Looking throughout the region for such a place, he wandered into the town of Krzeszowa and was directed by the residents to a nearby local spring.  According to local tradition, upon the water of a small pulsating spring, the Mother of God was to have appeared and from that time on the water took on miraculous healing powers. To this very 21st century day, the faithful come to collect the water to treat various illness, but especially that of the eyes. 

The interior is also beautifully maintained and decorated with Our Lady of Częstochowa at the center 
.


On the ceiling is the six-petaled "rozeta" (rosette) a decorative motif in Polish folk architecture  to adorn walls, ceilings or beams in the region known at the time as Galicia.


The chapel and surrounding area is maintained by free-will offerings of pilgrims and visiting guests.

     In the 1990’s, another larger chapel was built nearby and dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows. Every third Sunday from May to October a mass is said in the larger chapel and on the 15th of September, the Feast Day of Our Lady of Sorrows, a Feast Day mass is celebrated.

 On the left of the photo are benches for the faithful to rest, to pray, to collect oneself.  Mounted on the pine tree above the Polish flag is another little shrine dedicated to Our Lady. You can also see the tip of the roof  covering the spring.  And beyond that, blending in with the sky, the San River - all from a dream and the faith of one man made manifest on the landscape of Poland.

Many thanks for reading. A very special thank you to my cousin Joanna ​Stańczyk who visited there recently, took these photos and kindly shared with me. ​You're the best! Dzięki!

If you would like to know more about the why and how of Poland's very rich tradition of establishing roadside shrines you may enjoy reading: Spirit of Place: The Roadside Shrines of Poland (2023) Hippocrene Books, Inc. A special promotion of 40% off on all my books is available through Indiepubs.com with the promo code HIPPOCRENE40. indiepubs.com/search?type=product&q=sophie+hodorowicz+knab

     Generations of my Polish ancestors used coltsfoot to treat lung disorders by drying it, shredding it, and rolling it up into a cigarette to smoke or by throwing it into the fire to inhale as a treatment for coughs and lung ailments. 

     I was alerted now to keep my eyes open and started looking more carefully along the roadside and was rewarded with another bright yellow flower with dark, heart shaped green leaves  I had to pull out the SEEK app on my phone as I didn’t immediately recognize it:
​     Lesser celadine, Ficaria verna in Latin. It belongs to the buttercup family of plants.

     Poems have been written to it as well for who doesn’t remember the joy of plucking them from the ground into bouquets as a child or blowing on the puffballs for entertainment? It is still treated with disdain as a noxious weed through many eyes yet had significant use among Native Americans and the early colonists of America as a digestive aid improving sluggish appetites. At this time of year in Poland, when spring weather was still unpredictable and getting chilled or rained upon is the norm, a syrup made of fresh dandelion flowers, water, sugar and lemon treated  springtime coughs and colds.

      Thank you for reading!

    Find out more about Polish gardens, herbal medicine and folklore in my book titled Polish Herbs, Flowers and Folk Medicine. Hippocrene Books, Inc. now offering a special promotion of 40% off on all my books through Indiepubs.com with the promo code HIPPOCRENE40. 
indiepubs.com/search?type=product&q=sophie+hodorowicz+knab
​

 White sausage called biała kiełbasa  with marjoram for Easter.  Sophie Knab photo.

     In reality, for many families, meat was not something that was generally seen on the table outside of fasting days anyway.  The exceptions were great celebrations like christenings, weddings, Christmas and Easter.  For these holidays, a carefully raised pig was slaughtered and the meat processed quickly to avoid spoilage. Some went into jars, some salted down in barrels and the rest went into making sausage. Some sausage was smoked but this often required many long days and sometimes weeks before it was ready for consumption. After such a long fast, something was needed for the Easter table  that didn’t take quite so long. The simplest and relatively most affordable meat product to prepare was biała kiełbasa i.e., white sausage. The thigh, rump, shoulder, or belly of the pig was cut into chunks, various spices and seasonings added and then stuffed into cleaned intestinal casings. It could be consumed within a few hours after production by boiling in water or baking.

     Every region had its own version of this type of sausage and every family its own safely guarded recipe. Spices such as coriander, cardamom and nutmeg lent unique flavors if you could afford such luxuries. Salt and pepper were also both expensive commodities. For a long time housewives depended on locally available spices like crushed juniper berries to add flavor to their meat and soups. In the 19th century Kronice Miasta Poznania (Chronicle of the City of Poznań) we find the following description: "The ceremonial Easter breakfast commenced at noon. The table was laden with delectable dishes... A particular delicacy was white sausage baked with onions and juniper berries.”

     In the Podlasie region, the coarsely ground sausage was heavily flavored with garlic, something that could be grown and stored through the winter. Homegrown herbs like dill, garlic, and wild caraway were also used.   In Małopolska (Lesser Poland) the preferred seasoning was pepper and marjoram.

​

     Marjoram (Origanum majorana), majeranek in the Polish language, was brought to Poland in the 16th century during the time of the Renaissance and became extremely popular both in the kitchen and stillroom.  Krzystof Kluk in his Dycyonarz roslinny (Dictionary of Plants) of 1787 states “it has a pleasant aroma and spicey taste and used as a seasoning in the kitchen.”  

     Easily grown in pots in a kitchen window or in the garden, everyone knew that marjoram worked best in richer, fattier dishes. It was common knowledge that it help digest fatty foods. It was an indispensable addition to any of the roasted meats that appeared on the Easter table.

← Sophie Knab photo


​

White sausage with marjoram as a meat for Easter crossed the oceans as Poles immigrated to other countries.  It continues to be made at home by descendants of those immigrants and appears in Polish markets and even local supermarkets where it’s often called the “holiday” sausage.

It’s also found in the Easter baskets taken to be blessed on Holy Saturday and much enjoyed at the Easter Sunday morning breakfast. 

​

←Sophie Knab photo. My Easter basket for blessing a few years ago with  biała kiełbasa but will certainly be in this year’s basket on Holy Saturday as well. 

Thank you for reading. A Blessed Holy Week to all.



For more about Easter traditions and recipes: Polish Customs, Traditions and Folklore (2024) and Polish Country Kitchen Cookbook (20212) by Hippocrene Books, Inc.

Hippocrene Books, Inc. is offering a special promotion of 40% off on all my books through Indiepubs.com with the promo code HIPPOCRENE40. 
indiepubs.com/search?type=product&q=sophie+hodorowicz+knab
​

​The permanent exhibition titled "Kraków – the Occupation Period 1939–1945," also tells the history of occupied Kraków and what it was like to live in that city during its occupation by the Germans during World War II.

←The Germanization of  Kraków’s Market Square
                                         Ed Knab photo 

​Thousands of photographs and artifacts of the city of Kraków, its inhabitants,  streets, shops, the military might of the German Reich and everyday life of what Kraków looked like as an occupied city is on exhibit. It also shows the total and complete subjugation the Polish and Jewish people had to endure throughout the occupation: the racial discrimination against Jews, the terrors against the Polish intelligentsia and the deportation for forced labor that faced anyone who was unemployed.

   ↑ Filing cabinets in Labor Office in museum         ↑an example of personal file of forced laborer          Ed Knab photo                                                            sent to work through the German  labor office                                                                                               in Kraków. IPN photo.

Will ye, nill ye, everyone had to work for the benefit of the Third Reich under penalty of death or being sent to a concentration camp, often one and the same. Men were separated from their families. Adolescents girls as young as 14 were sent alone without protection. Women with small children were not exempt. All were torn from their homes and forced to work, oftentimes under horrendous conditions, in agriculture or industry, wherever they were sent.  

 German bureaucrats registering Polish workers for  labor  in Kraków 1940

It is meant to be a time of quiet contemplation and self-examination, of limiting worldly distractions and reflecting on the passion and death of Jesus Christ…all intended to help Christians prepare their hearts for the joyous celebration of Jesus' Resurrection. 

This is often done through spending time in silent prayer at the foot of a cross, or participating in the Way of the Cross that takes the faithful through the events that led to His death and crucifixion. 

In its long and venerable history as a Catholic nation, Poland has observed this liturgical period with great reverence and solemnity and developed its very own unique Lenten devotion called Gorzkie Żale, the Bitter Lamentations. This Passion service emerged in Poland at the church of the Holy Cross in Warsaw.  
← Edward Knab photo in the village of Okrągła, Poland 

Initially titled Snopek Miry, it consists of hymns that meditate on the Passion of Christ and the sorrows of His mother, Mary. It was sung for the first time on the first Sunday of Lent on March 13,1707- three centuries ago- and continues to this day in Poland and throughout the Polish diaspora world-wide on Sunday afternoons during Lent.

​Even older than the Bitter Lamentations is Poland’s history of proclaiming its Catholic faith through the erection of thousands of crosses across its entire landscape either on top of pillars and chapels or as a single, massive  structure that rose high in the sky, visible from long distances to inspire thought and prayer.  The crosses were called Boże Męki, or God’s Passion/Suffering.  

←Radomska Biblioteka Cyfrowa Public domain
​
​
There are three different lamentations with different hymns and contemplations with numerous stanza's that rotate each Sunday through the Lenten season. The  following are just a few excerpts sung on the first Sunday of Lent along with examples of the crosses that dot the Polish landscape and inspire contemplation.

                     

Each Lamentation begins with the : 
 
Pobudka, the Awakening or Wake up call which gives it its title.

         
Gorzkie żale, przybywajcie,
 Serca nasze przenikajcie,
 Rozpłyńcie się, me źrenice,
 Toczcie smutnych łez krynice.
 
Let us pray in contemplation,
While we sing this lamentation.
With eyes tearful, hearts repenting,
Let us grieve with no relenting.




← Edward Knab photo in the village of Frampol, Poland 
​

       



The  Hymn

Żal duszę ściska, serce boleść czuje,
Gdy słodki Jezus na śmierć się gotuje;
Klęczy w Ogrójcu, gdy krwawy pot leje,
Me serce mdleje.
 
Sorrow afflicts me, my heart bleeds in pain
As sweet Jesus, prepares for death
Kneeling in the garden, drenched in bloody sweat
My heart sickens.

​The  Lament
 
Jezu, na zabicie okrutne,
Cichy Baranku od wrogów szukany,
Jezu mój kochany!
 
Jesus, sought by the maddened rabble
like meekest of lambs driven to slaughter.
My Jesus, I love you.


← Edward Knab photo from a roadside chapel in the village of Lipa, Poland 

At the foot of many crosses is an image of the Blessed Mother who also suffered as she watched the sacrifice of her Son and gives meaning to the last part of the devotion:
​​
​The Soul Converses With The Sorrowing Mother
 
Powiedz mi, o Panno moja, Czemu blednieje twarz Twoja? Czemu gorzkie łzy lejesz?
Widzę, że Syn ukochany, W Ogrójcu cały zalany, Potu krwawym potokiem.
O Matko, źródło miłości, Niech czuję gwałt Twej żałości! Dozwól mi z sobą płakać!
 
Tell me, O my Virgin, why does your face turn pale? Why do you shed bitter tears?
I see your beloved Son, in the Garden of Olives, completely drenched in a bloody stream of sweat.
O Mother, source of love, let me feel the violence of your sorrow! Allow me to weep with you!
 
​↑ Edward Knab photo from a roadside chapel in the village of Kurzyna Mała, Poland 

 For those who lived in small hamlets and villages far from parish churches, the devotion was held in someone's home along with other prayers and Lenten hymns. Palm Sunday was the last time the Gorzki Żale devotion was sung.  The Christian world now entered Holy Week and the Passion of Christ.

Thanks so much for reading.

For more about the roadside crosses and shrines of Poland see: Spirit of Place: The Roadside Shrines of Poland Hippocrene Books, Inc. and about the celebration of Holy Week and Easter see: Polish Customs, Traditions and Folklore, also by Hippocrene Books, Inc.
Hippocrene Books, Inc. is offering a special promotion of 40% off on all my books through Indiepubs.com with the promo code HIPPOCRENE40. https://indiepubs.com/search?type=product&q=sophie+hodorowicz+knab

The books are also available at Polish Art Center www.polartcenter.com/Polish-Customs-Traditions-and-Folklore-Softcover-p/9836057.htm

                 Thunder candles made by Polish American beekeeper David Newman, Buffalo, NY

  On this day, beeswax candles are brought to churches to be blessed, and then carried in a procession. These candles are called "gromnice" (thunder candles), and the common name of the feast day – Our Lady of the Thunder Candle – derives from them. The candles blessed on this day were taken home and used to safeguard the family, barns and home. They were lit during during times of crisis and stress, especially during storms where lightning could strike the home and devastate their lives. They were lit at the bedside of the sick and the dying.

   In Poland, and among the Polish diaspora throughout the world, this feast day officially concludes the Christmas season. On this day, nativity scenes are dismantled in churches and homes, Christmas trees are taken down in homes, and the singing of carols ceases.

     Here are three previous blog posts about this important feast day in Poland 
     (1)  how the candles are made in Poland
     (2) an account of the day from a Polish woman's diary in 1895
     (3) Candlemas in the eyes of  Polish painter Teodor Axentowicz

www.sophieknab.com/blog/making-the-candles-for-candlemas

www.sophieknab.com/blog/candlemas-day-in-1895

www.sophieknab.com/blog/the-hucul-and-candlemas-through-the-eyes-of-polish-painter-teodor-axentowicz


For more about Polish customs and traditions: Polish Customs, Traditions and Folklore, Hippocrene Books, Inc. 2024. Hippocrene Books, Inc. is offering a special promotion of 40% off on all my books through Indiepubs.com with the promo code HIPPOCRENE40. https://indiepubs.com/search?type=product&q=sophie+hodorowicz+knab

     Juniper berries and branch. Photo credit: pl.wikipedia.org

      The berries of the shrub are edible and as such were used as a spice in cooking certain dishes especially game and the traditional bigos cooked over an open fire by hunters.  In folk medicine, a dozen or so ripe juniper berries were chewed or steeped in alcohol to make a tincture and said to be effective for stomach weakness and against colic. Juniper tea treated internal ailments of the kidneys and liver. The oil extracted from its berries was an effective antiseptic. As a native plant the common juniper was indispensable medicinally and also played an important role within yearly customs and traditions one of which was on the Feast of Three Kings, known as Epiphany, and celebrated on January 6th.

 Postcard by M. Ichnowski. 1938 Photo courtesy of Krystyna Bartosik.

    In his book "Lud polski - jego zwyczaje, zabobony" published in 1830, author Łukasz Gołębiowski (1773-1849) writes: “On this day, the faithful of Poland attended church where the priest blessed kredę (chalk), jałowiec (juniper)and żywicę (myrrh). In the Kurpie region of Poland where juniper grows in abundance in the sandy soil, ethnographer Adam Chętnik wrote: "On Epiphany, people bless juniper branches along with juniper berries in the church.” The juniper berries and shrub were used as a substitute for frankincense. Immediately after the service, people hurried home with the blessed items.

     The blessed chalk was used to write the initials of the Wise Men plus the year on the upper door frame of the main room in the house, sometimes, but not always adding the year.

​← Sophie Knab photo. Skansen in Toruń, Poland 2025

     
The blessed chalk was used to write the initials of the Wise Men plus the year on the upper door frame of the main room in the house. Inviting God’s protection on the house.

     During the time when cooking was done over an open fire in Poland, the blessed juniper branches were thrown into the fire, emitting masses of thick, aromatic smoke used to incense the home, to purify it, to fumigate it against all diseases and illness. It was considered a remedy for all diseases, spells, and other misfortunes. As the naturalist Krzysztof Kluk (1739-1796) wrote in his monumental work, „Dykcyonarz roślinnym” (Dictionary of plants) it "corrected bad air."  In later years, when stoves with metal plates covered the fire for heating and cooking, the juniper berries were burned on top of the stove plate, with the belief that the scent would kill any plague and promote health.

     The gifts of Magii have withstood the test of time through the centuries. To this day, the rich, sweet and smoky scent of incense used in church services largely comes from the burning a blend of frankincense (a fragrant resin from Boswellia tree) and myrrh (a resin of Commiphora tree).
 
     For more about Epiphany and the  customs of Poland: Polish Customs, Traditions and Folklore, Hippocrene Books, Inc. 2024
     For more about the use of juniper and the plants of Poland: Polish Herbs, Flowers and Folk Medicine, Hippocrene Books, Inc. 2020
      
​Thanks for reading. The Feast of the Three Kings ended the Twelve Days of Christmas but still within the time frame to wish everyone a healthy and happy new year. Best to everyone in 2026!

← My mother as young woman in Poland before WWII

​
She lived through two world wars, lost her country and her family through forced laborer in Nazi Germany, communist take over and then immigration to America. She never tired of talking about her family in Poland. 

In 2006 I am looking for my great grandparents buried in the cemetery in a town called Racławice. The one church, one cemetery for all the local villages was Racławice. The faithful had to walk the distance or take horse and carriage for church services.

   I am with my husband, my brother and his wife and my niece. We are without any preparation, any other research whatsoever, armed with just countless family stories, the names of her grandparents and where they are buried. 

   I don’t know what I was thinking.  The cemetery is large, the burial site for many of the small, surrounding villages for many years. I thought it would be small. We fan out, we wander, we are unsuccessful (of course!). We start to leave. On our way through the gate a man passes us and hearing us speaking English stops us and says to me in Polish “Were you looking for family?”  I say yes but without success. He asks the name and says “I’ve seen it somewhere.”  I think to myself, what are the chances? but we head back in to search and sure enough, after a while he shouts out. 

    We could never have found it ourselves, tucked away on a little knoll near a tree. On the crucifix their names are engraved on the teensiest little metal plaque. 

     The cement stone on the ground has eroded and is so decrepit and covered in moss as to be almost unreadable. But we found them:  Anna Warchoł and Tomasz Zalewski, my mother’s grandparents on her father’s side; great grandparents to me and my brothers and great, great grandparents to my niece. An amazing feeling.

      We clean it as best we can. Take photos. Say a prayer. Express our thanks to the man who, like in the best of fairy tales, appears unexpectedly just at the right moment to come to our aid. Another minute and we would have been gone, this story untold.

←    In September of  2024  I revisit the grave.  The marker on the ground is unrecognizable, their names erased. I am heartsick.


  I resolve not to let their names disappear into the ground, for the sake of my mother, who so valued family. My cousins Anna and Jadzia in Poland are ken to help and contact a local monument company to make a new headstone and a slab the length of a coffin that is traditional for graves in Polish cemeteries. They keep me posted via phone calls, emails, send photos. My brothers come together to share the cost, all in memory of our mother and ancestors.

On this November 2nd, 2025, All Soul's Day, on my mother’s birthday, her grandparents have a new gravestone, one that will last another hundred years, one that future generations will be able to locate more easily, one where they can leave their flowers and their candles and fulfill the Polish saying:  “Kto  żyje w pamięci swych bliskich,  żyje wiecznie” meaning, He who lives in the memory of his closest, lives forever.

                      In memoriam. Anna Warchoł (1863-1909) and Tomasz Zalewski(1858-1898)

For customs and traditions associated with All Soul's Day or death and burial customs of Poland see: Polish Customs, Traditions and Folklore, Hippocrene Books, Inc. www.amazon.com/Polish-Customs-Traditions-Folklore-Hodorowicz/dp/0781814510/ref=sr_1_1?crid=45WRULWPPZY7&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.q2FzX-R1lP6KGlidZ61Mm2IeBISY4ykf5zVNqCV3xseM1a-jULlckF-6fKfMGhys.tVhxs2RmMjLziMTxtzzk7ZXbhJZ76FzE0WjwLXlzpOs&dib_tag=se&keywords=hodorowicz-knab%2C+sophie+polish+traditions%2C+customs%2C+and+folklore&qid=1762088959&sprefix=Polish

Pumpkins drying on top of a lean-to at another homestead in Horodyszcze ​  polona.pl

    I was able to locate the village in the Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Tom III (Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and other Slavic countries Vol.3 p.144) which often gives information about what is cultivated in the surrounding area but there was no mention.

     Up until World War II, the village was once part of Poland, now belonging to Belarus. The former eastern borderlands of Poland became parts of Ukraine, Lithuania and Belarus and called the Kresy, the former Eastern borderlands of Poland.

Here is another homestead also in Polesie the village of Zajezier also now Belarus.  Narodowy Archiwum Cyfrowy. 1936 public domain

    Maybe someone reading this has knowledge of the Polesie region and can help enlighten us as to this particular aspect of Polish culture and history.

For more about Poland and it's country culinary heritage:
Polish Country Kitchen Cookbook by Sophie Hodorowicz Knab. Hippocrene Books, Inc. https://www.hippocrenebooks.com/store/p369/Polish_Country_Kitchen_Cookbook%3A_Expanded_Edition.html

Saint Hildegard was a 12th-century German Benedictine nun who was a visionary, poet, composer, naturalist, scientist, herbalist, theologian and one of the greatest figures of the 12th century. She wrote theological and botanical texts,  two books on medicine and herbal cures and was a true pioneer in the field of natural medicine and a healthy lifestyle. Her many works explored not only the spiritual dimension of humanity but also emphasized the importance of harmony between body and mind.
←​ Photo: Strona Zdrowia

 

 ← Her life story was available in print in Poland by 1640 and her teachings are still widely read and promoted by organizations such as Polskie Centrum Św. Hildegardy Alfreda Walkowska, i.e., the Polish Center of Saint Hildegard Alfreda Walkowska and Polskie Towarzystwo Przyjacioł Św. Hildegardy, the Polish Society of Friends of Saint Hildegard.

 Saint Hildegard's found favor in Poland primarily through her wholistic approach to a healthy lifestyle. She regarded nutrition extremely important for human health. Her diet recommendations were based on the consumption of spelt, an ancient grain and a type of wheat (Triticum spelta), said to improve digestion, metabolism and lower cholesterol. She urged eating vegetables, fruit, and moderate amounts of meat. While this is common knowledge in today’s modern scientific era, one can’t help but be impressed that Hildegard was so ahead of her time during the 12th century!  Her healthy lifestyle also included natural healing methods through the use of herbs.

     Popular in Poland is Wino Pietruszkowe Św. Hildegardy,  St. Hildegard’s Parsley Wine, which was purported (and still is according to Polish websites) to be a natural remedy for heart problems, circulation and rheumatic ailments.

​



​←Photo:Catholicsaintmedals.com

Her theological and scientific writings, which included accounts of her mystical visions, her detailed works on medicine and natural science as well as leading a life of virtue led her to be added to the list of saints of the Roman Catholic Church.  She was also declared to be a Doctor of the Church. This made her the fourth female Doctor in the history of the Church, following St. Catherine of Siena, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, and St. Teresa of Ávila.

 Sources:https://blog.ogrodyhildegardy.pl/pl/wino-pietruszkowe-sw-hildegardy
                https://swiat-orkiszu.pl/blog/166_WINO-PIETRUSZKOWE-%C5%9AW--HILDEGARDY
                 Polish Herbs, Flowers and Folk Medicine. Hippocrene Books, Inc.  
   https://www.hippocrenebooks.com/store/p467/Polish_Herbs_Flowers_and_Folk_Medicine.htm