Podlachia in the context of Białowieża Forest

Podlaskie Voivodeship (Polish: województwo podlaskie [vɔjɛˈvut͡stfɔ pɔˈdlaskʲɛ] ) is a voivodeship in northeastern Poland. The name of the voivodeship refers to the historical region of Podlachia (in Polish, Podlasie), and significant part of its territory corresponds to that region. The capital and largest city is Białystok.

It borders the Masovian Voivodeship to the west, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship to the northwest, Lublin Voivodeship to the south, Belarus to the east, and Lithuania to the northeast.

Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area.

Białystok is located in the Białystok Uplands of the Podlachian Plain on the banks of the Biała River, 200 km (124 mi) (124 mi) northeast of Warsaw. It has historically attracted migrants from elsewhere in Poland and beyond, particularly from Central and Eastern Europe. This is facilitated by the nearby border with Belarus also being the eastern border of the European Union, as well as the Schengen Area. The city and its adjacent municipalities constitute Metropolitan Białystok. The city has a warm summer continental climate, characterized by warm summers and long frosty winters. Forests are an important part of Białystok's character and occupy around 1,846 ha (4,560 acres) (18% of the administrative area of the city) which places it as the fifth-most forested city in Poland.

Dziady (lit. 'grandfathers, forefathers, eldfathers'; For example, presented in Polish literature in one of the most famous books written by Adam Mickiewicz „The Forefathers’ Night”. Dziady is a term in Slavic folklore for the spirits of the ancestors and a collection of pre-Christian rites, celebrations, rituals and customs that were dedicated to them. The essence of these rituals was the "communion of the living with the dead", namely, the establishment of relationships with the souls of the ancestors, periodically returning to Earth to their headquarters from the times of their lives. The aim of the ritual activities was to win the favor of the deceased, who were considered to be caretakers in the sphere of fertility. The name dziady was used in particular dialects mainly in Belarus, Poland, Polesia, Russia, and Ukraine (sometimes also in border areas, e.g. Podlachia, Smoleńsk Oblast,in Lithuania Aukštaitija), but under different other names (pomynky, przewody, radonitsa, zaduszki) there were very similar ritual practices, common among Slavs and Balts, and also in many European and even non-European cultures.

Masuria (Polish: Mazury [maˈzurɨ] ; Masurian: Mazurÿ; German: Masuren [maˈzuːʁən] ) is an ethnographic and geographic region in northern and northeastern Poland, known for its 2,000 lakes. Masuria occupies much of the Masurian Lake District. Administratively, it is part of the Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship (administrative area/province). Its biggest city, often regarded as its capital, is Ełk. The region covers a territory of some 10,000 km which approximately 500,000 people inhabit.

Masuria is bordered by Warmia, Powiśle and Chełmno Land in the west, Mazovia in the south, Podlachia and Suwałki Region in the east, and Lithuania Minor in the north.

Białowieża Forest is a large forest complex and World Heritage Area straddling the border between Poland and Belarus. It is one of the last and the largest remaining parts of the immense primeval forest that once stretched across the European Plain. The forest is home to more than 800 European bison, Europe's heaviest land animal.

The forest has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an EU Natura 2000 Special Area of Conservation. The World Heritage Committee, through its decision of June 2014, approved the extension of the UNESCO World Heritage site "Belovezhskaya Pushcha / Białowieża Forest, Belarus, Poland", which became "Białowieża Forest, Belarus, Poland". It straddles the border between Podlachia historical region in Poland and the Brest and Grodno Oblasts in Belarus, and is 62 kilometres (39 miles) southeast of Białystok, Poland and 70 kilometres (43 miles) north of Brest, Belarus. The Białowieża Forest World Heritage site covers a total area of 141,885 ha (1,418.85 km; 547.82 sq mi).Since the border between the two countries runs through the forest, there is a border crossing available for hikers and cyclists.

Knyszyn [ˈknɨʂɨn] (Yiddish: קנישין, romanized: Knishin, Lithuanian: Knišinas) is a town in the Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland, 26 kilometres (16 miles) northwest of Białystok. It is situated on the Jaskranka River, within the historic region of Podlachia.

The Siedlce University (Polish: Uniwersytet w Siedlcach) is a higher-education institution in Siedlce, Poland. It was created on October 1, 2010, by the decision of Sejm signed by the President of the Republic of Poland, Bronisław Komorowski. The previous name of the university was 'Akademia Podlaska w Siedlcach', in English known officially as University of Podlasie.

National costumes of Poland (Polish: stroje ludowe) vary by region. They are typically not worn in daily life but at folk festivals, folk weddings, religious holidays, harvest festivals and other special occasions. The costumes may reflect region and sometimes social or marital status.

Poland's inhabitants live in the following historic regions of the country: Greater Poland, Lesser Poland, Mazovia, Pomerania, Warmia, Masuria, Podlachia, Kuyavia and Silesia.