Posted on 10/05/2008 10:42:33 AM PDT by Matt_Rel
Interesting about the salute, thanks.
I’m confused. Since when or when do they fly a flay with the falcon on it? I though it was just the horizontal white over red stripe?
With the falcon is cooler. Just confused.
In Poland every child is taught that a two-finger salute comes from the battle of Olszynka Grochowska.
It’s White Eagle, legends sais that when Mieszko I, first ruler of Poland baptised Poland in Gniezno (or Legnica) in 966 A.D. lots of White Eagles surrounded him. After Mieszko sweared the oath, he noticed all of the white eagles and claimed that this bird will forever be the sign of Poland.
Other legend sais: “The White Eagle emblem originated when Poland’s legendary founder Lech saw a white eagle’s nest. When he looked at the bird, a ray of sunshine from the red setting sun fell on its wings, so they appeared tipped with gold, the rest of the eagle was pure white. He was delighted and decided to settle there and placed the eagle on his emblem. He also named the place Gniezdno (currently Gniezno) from the Polish word gniazdo (nest).
This tale could be considered as an allusion to the legend of the city of Rome which was founded by Romulus and Remus. Auspicium is the ancient rite of observing birds of prey flights in order to get support of gods for future arranged actions. A less romantic version assumes that Poland adopted the emblem from the Roman Empire (like many other European countries).” <— wikipedia
Anyway... It’s over one thousand years since we’ve started to use our Eagle as the coat of arms
Eagle. Right. Was thinking of that Polish Falcon thang and didn’t look
I cannot speak for every child in Poland, but I can say that also I was taught that by the Drill Sergeant who formally introduced me to military life in the Summer of 1966. A few months later, when I was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, the first salute I received was from Sergeant Stanisław Kryla, given with two fingers, though he happened to be in U.S. military uniform at the time.
To this day, I consider it one of the greatest honors I've been paid.
Good tradition for Poland, a bit pretentious for some other less well-estasblished nations.
But may Poland's Eagle fly free for another thousand years!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.