Robert Strybel provides an excellent overview of the commemoration of these Holy Days among Polonia in the United States. His article, All Saints/All Souls Day in Polonia appears at the PolishNews site. Along with the overview he provides suggestions for re-energizing these commemorations, and reconnecting our youth with the legacy of our saints, our forefathers who met the struggle and gained the ultimate victory.
I also want to thank Mr. Strybel for the nice shout-out to PNCC parishes:
All Saints Day is the patronal feast parishes named Parafia pod wezwaniem Wszystkich Świętych (All Saints Parish) — an appellation often encountered among parishes of the Polish National Catholic Church, including Chicagoland’s All Saints PNC Cathedral.
I recall a posting I saw, long before I was a PNCC member. It was a young person lamenting the loss of tradition on All Souls Day, Dzień Zaduszny. He noted that he was heartened to find, in his search of cemeteries on that day, members of the PNCC at a PNCC cemetery, doing the five stations, the blessing of graves, the wypominki (reading the role of the deceased) and ending with the singing of Witaj Królowa Nieba.
Annual Polish Dinner and Raffle from 4-7 p.m. on Saturday in the parish hall of Holy Cross Polish National Catholic Church, 17 Sheridan St., Heights, Wilkes-Barre. Traditional Polish cuisine including kielbasa and pierogi will be available. A raffle for a variety of baskets and gift items will be held after the dinner. Tickets are $8 for adults and $4 for youth ages 12 years and younger. Tickets will be sold at the door.
Krakow is one of the largest and oldest cities in Poland, Situated on the Vistula river in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. It was the capital of Poland from 1038 to 1596, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Krakow from 1846 to 1918, and the capital of Krakow Voivodeship from the 14th century to 1999. It is now the capital of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship.
Krakow has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish scientific, cultural and artistic life. As the former national capital with a history encompassing more than a thousand years, the city remains the spiritual heart of Poland. It is a major attraction for local and international tourists, attracting seven million visitors annually…
An excellent overview and travelogue for anyone planning a trip to Kraków or for anyone interested in Polish history and culture. All of their guides are well put together and avoid chauvinistic effusiveness. They give a clear introduction to various destinations.
An interesting article that provides a historic overview of the emergence of the PNCC in Duluth. The piece was produced by the Duluth Community News, a project run by journalism students at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Their project tells the stories of Duluth neighborhoods, exploring different communities and issues throughout the city of Duluth.
I love Vodka, and especially Polish vodka, more properly Polskie wódki. While Polish Vodka gets its shelf space in U.S. liquor stores, most shoppers still miss out on the vast variety of types and styles available. This article from the Sydney Morning Herald explores the history and variety found in the world of Polish vodka: The best vodka in town.
Here are some of the types and styles I have tried:
Belvedere
Chopin
Luksusowa
Wyborowa
Żubrówka (3 ways – the original, homemade using bison grass from Białowieża, and the U.S. import)
Extra Żytnia
Lanique Vodka (kosher from Łańcut Distillery)
Królewska
I encourage you to drop a note to your local proprietor and ask that they carry a selection of Polish vodkas. Of course enjoy responsibly.
Born in London of Polish parents, Wanda Koscia is a Producer/Director specializing in history and current affairs for the BBC. For over two decades she worked extensively across the former Soviet bloc on a number of major television series, including: The Struggles for Poland (1985), The Other Europe (1988), The Hand of Stalin. Leningrad (1989), The Walls Came Tumbling Down (1990), Death of Yugoslavia (1995), Tourists of the Revolution (1998). Other credits include Intelligence to Please part of Discovery series Why Intelligence Fails (2004) and several years on the BBC flagship history program, Timewatch. Also at the BBC she made over three hours of documentary films to accompany Dunkirk, a major factual drama. Her interviews were then made into an award winning documentary: The Soldiers Story. In 2005 she made a film about the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 (featuring an interview with her own mother who was a participant aged 16). The Battle of Warsaw was shown on Discovery Europe and the BBC. In the mid 1980s, Wanda spent a year at Radio Free Europe working in the Research Department’s Underground Publications Unit. During the 1980s she was active in the Solidarity support group in London.
Eighteen years ago, Boguslaw Klimczak had a barn with 20 cows and a line of patient customers every morning: The farmer in this small town in central Poland sold his locally produced cheeses out of the trunk of his car at the local farmer’s market.
Now Mr. Klimczak drives a Nissan SUV, and his company, with 3 million zlotys ($1.2 million) in sales per year, has its own distribution network sending fresh butter, cream, yogurt, and cheeses —“ made according to traditional Polish recipes —“ to stores across Poland, and without European Union subsidies to boot.
…
Klimczak says he’s not planning to apply for European Union subsidies and doesn’t spend any money on marketing.
“I’d rather not complicate things by growing too big. Plus, I don’t want to take money just for the sake of taking it,” he says. “We’ve filled a niche, that’s what business is about.”
I loved shopping at these little street side markets when I was in Poland. Folks would come early in the morning, often by bus (small carbon footprint there – better that 50 cars showing up all at once) bringing farm fresh items. We would venture, still sleepy eyed, out of our hotel to buy fresh fruit, yogurt, veggies, and cheeses.
Of course I had a connection to doing that sort of thing. My Busia grew fresh veggies at home and we had the Clinton-Bailey Farmers Market nearby.
—The good Lord gave the director two eyes —” one to look into the camera, the other to be alert to everything that is going on around him.— —” Andrzej Wajda
We’re honored to be able to present what will be far and away the most complete retrospective of Wajda’s work ever mounted in the United States, and we hope to welcome the Academy-honored director to the Walter Reade Theater for the opening weekend of this historic overview.
Wajda was only 13 years old when World War II broke out. His father, a former officer in the Polish Army, was called up to lead a cavalry regiment. A few months later, he was rounded up along with thousands of other Polish soldiers and citizens and murdered by the Soviet Army in the Katyn forest—”an event denied by the Soviets and, even more cruelly, by the Polish Communist government for decades.
Growing up with the knowledge that his father had been murdered yet forbidden from speaking openly about the circumstances had a profound impact on Wajda, and after attending the newly-founded Lodz Film and Theater School, he developed a filmography that constitutes, quite simply, one of the great legacies of world cinema. No single visual style or strategy characterizes his films: His early work often employed intricately illuminated deep spaces, while his work in the ’70s featured a looser, more documentary feel. When Socialist Realism, the Stalinist aesthetic of exemplary working class heroes and didactic narratives, was the order of the day, Wajda’s films served as alternative or counter-histories to the officially sanctioned versions of events.
As we move away from the fog of the Cold War, his films seem less dependent on the specifics of the political or historical issues they address, becoming meditations on concepts such as the price of individualism, one’s duty towards others, and the meaning of freedom. Close artistic collaborators, especially actors Zbigniew Cybulski, Daniel Olbrychski, Andrzej Seweryn, Wojciech Pszoniak and Krystyna Janda, and screenwriters Jerzy Andrzejewski, Aleksander Scibor-Rylski and Agnieszka Holland often did their finest work under his direction. And several of his films, including the marvelous Ashes and Diamonds, which established him as a major international artist after only three features, are among cinema’s unquestionable masterpieces.
Kosciuszko Foundation Marching In 71st Annual Pulaski Day Parade
The Kosciuszko Foundation will be joining the New York Polish-American community in the 71st Annual Pułaski Day Parade, and we invite members, their families, and friends, to join us. It gives us a chance to join thousands of Poles and Polish Americans in celebrating our heritage. Since this year is also the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first Poles in America, in Jamestown, it is especially significant.
The Parade is Sunday, October 5, beginning at 12:30 PM.
New York’s Pułaski parade is a huge event for Poles and Polish-Americans. Check it out if you are in the New York Metropolitan area.
Rafał Olbinski Art Show opening Thursday, October 9th
Rafal Olbinski, the renowned Polish artist, will have a show of his works at the Rotunda Gallery of the Kosciuszko Foundation in October. The exhibition will open with a presentation by Olbinski on Thursday, October 9, at 7 PM, and continue through Sunday, October 26. The Foundation is located at 15 East 65th Street, between Fifth and Madison Avenues. Visitors can see the show during office hours Monday-Friday, 9-5 PM, and on Saturdays, October 11, 18, and 25, from 3 —“ 7 PM. Since other events take place at the Foundation, it is best to call ahead of time. Office phone is (212) 734-2130.
Olbinski is an architect by professional training, as well as painter, poster artist, graphic designer, and illustrator, and has lived in New York since 1981. His illustrations regularly appear in the press, including Time, Newsweek, Der Spiegel, Business Week, and other newspapers and magazines. For many years he has been creating opera posters, including commissions for the New York Metropolitan Opera and City Opera. In 2002 Olbinski designed stage settings for the Philadelphia Opera Company’s production of ”Don Giovanni” He also created a famous poster after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Since 1995, he has taught at the School of Visual Arts in New York.
Rafal Olbinski’s posters are a synthesis of surrealistic mood and, from the other side, symbolism, characteristic of the Polish school of poster design. He has received more than 100 awards for his work, including Gold and Silver Medals from the Society of Illustrators and Art Directors Club of New York. In 1994 he was awarded the International Oscar for the World’s Most Memorable Poster, “Prix Savignac 1994” in Paris. In 1995 his poster was chosen as the official New York City “Capital of the World” Poster in an invitational competition, by a jury led by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. In the following year he won the award for the best painting in the annual exhibition of the Society of Illustrators.
Olbinski was born in city of Kielce, Poland, and graduated from the Architectural Department of Warsaw Polytechnic School. In 1981 he emigrated to the US, where he soon established himself as a prominent painter, illustrator and designer.
The Mariacki Altarpiece, Its theft by Nazi Germany, and its complicated post-war return
Mariacki Altarpiece
Agata Wolska, archivist of the Mariacki Cathedral, the oldest and richest archive in Poland, will give an illustrated talk on the Cathedral’s magnificent altarpiece, stolen during World War Two and only returned more than a decade after the war ended. The talk is on THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, at 7 PM. The talk is open to the public and no ticket is required; donations are welcome.
Krakow, Poland’s ancient capital is blessed with world-class art and architecture. Wit Stwosz (German Viet Stoss, ca. 1440-1533) one of the greatest Gothic sculptors lived and worked there for 19 years. For twelve years he worked on his masterpiece; the 3-story-high altarpiece in the Mariacki (Basilica of the Virgin Mary) on the city’s central Rynek Glowny (Grand Square). The altarpiece is the largest Gothic sculpture in the world, 42 feet high and 36 foot-wide. It consists of some 200 fine limewood sculptures treated with color and gold foil.
It is a Flugelaltar (German style “wing altar”) with two wings framing the center. The central part, with huge lifelike statues of the saints, depicts dramatically the Virgin Mary’s Dormition, surrounded by the Apostles. Looking upwards one sees the Ascension of Our Lady and Lord. At the top there is the Madonna’s Heavenly Coronation by the Trinity. The wings are covered with relief scenes from the life of the Holy Family. The huge structure is ceremonially opened at noon each day, and closed at night.
During the Nazi occupation of Poland, the altar was dismantled and taken to Germany. Its rescue and return by the Americans is a thrilling story.
Agata Wolska studied art history at Krakow’s ancient Jagiellonian University, and received further training in archival maintenance and computerization. She has received a grant from the Kosciuszko Foundation to do research in the Library of Congress and U.S. National Archives in connection with the altar’s return. Ms. Wolska is in charge of the Mariacki archives, and is preparing a book on the altar’s troubled wartime history.
Dorian Wind Quintet featurning Grazyna Bacewicz will open Chamber Music Season
The Dorian Wind Quintet, recognized worldwide for its uniquely polished and passionate performances, returns to inaugurate the 2008-2009 Chamber Music Series on Sunday, October 26, at 3 PM, at the Kosciuszko Foundation. The program includes works of Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz (1909 – 1969) as well as Darius Milhaud, Anton Reicha, and Lalo Schifrin. Tickets are $40 ($30 KF members), including a reception with the musicians, and can be reserved by calling the Foundation Office at (212) 734-2130.
Since its formation at Tanglewood in 1961, the Dorian Wind Quintet has performed repertoire ranging from the Baroque to Pulitzer Prize winning commissions, in the world’s most renowned concert halls. The Quintet has literally been around the world, concertizing in 49 of the 50 states and Canada, touring Europe eighteen times, and playing throughout the Middle East, India, Africa and Asia. The Dorian made history as the first wind quintet to appear at Carnegie Hall in1981.
The Dorian Wind Quintet collaborates often with well-known artists, and has appeared at numerous festivals including the American and international festivals. It has served as the resident ensemble for many institutions including the Mannes College of Music, Brooklyn College and the State University of New York System,and for over 10 years, at the Festival Institute at Round Top, Texas. Dorian currently serves as Ensemble-in- Residence at Hunter College in New York City. It has recorded on the Vox, CRI, Serenus, New World, and Summit Records labels.
Every member of the Dorian is a virtuoso in his or her own right, as well as a dedicated chamber player. Each has been associated with the most prominent performing ensembles, venues and musical institutions in the world and has joined the Dorian Wind Quintet out of passion for the repertoire and the joy of its performance.
The current members of Dorian are Gretchen Pusch, flute; Gerard Reuter, oboe; Jerry Kirkbride, clarinet; John Hunt, bassoon; and Karl Kramer-Johansen, horn.
Here are some of the types and styles I have tried:
