Parliament approves Silesian as regional language. Speaker Hołownia gets special gift

The lower chamber of the Polish parliament, the Sejm, passed a bill on Friday (April 26) officially recognizing Silesian as a regional language.

In the vote, 236 MP were in favour, 186 against, and 5 abstained.

If approved by the Senate and later by President Andrzej Duda, the act will confirm Silesian as Poland's second regional language. The one already recognized is Kashubian.

After the vote, Speaker of the Sejm Szymon Hołownia was approached by Ewa Kołodziej, a Civic Coalition MP from Katowice, the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship. Speaking in Silesian, the lawmaker handed Hołownia a special mascot.

"Mr Speaker, this here mascot is a bebok (a supernatural being from Silesian folklore - edit.). Her name is Trudzia," she said, adding the mascot was officially certified and could be purchased in Silesia.

Hołownia accepted the gift with a smile and placed the mascot on his desk. "Don't tease me to start suspect whose effigy I have received from Ms Kołodziej. Mine? Who said that? Mr (Jan) Mosiński (of the PiS party)? We're going to have a chat, sir. Coffee on me," he said jokingly.

Under the bill, Silesian is to be listed in the act on national and ethnic minorities as the second officially recognized regional language, next to Kashubian.

This, in turn, will pave the way for introducing voluntary Silesian language classes in schools, setting up with town names in two languages, subsidizing of activities oriented towards preservation of Silesian, and introducing two Silesian-speaking representatives in the Joint Commission of Government and National and Ethnic Minorities.

During Poland's 2021 national census, 596,224 people declared themselves as Silesian nationals, of which 236,588 declared it as their first nationality, and 187,372 - as their only one.