What’s so special about these numbers for Polish people?
context – our makerspace made some gadgets for Christmas fundraiser, I made hardware and software. A Polish citizen asked me for these numbers for "meme content".
The answer that this is the time that John Paul II died at is correct, but lacks context.
John Paul II as the Polish Pope had (and still somewhat has) a personal cult following in Poland. Streets, schools, parks, libraries, all kind of public places named after John Paul II are in each city. Saying anything negative about John Paul II was seen as a bad taste. His (mediocre) writings were compulsory reading in schools, his life the focus of multiple school gatherings, all the works. Politicians were calling back on his name and views to justify policies, etc.
The cult grew so hard out of proportion it became a self-parody. The many monuments to him of dubious artistic merit became one of the earliest jokes in Polish internet. After the self-parody, out of countercultural resistance to the cult and church’s influence on Polish life and politics came the straight up parody: songs about the Pope-Felon or “the Beast of Wadowice” (birthplace of the pope), yellow-mug Pope, short verses, references to Pope’s favourite cream pie (it does not have the innuendo in Polish though, it would be even funnier if it did), all known as “cenzopapy” (see [Polish Wikipedia](https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cenzopapa)). 21:37 as the hour of death of the Pope was one of the code words of that phenomenon, and became the most recognisable one.
Wiselel on
r/2137
PublicReference6227 on
Fun fact, polish people only get born and die at exactly 21:37
KralizecProphet on
Bestia z Wadowic is coming for you tonight. I’ll pray, not that it will do any good, it won’t hurt either…
Rare_Link_5392 on
Beside all that mentioned, there are a lot of songs about the Pope. Some of those are actually well made, and of course they all accuse him of being attracted to young children and being a mass murderer. Just to trigger a reaction
although there are some, that are basically just mentioning the pope and not insulting him.Vatican 2137, or 2138 made by John Vaticansky – a synthwave style playlist with pope’s speeches in the background. It was made around the time, when a game Hotline Miami was popular.
14 Comments
John Paul II died on 21:37
The polish pope died at that hour.
The answer that this is the time that John Paul II died at is correct, but lacks context.
John Paul II as the Polish Pope had (and still somewhat has) a personal cult following in Poland. Streets, schools, parks, libraries, all kind of public places named after John Paul II are in each city. Saying anything negative about John Paul II was seen as a bad taste. His (mediocre) writings were compulsory reading in schools, his life the focus of multiple school gatherings, all the works. Politicians were calling back on his name and views to justify policies, etc.
The cult grew so hard out of proportion it became a self-parody. The many monuments to him of dubious artistic merit became one of the earliest jokes in Polish internet. After the self-parody, out of countercultural resistance to the cult and church’s influence on Polish life and politics came the straight up parody: songs about the Pope-Felon or “the Beast of Wadowice” (birthplace of the pope), yellow-mug Pope, short verses, references to Pope’s favourite cream pie (it does not have the innuendo in Polish though, it would be even funnier if it did), all known as “cenzopapy” (see [Polish Wikipedia](https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cenzopapa)). 21:37 as the hour of death of the Pope was one of the code words of that phenomenon, and became the most recognisable one.
r/2137
Fun fact, polish people only get born and die at exactly 21:37
Bestia z Wadowic is coming for you tonight. I’ll pray, not that it will do any good, it won’t hurt either…
Beside all that mentioned, there are a lot of songs about the Pope. Some of those are actually well made, and of course they all accuse him of being attracted to young children and being a mass murderer. Just to trigger a reaction
although there are some, that are basically just mentioning the pope and not insulting him.Vatican 2137, or 2138 made by John Vaticansky – a synthwave style playlist with pope’s speeches in the background. It was made around the time, when a game Hotline Miami was popular.
Because they are fucking braindead
https://preview.redd.it/qc5c5f12tu7g1.png?width=720&format=png&auto=webp&s=7ff59123da74c8f6980ffd74834fd343c59bf310
Its a sign of good luck
Pope John Paul, the bane of little children all around the world has exited the mortal plane at this hour
Cause this is the hour Pope John Paul II died xD
Pope
Popn’t
https://preview.redd.it/2h711h0wdx7g1.png?width=1638&format=png&auto=webp&s=02320449641f8f5244653547b0479dd7a6ae101f