 The outbreak of World War II and the entry of German troops into Poland on September 1, 1939 began a devastation of such catastrophic proportions that after the war, at the Trial of War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, the Nazi defendants were charged with planning and executing war crimes and the practice of "total war" which included methods of combat and of military occupation that was in direct conflict with the laws of war. Their actions against civilian populations were not justified by military necessity. 1 Prior to the invasion, in his talk to his commanding generals in August of 1939, Hitler stated he had ordered his Death Head Units "to kill without pity or mercy all men, women, and children of Polish race or language...Poland will be depopulated and colonized with Germans." 2 During the five long years of German occupation, the citizens of Poland were subject to inhumane acts and unspeakable atrocities. The Germans herded the Jews into ghettos where they slowly starved to death and those who survived were systematically murdered in the infamous gas chambers of Auschwitz, Belzec, Majdanek, and Treblinka that they built on Polish soil. The Siti and Roma gypsies shared a similar fate. And amidst all the chaos, all the death, destruction and inhuman acts, the Germans were carrying out a policy of economic exploitation, a policy to keep Hitler's war effort going at top speed: everyone had to work for the interest of the Third Reich.  German propaganda poster enticing Polish women to volunteer for agricultural work work in Germany. Note the letter "P" patch attached to right side of the sweater worn by the Polish woman. Photo: Hrabia tytus.pl For the people of Poland, working for the Reich became compulsory. Laborers were needed in Germany in all aspects of agriculture and industry to replace the workers who had been called up into Hitler’s military branches. When propaganda failed to bring in the needed number of volunteer workers, the people of Poland were rounded up while sitting at the movies, coming out of church, or walking down the street. Entire city blocks and entire country villages were surrounded, the victims held in temporary arrest until everyone could be examined as a potential worker for Germany.  ← Photo depicting round up of individuals at Evangelical Reformed Church in Warsaw located on Solidarność Street. Wkipedia.pl photo Those who met the criteria were forcibly and promptly shipped to German territories against their will. The German war economy was achieved by the impressment and deportation of millions of individuals from their homeland into Germany against their will and forced to work for the benefit of the German Reich. Marked with the letter “P” for Pole, they were exploited for their labor where they died from abuse, hunger, physical illness and suicide. Footnotes: 1 Trial of War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal Nuremberg, Germany Volume 2 Document L-3 Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression Volume 8 The story of the girls and women of Poland who were forcibly taken from their homes in Poland, sent to Germany and exploited for their labor during World War II can be found in the book: Wearing the Letter P: Polish Women as Forced Laborers in Nazi Germany 1939-1945. Hippocrene Books, Inc. https://www.hippocrenebooks.com/store/p400/Wearing_the_Letter_P%3A_Polish_Women_as_Forced_Laborers_in_Nazi_Germany%2C_1939-1945.htm
2 Comments
It’s noon on Sunday on a hot summer day in the 1960’s. The sun is pouring into the kitchen. There are pots boiling on top of every burner of the stove. We are still in our church-going clothes sitting down to our big Sunday meal after mass. Everybody is sweating buckets. What does my mother serve up? Hot soup. Not just any soup but hot chicken soup.  Little did I know back then that hot chicken soup on Sunday was a Polish tradition. There’s even a Polish saying: Niedziela bez rosołu to nie niedziela. Sunday without chicken soup is not a Sunday. How did chicken soup come to be so closely associated with a Polish Sunday dinner? Let's start with the name. The Polish word for chicken soup is rosoł. It means bullion or broth or a clear soup made from bones and meat. The word comes from the distant past, when meat was preserved by salting and drying. To make it edible it had to be desalted by soaking and cooking in water. The broth from cooking the meat was called rozsół (or rozsol) from the word rozsolić, to desalt. The end result was a brine, a salty water. In the first cookbook published in Poland in 1682 titled Compendium Ferculorum or Collection of Dishes by Stanisław Czerniecki, we find a recipe for utilizing the resulting salty water that comes from long-term boiling of meat. He called it Polish broth. "The method of cooking Polish broth is as follows. Take beef or veal meat, hazel grouse or partridge, pigeon and whatever meat can be used for cooking. Soak…arrange in a pot, cook. Strain the broth through a sieve and pour (back into) into the meat, put in parsley, butter, salt (wow! more salt!)…. And when it is ready, serve hot on the table. You should also know that you should put in every broth what is needed so that it does not stink of water or wind, that is, parsley, or dill, onion, or garlic, nutmeg flower, or rosemary, or even pepper, according to taste or preference, and neither lemon nor rosemary will disfigure the broth."  One wonders what the “stink of water or wind” might mean…but maybe best not to know… Interestingly, the seventeenth-century broth was served not only with "Polish and Italian noodles", but also with croutons, figatella (meatballs), sorrel, peas, gooseberries, or "garden things", i.e. vegetables and herbs. At the time it was considered a meat dish, not a soup. By the 19th century, no one seemed to remember Czerniecki's recipe. It lost its role as a meat dish and became a dish where the broth was the central focus and the meat and bones became secondary. It became a hot liquid dish…a soup. In Cieszyn Silesia, the broth was made from lamb, and in Upper Silesia from pigeons. By the turn of the century, perhaps when pigeons were harder to come by, Polish cookbooks recommend the addition of beef to make a rich, delicious, healthy broth.  While such a dish may have been common among the wealthy, chicken soup was considered a luxury among the poorer population. For one thing, in the barnyards of the less well-to-do, chickens were kept for their egg laying abilities, not to eat but to sell in order to buy things like salt and/or kerosene to light lamps. When the chicken got “old” and not laying as well, it was sacrificed to make soup for a special occasion like a Sunday dinner. Because making the broth required long, slow cooking to release the flavors, it had to be made on a day when there was time to prepare such a dish, most often on a Sunday when there was no work in the fields. ←Sierpc, Poland. Photo by Edward Knab  ← My cousin Johanna’s chicken coop in Poland Poland’s Narodowy Centrum Kultury (National Centre for Culture) whose role is maintaining and promoting national and state traditions writes: "… cooked long and slowly, so that it barely, barely blinked, gaining flavor from marrow bones, fatty roosters and firm pieces of beef, enriched with vegetables, browned onion, lovage and sometimes other spices, served most often with small noodles, but sometimes with poured dumplings or potatoes it became our “national soup.” Growing up, I distinctly remember the chunks of beef with marrow and chicken parts when my mother made it. We had the hot broth with noodles, carrots (sometimes a gizzard floating on top) as the first course. The cooked chicken and beef, served with potatoes (sprinkled with dill) and a vegetable became the second course. This is still how my cousin in Poland recently served up chicken soup for Sunday dinner. It was a hot that summer Sunday, too! It is one of the most beloved soups of all Poles and remains inseparable from the Sunday menu. Whether sweltering on a hot summer day, or cozy around the table when it’s snowing, in Polish tradition, Sunday without chicken soup is not a Sunday. For more about the history and traditions associated with Polish cooking see: Polish Country Kitchen Cookbook, Hippocrene Books, Inc. 2012 https://nck.pl/projekty-kulturalne/projekty/ojczysty-dodaj-do-ulubionych/ciekawostki-jezykowe/rosol-,c,.ajax The purpose of many of the religious shrines visible throughout the cities and countryside of Poland is often to give thanks for a prayer that has been answered or perhaps in the hopes that it will be answered. Another reason is to honor and remember an important event.  There are few things as dear to the Polish people as those who gave up their lives for a free and independent Poland. One such struggle in Poland’s long history was the Warsaw Uprising. On August 1, 1944 at 5pm, Poland’s underground resistance army began what has been called the greatest and most tragic uprising in European history. It was a heroic 63 day struggle by Poland’s Home Army (in Polish, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated as AK) civilians and non-combatants to liberate Warsaw from Nazi occupation during World War II. The people of Warsaw wanted their city, their country back in their own control and endured incredible hardships and sacrifices, as well as death and destruction during its incredible fight against tremendous odds. The deaths and carnage was of such magnitude as to leave the city and its people with scars that linger to this day. Over the decades, the city of Warsaw has paid tribute to its freedom fighters with hundreds of plaques and monuments throughout the city including this shrine, erected on the grounds of St. Anthony of Padua Church on Senatorski Street.  From the front it appears as a typical shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary with Child, topped with a bell and a cross. It is the back that reveals its purpose and to whom it is dedicated: two letters, P joined with the letter W, stands for Polska Walczy (Poland Fights), the symbol of the Warsaw Uprising, of a fighting Poland. It honors the freedom fighters that fought and died on the church grounds during combat as well as the civilians who were murdered there by the Nazi’s.  The Poland Fights symbol can be seen on Polish flags, monuments and medals.
Also carved into this religious shrine, it reveals the intertwining of Polish faith with patriotism and the fight for freedom. Photo source: https://www.facebook.com/groups/429606714062209/permalink/2322506964772165 Kapliczki przydrozne Waldemar Torba For more about the purpose and role of shrines in the cities and countryside of Poland read: Spirit of Place: The Roadside Shrines of Poland. Hippocrene Books, Inc. 2023 Few things were more precious to the people of Poland than their physical health. Since doctors almost never came to the small, rural villages, it was up to individuals to treat themselves as best they could with what nature provided. The month of July brought the blooming of the linden tree (Tilia cordata) called lipa in Polish.  A view of a cluster of linden flower on tree branch. Knab photo. The tree was an important chain in nature's cycle to provide the country folk with a remedy for bad coughs or feverish colds, especially during the winter season. Actively collected and dried during its flowering season, a few of the flowers were placed in a cup, and covered with boiling water and allowed to steep. This linden tea reduced a cough, induced sweating and broke a fever, much to the joy and satisfaction of the individual.  As depicted in the above photo, the flowers were often collected by housewives off the branches during blossoming time in July, dried and placed in cloth bags and saved for the winter months when colds, coughs and sore throats were much more frequent. Photo: Facebook Group : Dawna Wieś na Zdjęciach. Kamil Dec.
Considered a tree of inestimable value, the linden is one of the most frequently planted trees in Polish gardens. Laden with creamy white to light yellow flowers, the tree exudes the sweetest fragrance imaginable that perfumes the air across great distances. Sensing the nectar, bees come from far and wide to gather it, so that there is a constant buzzing and humming around the blossoming branches. Old, ancient trees, often with hollowed out areas in their trunks, provided prime places for the colonization of bees which also provided country folk with honey for use as a sweetener, for making mead, as well as utilizing the beeswax for making candles. So beloved, the people of Poland named the month of July lipiec, after the lipa tree. Thanks for reading! For more information about how plants and herbs were once used in Poland: Polish Herbs, Flowers and Folk Medicine and Polish Customs, Traditions and Folklore, both by Hippocrene Books, Inc. In this particular memory, I think I had just graduated from 8th grade. I was old enough to have “working papers” that allowed me to be part of farm labor with written parental consent. My mother was happy to sign the papers.  Children picking berries to earn money was a common, even necessary occupation for children in Poland. She often told the story of how she and her siblings picked blueberries growing wild in the forests and sold enough baskets in order to be able to buy shoes for school in the fall. I’m not sure why my brothers didn’t join me this particular day as we usually picked together but I got up early, made a jelly and butter sandwich and walked the 3 miles to the Employment Office. There were other people already there not unlike myself – other immigrant kids, just kids wanting to earn some money and adults of Italian and Hispanic heritage. At 8 am the pick-up trucks start to pull up in front of the Employment Office. Everybody piles into the back of the nearest truck. Most have been fitted with planks of wood along the long sides to make a bench. The unspoken rule was that this was for the adults. Kids just sat down on the bed of the truck, squeezed in together like so many sardines. Nobody checks our “papers.” Did we even know the name of our farmer? Or where we were going? No. This is the early 60’s. A different world from today. We ride like this all the way across the county line into open farmlands with acres and acres of strawberry fields. We pile out of the trucks, walk towards a wooden table already set up with a tablet and money box. There are mountains of square, wooden, one-quart baskets nearby and “flats,” - flat, rectangular boxes that would hold eight one-quart baskets at a time. Already picking in the fields are migrant workers. I don’t know what country they were from but they converse to one another in Spanish. The field boss (maybe the owner? who knew? I didn’t) assigns everyone a row. The women, dressed in old house dresses covered with even older aprons, chat together in Italian and choose rows close to one another. I’m assigned my own row. I’m instructed to pick clean, not to leave ripe berries behind, but to look carefully under all the leaves. I start filling up a one-quart basket. The pay is 5 cents for every quart basket picked. Some squat while picking, some bend over the rows. Eventually, you have to change it up because both positions are hard to maintain during the long, hot summer day. Sometimes you kneel alongside, sometimes you sit just in the narrow space between the rows but it’s awkward and hard to move along the row. The strawberries are large. Much better than some farms where it’s second pickings and the strawberries are smaller, and it’s harder to fill a basket quickly. Another perk: we can eat as many strawberries as we want. I take up flats of eight quarts to the table where someone logs my numbers. The sun rises higher. Soon I wish I had a bandana across my forehead to catch the sweat like the migrant workers or a kerchief tied at the back of the neck like the Italian women. I’d forgotten my straw hat. The sun is now beating down. I have no one to talk to or complain to. Like immigrants have done throughout history, in factories and in farm labor, I put my head down and keep working. There is no other choice. The boss determines when the day is done and there’s no place to hide. There isn’t a tree in sight to catch some shade. In the meantime, my head fills with the sound of the Italian women and Spanish migrants talking. I don’t understand a word but there’s humor and laughter. There’s quiet murmuring. I pick quart after quart and listen. Somewhere in that day I realized I was doing really well with the “pickin” and I told myself I was going to pick 100 quarts. A nice even number. A goal to reach. It motivated me when I was lagging. When I got home that day, I was bone tired. The teeth in my sunburnt face were whiter than white from (what I was later to learn) the malic/citric acid in all the berries I ate. But I proudly handed my mother the five dollar bill I had earned that day. That’s how it was at our house. Rarely did we keep money earned. She took it to the bank and deposited it. She did the same when I brought money home from picking currants (paid by the pound) or grapes (paid by the crate) and later, waitressing (paid by the hour). When I was applying to nursing school, my mother pulled out our joint bank book and showed me my collective earnings which had amounted to something over the years. There was money to pay for tuition, books and uniforms.  Photo of me "pickin" ( but only a few quarts ) by Regina Hanchak.
To this very day, when I hear Spanish being spoken, I’m back in the strawberry field picking 100 quarts to earn five dollars. Each time I buy strawberries at the grocery store I think of immigrant and migrant workers who have picked those berries in the hot sun, for a minimal wage. I think of all this as I still try to pick my row clean these 60 years later at a U-Pick strawberry farm. Our childhood experiences stay with us forever, frequently shaping our world view for the rest of our lives. It is often forgotten that Saturday has traditionally been dedicated to Blessed Mother since the very first days of the existence of the Catholic Church. In 417 AD Pope Innocent I proclaimed that Saturday be observed as a day of commemoration of the pain that Mary suffered on Saturday, the day after the crucifixion.  The tradition goes back to the first Holy Saturday when the apostles and followers of Christ turned to a grief stricken and discouraged Mary to give her comfort after the death of her Son and to console and sympathize in her moment of hurt, travail and anxiety. As soon as they were deprived of Christ himself, the apostles turned and clung to His mother with their entire hearts. In the following centuries individuals who found themselves in doubtful situations, or pain, or distress took their troubles to Mary and put themselves under her protection. The prayer Under thy protection, dating back to the 3rd century, is considered one of the earliest Christian prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary. “ Under your protection we seek refuge, Holy Mother of God. Despise not our petitions In our need, But from all dangers rescue us always, Virgin most glorious and blessed…” It's a simple yet powerful plea for Mary's intercession and protection. The prayer, known in Polish as Pod twoją obrona became the prayer on the lips of Polish soldiers throughout the centuries when entering into battle to keep their country safe from invaders. It was uttered in every household during the 123 years of partitions when Poland was overcome and erased from the maps of the earth. The Polish song titled "Witaj Królowo Nieba" (Hail, Queen of Heaven) calls upon Mary with the words: “Hail, Queen of Heaven and Mother of Mercy! Hail, our hope in sorrow and mourning…” It became the most popular homage to Mary on Saturday in Polish convents. The Cistercian nuns spread the custom of singing the song throughout Europe as the last prayer of the day.  When farmers began their field work on the all-important Saturday, putting the plow to the earth for the first time in spring, or sowing seeds, or harvesting their crops, they asked for Mary’s intercession for success in their work. Passing by a roadside shrine dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, the faithful would stop to pray. It was on Saturday that the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary are said which center on Mary and the role she played when Jesus Christ took on human form and lived in the world. Following the example of Friday dedicated to the Holy Cross and the Passion of the Lord Jesus, Saturday came to be set aside for the special honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Saturday became a weekly feast day honoring of the Mother of God. Those devoted to the Blessed Mother eagerly accept the tradition and attempt to display their devotion every Saturday through such ways as saying the rosary, reciting a litany or lighting candles before her image. Photos of roadside shrine in Poland by Ed Knab. 2007 Relics of St. Florian and the church raised in his name have belonged to the city of Kraków since the 11th century.  ← The church today dates back to 17th century. Author photo. In spite of fires, invasions, and wars that took its toll on the city and the church itself over the centuries, the church of St. Florian became a source of wonder, miracles and legends when a huge fire destroyed the entire northern district of Kraków called Kleparz in 1528. While many churches were destroyed in the wake of the fire, the only edifice that remained standing was the church of St. Florian. From that time on St. Florian began to be worshiped in Poland as the patron saint protecting against fire and as the guardian of fire fighters and fire stations.  ←St. Florian in upper facade of the church Author photo The danger from fire was real both in cities and in the countryside of old Poland. Wooden houses with thatched roofs, stables full of hay, cooking over open fires both indoors and out, all contributed to frequent fires. A statue of St. Florian was generally erected in the middle of a town or village square as a form of protection. Oftentimes a church steeple or tower of the town hall served as the lookout where firemen watched for the outbreak of fires.  Images of St. Florian can be found near fire stations either as a statue or plaque on the firehouse wall. ←Figure of St. Florian in front of the voluntary fire brigade building in Chomotów, Poland. 2010 The name Florian as a boy’s name appeared in Poland very early, growing with the cult of St. Florian from the 12th century onwards. It comes from the Latin Florus, meaning “to flower.” Not far from the church, also named after him, is Floriańska Gate, the entrance to Old Town and Floriańska Street, leading directly to Kraków’s magnificent main square.  St. Florian was an early Roman Christian martyr from the 4th century who died protecting his faith. On banners, medals and roadside shrines he is usually depicted dressed in a soldier's uniform and helmet carrying a bucket to douse the fire. Sometimes there is a burning house at his feet. His feast day is celebrated on May 4th. Happy name day to all named Florian! ←Roadside shrine in Krzyzanowice, Poland 2007 Edward Knab photo. May 4th also International Firefighters’ Day, a day to recognize and thank firefighters for their bravery in protecting lives and property. The date, May 4th, was chosen specifically because it is the feast day of St. Florian, the patron saint of firefighters. Thank you and God Bless You! For more information about the celebration of feast days, name days and roadside shrines in Poland: Polish Customs, Traditions and Folklore and Spirit of Place: the Roadside Shrines of Poland both published by Hippocrene Books, Inc. Thanks for reading!  On March 27, 1937, two years before the outbreak of World War II, the priest and church warden from the nearby parish of Modlice arrived to the village of Tomaszowice via horse and carriage to bless the baskets of the faithful.  It was the custom in those times that if a village did not have its own church, the blessing would take place at a local roadside shrine or that of the wealthiest homeowner. The agreed upon meeting place in Tomaszowice was the manor house. In 1830, Tadeusz Konopka bought Tomaszowice for his son Roman and erected a new manor house, with its distinctive front columns which can be seen in the photos. The house still exists today (see very last photo). This photo taken some time after World War II.  I suspect the priest honored the owners of the manor by blessing their food first before venturing out to those that gathered in front of the steps and around the manor. The last pre-war owner of the manor was a Ludwik Bogusz but I was unable to ascertain if that is him in the photo. I also could not establish the name of the priest or church warden but fortunately for us, an unknown photographer captured the images on that day, now preserved in the National Digital Archives in Warsaw.  Close up of the food to be blessed.  Bundled up in shawls and scarves the women and children of Tomaszowice wait patiently.  At long last, the priest, assisted by the church warden, blesses their food  The huge wheels of bread with interesting designs stamped on the top were typical of the size baked in those times but it was also the single most important item to be blessed on Holy Saturday, symbolizing the body of Christ and the Eucharist. Next in importance were eggs. No less important was the little girls basket! What a cutie!  In exchange for making the trip to their community, it was customary to contribute something for the priest to enjoy at his own Easter morning swięconka, i.e., Easter breakfast. Women offered what they could out of their baskets, i.e. a few eggs, some sausage, a bit of cheese.  Returning home with blessed baskets. Once arriving at home it was an old custom in the countryside was to walk around the house three times, clockwise, with the blessed food, which was supposed to drive away evil spirits from the household.  The manor house and buildings still stand today renovated into a popular hotel, restaurant and banquet hall.
Sources: Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Tom XII 1880–1902 (Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and other Slavic countries, Volume XII 1880–1902) Read more about Poland, its customs and traditions in: Polish Customs, Traditions and Folklore. Hippocrene Books, Inc. 2024 One of the most cherished Polish Easter traditions is the blessing of a basket of specially prepared foods on Holy Saturday that is called swięconka.  The name comes from the word świecić - to bless. The basket is filled with the traditional bread, sausage, eggs, butter, salt and horseradish as well as numerous other food dictated by family traditions such as a yeast baba or placek, a bottle of wine, honey, or chocolates. Tradition dictates that nestled among all the food should be the figure of a lamb. According to the Gospels, St John directly calls Christ the Lamb of God (John 1,29-36) when He offered his life, died on the cross and rose again on Easter Sunday. ← Knab photo. The blessing of foods on Holy Saturday has been practiced in Poland since the Middle Ages but it is known for certain that the Easter basket carried by Polish Americans (indeed, all of Polonia dispersed throughout the world) to church on this day evolved over the centuries and initially had nothing to do with baskets at all. It was the custom in those earlier centuries for kings and nobles and the very privileged to invite their bishop to come to their castle or palace to bless their lavishly laid tables containing all the foods that were going to be consumed on Easter morning.. For instance, records indicate that in 1631, on King Zygmunt III Vasa’s (reigned 1587 to 1632) Easter table there were 4 beef quarters, 5 calves, 12 capons, 22 hens, 18 chickens, lambs, grouse, partridges, hazel grouses, kid, goose, pigeons, ducks, rabbit, grouse and even an exotic turkey… No way all that food was going to fit in any basket!  The Easter table being blessed among the wealthier class. Illustration from Rok Polski Zygmunt Gloger 1900 Over time, the number of believers and Catholic faithful continued to grow and the tradition of having food blessed on Holy Saturday gained great momentum among all classes of people including the poorest peasants in the smallest villages. While bishops continued attending to the rich and powerful, local priests were given permission to visit the local manor houses to assist with the blessings. These blessings can be seen in illustrations and photographs from the 18th and 19th centuries. Even with increased number of clergy, the priests had to expend more and more time and energy going to every household that wanted the food on their tables blessed. To remedy the situation, the clergy eventually decreed that everyone within a locality wanting their food blessed had to meet at a central place such as the manor house or that of mayor of the village - someone who could accommodate more people inside their home. When the indoor crowds started getting too big, the blessing was held outside the manor house.  Blessing of baskets in front of manor house in village of Tomaszowice outside Krakow. 1937. Public domain. In the poorest of villages that had no manor house, the central meeting place to have food blessed was at a roadside cross or shrine where the priest came by horse and carriage to bless the food.  Illustration by Jan Felix Piwarski Public Domain → The shift from individual tables and homes to a central gathering place, be it the manor house or roadside shrine, brought about another change because the question arose: How to transport the food that was once laid out on the table to be blessed over to the manor house or to the roadside shrine to be blessed? Answer: In the usual way goods were transported in those days…in baskets! Historians and ethnographers point out that early on, the baskets used by country people to transport the food to the manor house or roadside shrine were much larger and filled to the brim with all the food that was going to be consumed the next day including great big wheels of homemade bread. As towns and communities grew and churches were built in even the smallest villages throughout Poland, the clergy decreed that anyone wanting to have their food blessed could bring it to church…where the custom has remained to this day.  ←Rev. Czesław Krysa, St. Casimir’s Church Buffalo, N.Y. Knab photo. Today’s baskets do not contain all the food found on a traditional Polish Easter table but small portions of it are represented - bread, eggs, pork, horseradish, a butter lamb, a placek. And, after the symbolic foods are blessed in the basket, they are transported back home and placed on the table to be consumed with the other prepared dishes that make up the Easter morning breakfast table. It began with blessing the food on a table and today, many centuries later, with a few minor revisions along the way, it still ends with blessed food on the table. How fortunate we are as Polish Americans! No matter how simple our basket or our Easter table, we are so rich in having such an ancient, beautiful tradition that remains very much alive to this day. Wesołego Alleluja! Smacznego jajka! Happy Easter! (Enjoy a)Tasty egg! You can find more on Polish Easter customs in : Polish Customs, Traditions and Folklore and Polish country Kitchen Cookbook both published by Hippocrene Books, Inc.  It was on his feast day of March 19th, that widows and widowers of Poland often took their marriage vows. Despite the feast day falling during Lent, the Catholic Church granted a dispensation from the rigors of Lent and marriages were permitted. Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, caretaker of the Christ Child, patron saint of fathers and married couples and someone who had special care of married couples and families, St. Joseph was also patron saint of carpenters and those who work. There was also a time in Poland when he was considered patron against temptations and was the saint to pray to for maintaining sobriety and restraint. He was also held to be the patron saint of a good death.  ← Roadside shrine in Kozłów, Poland, dedicated in 1991. The inscription on the plaque reads: St. Joseph, Caretaker of Families Have us in your care. Edward Knab photo. He is turned to for enlightenment in times of difficult choices, for healing, comfort and at the same time is a perfect mediator for expressing thanksgiving to God for favors received. The Litany to St. Joseph is held to be an effective prayer in times of suffering, illness, anguish, crisis, or unemployment. It was also on this day that storks, who had migrated for the winter, traditionally returned to their nests in Poland. Old stork nests were repaired on the roofs of barns or in tall trees near the farmstead. New ones were also built, for example by attaching wagon wheels to them. According to old folk beliefs, the presence of a stork on the farm was a symbol of good fortune, so every effort was made to encourage the bird to occupy the nest on the property. Edward Knab photos.
Hundreds of churches in Poland bear his name and his image is seen frequently as an independent figure on posts and pillars along roadsides, but also in the interior of chapels in paintings or as a statue. St. Joseph is generally depicted holding the Infant Jesus on one arm and a white lily in the other. For more about the purposes and types of roadside shrines found in Poland see: Spirit of Place: The Roadside Shrines of Poland, Hippocrene Books, Inc. 2023 Available as hardcover and ebook. |
Categories
All
One of the biggest moments in my life was being able to sign for my very own library card. When I'm not reading, researching and writing I'm riding my bike, sewing or gardening. I love flea markets, folk art, and traveling to Poland.
Archives
May 2026
|
RSS Feed