Intercultural Poland

First Sunday in January Polish people celebrate the day of three Kings, a new  religious holyday introduced since some years. On this day a ceremony commemorating the trip of three kings to Bethlehem is performed on the street of Polish cities. In organized walk of people there are actors playing the scenes form life of Jesus and historical figures from Polish history.

This year I have spotted a figure of  Chinese dragon which sourly  has not been at the time of Jesus present in the area of his  living. I find it as very nice exemplification of intercultural approach of polish society (dragon in a catholic ceremony) and good direction in culturally and religious very homogeneous country.

European Union has quoted latest statistic about the percentage of foreigners living in different countries of EU. Poland is on the last position in ranking with 0,01 % of population with not being a native. This is about 40 000 foreigners, so much as the number of football funs who arrived  at one time during Euro 2012 to Warsaw  for Championship.

This number confirms  the claim about Polish society being culturally very homogenous. When we take into consideration the situation –low expose of Polish people to contacts with other cultures in everyday life and “cultural” heritage of years of cultural isolation during communism (from 1945 till 1989).

I welcome every sign of Polish openness for different cultures. So my WOW for dragon in a catholic ceremony.

This situation confirms also the high level of Hofsede index of  uncertainty avoidance, which in case of Poland is very high – and is at the level of 92 (the higest level is 112 for Greece).

Due to Hofstede „countries exhibiting strong Uncertainty avoidance Index or UAI, maintain rigid codes of belief and behavior and are intolerant of unorthodox behavior and ideas. Weak UAI societies maintain a more relaxed attitude in which practice counts more than principles” (from Wiki English). High level of UAI means that the society tends to regard strangers more as a enemy than a friend, and this set of mind is represented in a approach to others – distrust, lack of openness, exclusion of others.

Poland together with Greece being on the top of list belong to the countries with highest UAI.

Interesting!

High UAI		Low UAI
POLAND	91	Australia	51
Greece	112	India	40
Japan	92	Netherlands	53
France	86	Great Britain	35
		Singapore	8
		USA	46
		China	30

Have a look for ranking of some countries of  low and high UAI countries.

How low UAI is exemplefied in India and China I will blog in next posts.

Warm regards

Wiola

Holidays of 3 Kings is an exceptional day in the year as you can wear the king’s crowd on the street and feel like a King. How nice, people enjoy it!