What would a Polish Christmas season be without a gathering that included a “short artistic program” — a skit? It seems the urge to produce amateur dramatic performances leaches into the potatoes that sustain Poles because it’s simply everywhere.

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Yet the idea behind such performances are among the things that keep a culture alive for centuries. It’s the same creative impulse that leads to symphonies and epics.

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And in a situation like the one in which K and the other area Poles find themselves, in a different land with different traditions, such performances ensure that the legacy they leave to their children will have a significant element of beets, potatoes, consonant-laden words, and songs — a culture within a culture.

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Last year’s celebration is here.