What is Goral and who are the Gorals?

The Goral flag

   What is Goral?

Goral is the term used for the Polish dialects spoken by the Gorals.There are many varieties of Goral that are all mutually inteligible.The Podhale dialect is the de facto standard literary Goral dialect due to Podhale being the most famously known region however, the majority of Gorals speak really closely related dialects.Gorals themselves rarely differentiate between their dialects and just refer to them as Górolski.This is the dialect you will be taught here.

Now about the orthography.To put it short there is no standard.Isn't that neat?All those rules you had to memorize in school like aren't needed here.A similar situation is with the alphabet however the Gwara Góralsko Skolnego Podholo is the leading one online.It is based off the alphabet used in the book Sabała by Andrzej Stopka Nazimek.

Exert from Sabała

A B C D E É F G H I J K L Ł M N O Ó Ô P R Ś T U V W Y Ý Z Ź

and diagraphs : Trz Strz rz ch

How do you pronounce these weird looking letters?

É-/ɪ̈/ to /ɘ/

Ł-/ł/ or /ɫ/

Ó-/o/

Ô-/uo/

Ś-ɕ

W-/v/

Y-/ɨ/

Ý-/i/

Ź-/ʑ/

Trz-/t͡ʂ/

Strz-/ʂt͡ʂ/

Ch-/x/

Ok but G-what?

Gorals.They are an ethnic group in Central Europe inhabiting an ethnic region called the Goral Lands or as we call it in Goral Góralscýzno split between Poland Slovakia and Czechia.We have our own regions,folk costumes,language history and even our own restraunt chain.

Map of the Goral Lands and it's regions

A little about the geography of the Goral Lands.It is a hilly/mountains region dominated by forests and fields.Near the capital city,Nowy Targ (Goral:Miasto) you will find the only proper lowlands.The Goral Lands are extremely cold in the winter with -20 and lower temperatures being the norm.In the summer there are ocassionally some hot days but it's usually mildly warm or stormy.A wind called Halny is a dread to the region.It is a warm strong gust of wind that wreaks havoc in the season.Storms are also deadly anually causing many deaths.Now enough with the darkness time to talk about the cities .The main city as mentioned before is Miasto.It doesn't offer much other than a nice looking old town and a Mcdonald's.The most famous town city is probbably Zakopane.It is more adjusted to tourism however it is very crowded in the season and is extremely commercialized.In the Goral Lands there is a lot of natural beauty everywhere you go.Some attractions include the Dónajec (in Polish Dunajec) river gorge in the Pieniny mountains,The Babia Góra massive,the many lakes in the Tatras,the crater from Vyšné Ružbachy (in Goral: Górne Druzboki).

A lake in the Tatras

The Goral Lands are famous for their architecture too.First off nearly everything that is Goral is made out of wood.The Zakopane style is very prominent in the regions homes restraunts and even shops.You will see it everywhere where you go.Folk patterns are everywhere in this architecture.It is a combination of rustic with elegant,peasant with noble and tradition with the modern world.Another thing that is quite prominent is the Podhale church style.It combines Eastern European and Gothic styles into impressive structures.The chapel from Jaszczurówki (In Goral:Jascurówki) is a great example of this.It is arguably the most iconic Goral church.Another church is the Tatranská Javorina (in Goral: Tatrzańsko Jaworzýna) church located in the beautiful surroundings of the Tatras.

So let's learn a little about Goral culture shouldn't we? For starters are quite diverse between regions however we are all similar in some ways so not everything here might apply for all regions.If there is one thing that is stereotyped about the Gorals more then scamming in Zakopane it's Ô S C Y P E K .We Gorals have a long tradition of being sheep herders and thus cheese makers.If not for the fact sheeps existed the Goral Lands would probbably be a drastically different place and maybe not even exist.Out of the many cheese vareties we produce ôscypek is the most famous.It is produced traditionally out of sheep milk with a small admixture of cow's milk.It is put into a mold covered in patterns giving it it's distinct look and shape.It is often fried and eaten with the most Goral of all sauces,cranberry sauce.

You either hate it or love it,there is no inbetween

Another famous thing is the folk music.It varies quite a bit from region to region but usually features bagpipes and string instruments similar to violins.Here is a link to a video with folk music from different Goral regions.Folk costumes are also very famous.Each town has it's own embroidery indicating where you are from.It is often worn on special ocassions like to church or on a national celebration.

Ždiar (in Goral:Zor) folk costumes in the Slovak Goral Lands