colonising distant lands. There is no iron curtain behind
which we are hidden from the great free world. But the ułańska fantazja is still is in our
Polish blood and can be a lesson for today for other nations among which we happen to live.
Polish immigrants, even though they usually live in much more comfortable conditions, still
employ their fantazja to get through life in a little bit more interesting and fulfilling way. And
they can be an inspiration for other nations- motivate them to live their life in a more
intensive and less predictable manner. This lesson would certainly show nations that are a bit
more cautious in their attitudes- and it might even trigger an outburst of creativity and
unprecedented solutions.
Showing and promoting such an abstract concept abroad is a challenging task. It is much
easier to offer such cultural assets such as music, works of arts or even science. But ułańska
fantazja is a great gift that we can give to the world. It is therefore worth remembering about
this element of our Polish heritage. Let us hope that this idea of creativity coupled with
extraordinary bravery that has been an attribute of Poles for centuries will be finally
popularised abroad and that we, Poles living in foreign countries, will remember about
ułańska fantazja and try to show our international friends that it is a virtue that can be a very
beneficial addition to their national characteristics.