Merry Christmas everyone!
Can anyone tell me if Gwiazdka is still used in Poland to mean Christmas (or is that word just kept alive in my household?)
Also, my Dad has a memory of the word "Gwiazdor" as an old fashioned word for Father Christmas (not film star), left over from pagan times. Does anyone know if this is right and if so if it is still ever used?
Thanks for your help!

The word of 'Gwiazdka' is slowly dying out, but by all means is still in use. For example, 'prezenty gwiazdkowe' is more common than 'prezenty bożonarodzeniowe', and you still say 'dostałem coś na Gwiazdkę' than 'dostałem coś na Boże Narodzenie'. Perhaps because it's just shorter. As for 'Gwiazdor' describing Santa or whoever drops presents - never heard of that, but then I'm in the Catholic Church. Merry Gwiazdka to you, anyway

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Nierób z zawodu, tłumacz z zamiłowania.

u mnie (na Kaszubach) i w Wielkopolsce na Gwiazdkę prezenty przynosi Gwiazdor
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwiazdor
http://www.wiadomosci24.pl/artykul/miko ... 53311.html
a na Śląsku-Dzieciątko przynosi prezenty.

Wesołych Świąt !

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`Old musicians don't die.They just decompose.`

Thanks for that!
I'm so glad to hear that Gwiazdor is still alive and brings presents to children in some regions of Poland at least. I think we'll invite him round to our house next Christmas, too! I did a search on Google Images for him but he just looked like the Coca Cola Santa - nothing like the description in the article. Is that how you see him? (BTW that image originally stems from a poem by Clement Clarke Moore. It's here, if you're interested: http://www.carols.org.uk/twas_the_night ... istmas.htm )
Kuj2 - Scratch most Catholic traditions and you'll find pagan ones under the surface.

Yeah, but then some of them were uprooted by the Church and that's why I haven't heard about them... but this particular one seems to be rather region- than doctrine-related.

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Nierób z zawodu, tłumacz z zamiłowania.

Nie wydaje mi się, by "Gwiazdka" powoli wymierała. To słowo nigdy nie było w równym stopniu popularne, jak Boże Narodzenie. A Gwiazdor pojawia się nawet w tak pozbawionym wątków folklorystycznych województwie, jak Zachodniopomorske.

Gwiazdor, jak milo ! Moja babcia z Drohobycza tak mowila.
Zawsze z rodzenstwem padalismy ze smiechu slyszac okreslenie (u nas w domu, na Slasku, prezenty przynosilo dzieciatko).
Mysle, ze Gwiazdor przywedrowal na ziemie zachodnie z wygnancami ze wschodu.