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Polish Fair in New Britain

From the New Britain (CT) Herald: Polish fair tradition grows

NEW BRITAIN – The Odpust Parish Festival is here again, and attendees are told to expect more fun, more music and more food.

The second annual Polish festival is to take place June 15-16 at Sacred Heart Church, 158 Broad St. A celebratory vigil Mass will take place that Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 4 p.m., with festivities following immediately after each.

The Odpust festival, which celebrates the feast of the parish of Sacred Heart, is a tradition in Poland.

“It’s a way to not only bring [together] the parish community, but as a way to go back to our roots,” said Anna Lenczewski, chairwoman of the festival committee.

Live bands Rytmy 95 and Galicja will be on hand to play Polish music, along with karoke so children can sing along to their favorite tunes.

Despite the rainy weather last year, the festival drew hundreds, and Lenczewski hopes this year’s Odpust will bring bigger crowds.

“I hope people will have fun, but also strengthen traditions that can be carried in the future,” Lenczewski said.

In conjunction with the festival, there will be two car raffles. One winner will be drawn each night for each car. Among the cars to be raffled this year are a 2007 Ford Fusion and a 2007 Ford Mustang.

Participants have a one in 700 chance to win each vehicle. Tickets for the raffle are $50 apiece and can be bought after all Masses during the weekend festivities or at the Sacred Heart Rectory office, 158 Broad St.

For information, call Anna Lenczewski at (860) 798-1048.

Poland - Polish - Polonia,

Plugged in tomorrow night, and live on Dec. 1st.

The famous Polish folk song and dance troop Mazowsze will be featured on my local PBS station, WMHT, tomorrow night. The details are as follows:

WMHT (Channel 17): Music and Dance of Poland: Mazowsze, Thursday, June 7, 7:30pm

A performance by Polish folk group Mazowsze, which includes music and dance styles representing more than 30 regions in Poland. Narrated by Bobby Vinton. From the Polish National Opera House in Warsaw.

In addition, Mazowsze will be touring the United States in the late fall. The tenative tour schedule is as follows:

Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political

Dedication of the Victims of Communism Memorial

Regarding the Victims of Communism Memorial…

From the National Review: A Goddess for Victims: The Victims of Communism Memorial comes to fruition

A dozen years ago, Lev Dobriansky and Lee Edwards met with National Park Service official John Parsons to learn what it takes to build a public memorial in Washington, D.C. Parsons gave them a document that outlined a 24-step program – a long march that included congressional permission, site selection, design approval, financial commitments, and actual construction. The ordeal required the involvement of three federal panels and a D.C. neighborhood board. As if the point weren’t obvious, Parsons gave his visitors a crystal-clear warning as they headed for the door: “This is going to take longer than you think.”

Today, Dobriansky and Edwards are about to complete the 24th step: At a dedication ceremony on June 12, the Victims of Communism Memorial finally will become a reality. It intends to honor the more than 100 million people who died in a terrible ideology’s revolutions, wars, and purges – and it immediately will earn a spot on the must-see list of any conservative tourist who comes to the nation’s capital.

The idea for the project came to Edwards – once an aide to Barry Goldwater and now a fellow at the Heritage Foundation – two months after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. “I was having Sunday brunch with my wife and one of my daughters,” he says. “We were concerned that people didn’t seem interested in discussing the crimes of Communism, and that a general amnesia was settling in everywhere.” On a paper napkin, he jotted down “memorial – victims of communism” and stuffed it into his pocket. Before long, he was talking to his old friend Dobriansky, an ambassador during the Reagan administration, and together they approached allies in Congress. In 1993, President Clinton signed a bill authorizing a Victims of Communism Memorial in Washington.

The law stipulated that no federal dollars underwrite the project. The government merely would donate the land. Raising the cash would fall completely on the shoulders of Dobriansky and Edwards. Undaunted, they drew up grand plans for a $100 million museum, believing that the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum might serve as a model. Then they put out their shingle and waited for the money to roll in.

Except that it didn’t. “We kept thinking that a billionaire would arrive and write us a huge check,” says Edwards. By 1999, however, they were enjoying about as much success as one of the Soviet Union’s five-year plans: The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation had raised less than half a million dollars. “We realized that we had to change our priorities,” says Edwards.

They downsized their ambitions, setting aside the lofty goal of a big museum and choosing to focus almost exclusively on the construction of a $1 million memorial. Their board debated various designs, such as a replica of the Berlin Wall, a Gulag prison, or a boat used by Cuban or Vietnamese refugees. In the end, they decided to build a bronze statue inspired by the “Goddess of Democracy” erected by Chinese students at Tiananmen Square in 1989. It not only brought to mind a relatively recent example of Communist oppression – the massacre of pro-democracy protesters – but it also could serve as a useful reminder that even in the 21st century, the world’s most populous nation remains unfree. Chinese diplomats expressed concerns about the design of the memorial to Bush administration officials, but to no avail.

From its toe to the tip of an upraised torch, the statue measures about ten feet – the goddess figure itself is just a bit taller than Yao Ming, the Chinese native and Houston Rockets center who is the tallest player in the NBA. The sculptor, Thomas Marsh, agreed to work for free. “When I saw the courage of those students at Tiananmen Square, I made a vow that I would try to rebuild their statue,” he says. He produced a version that now stands in San Francisco’s Chinatown and has prepared castings of it for other sites. The version that will appear in the Victims of Communism Memorial is an armature, which means that it’s derived from his original but also contains unique qualities. “It’s the biggest of the bunch and the facial features look more like the one the students made,” says Marsh.

Despite agreement on the creative concept, Dobriansky, Edwards, and their supporters still needed to push through Washington’s memorial bureaucracy. This is no simple task. The District of Columbia may seem cluttered with monuments of presidents, soldiers, and statesmen, but nowadays they’re difficult to build because each one requires an act of Congress as well as approval from three different bodies, albeit with remarkably similar names: the Commission of Fine Arts, the National Capital Memorial Commission, and the National Capital Planning Commission. The process is so cumbersome that only the best-organized initiatives survive. The last to succeed was a statue of Tomas Masaryk…

The dedication of the Victims of Communism Memorial will be held Tuesday, June 12th, 2007.

The official dedication will take place in Washington, D.C., at the intersection of Massachusetts Ave., N.W., New Jersey Ave., N.W., and G St., N.W., two blocks from Union Station and within view of the U.S. Capitol.

To make reservations for the day’s events and for further information contact Anne Meesman at 703-525-4445. Due to security considerations, advance reservations are required.

Poland - Polish - Polonia

Little Poland along the I-90 corridor

Polish Americans in Western/Central New York are getting excited about next weekend, which will feature both the Buffalo Polish Heritage Festival and the Syracuse Polish Festival.

The Buffalo Polish Festival will be held next Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, June 8-10, at the Erie County Fairgrounds in Hamburg, NY. This is a great festival with most of the activities indoors. There will be plenty of Polish food, polka music, vendors, and exhibits. PAF member, James Conroyd Martin, will be there autographing copies of his wonderful books, “Push Not the River” and “Against a Crimson Sky.” Pol Am Peter Cetera, formerly lead singer of “Chicago,” will be performing Saturday night in concert. The John Gora Band and Jerry Darlak and The Touch will also be performing some great polkas.

Three hours down I-90, you will find the Syracuse Polish Festival, also next Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, June 8-10, at Clinton Square in Downtown Syracuse. This is an outdoor festival with plenty of Polish food and beer. There’ll also be lots of vendors selling some great Polish czaczka. This festival always includes some fantastic national polka bands and this year is no exception with Lenny Gomulka and the Chicago Push headlining. Unfortunately there’s no way Lenny can top last years lineup which included Kasia Malinowska and Kava 4.2, and Alizma, the gorgeous Okapiec triplets.

PNCC, Poland - Polish - Polonia,

Today and tomorrow

It’s been a busy weekend so far. My son has three baseball games this weekend, among other things going on.

I took my son to his Friday evening at his game – and if you haven’t seen it in my Twitter, he won the game ball based on a tremendous hit he had. He drove the ball right over second base. He’s in the eight year old league – it’s the first year that the players do all the pitching and catching.

He had another game this morning at 10am. After the game he and I ran home to get changed and we met up with our parish’s pastor and his wife and son and headed over to lend our support to a Summer (Polish) Festival being held at St. Michael’s R.C. Church in Cohoes, NY.

We had a brief chat with the pastor there, Fr. Peter Tkocz, who is very hospitable. The Polish kitchen was in full swing and the food was top notch. I met a bunch of great folks like Zygmund Fiegel, whose sons head and play in The Figiel Brothers Band. They had the Polkas going full blast – and played some great old time numbers. We also met with some of the vendors who will be appearing at PolishFest ’07.

If you are in New York’s Capital Region, the festival continues tomorrow, beginning with a Polka Mass at 11am. The Festival doors open at Noon and the Festival continues through 8pm. Call 518-664-1877 for more information.

After the Festival my wife and daughter joined us and we attended our Vigil Holy Mass as a family.

My son has a game Sunday morning at 10am, which my wife is covering.

I’ll be at 9am High Holy Mass and 11:30am Holy Mass, after which Fr. Andrew and I are headed off to Syracuse.

Our Bishop Ordinary, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Anthony Mikovsky will be conferring Confirmation on the youth of the Holy Cross Parish just outside Syracuse. It will be great to see the Bishop and assist him during the Holy Mass and Confirmation.

Poland - Polish - Polonia,

Yummy cheese

From Polish Radio via the Polish American Forum: Slovakia backs down on sheep’s cheese war

Slovakia will withdraw its veto on the registration of the Polish `oscypek‘ highlander cheese. An agreement on the matter has been signed by Poland’s deputy premier and agriculture minister Andrzej Lepper and his Slovak opposite number Miroslav Jurenia.

Slovakia officially filed the veto with the European Commission on February 19th claiming it has for centuries been the producer of a similar type of cheese under the name of `osztiepok’.

If Poland would receive the Recognized Certificate of Origin, its `osztiepok’ could encounter serious barriers in export to other EU markets, Slovakia argued.

However, the Polish side had been successful in explaining to its southern neighbors that a bilateral agreement of December 2005 effectively guarantees the two products and their brand names absolute independence of each other, having entirely different cow milk content and place of origin.

This allows for independent registration of the Slovak and Polish cheese product. The contentious cheese has been produced from times immemorial on both sides of the border in the Tatra mountain region with the initial differences becoming more visible, or rather palatable.

The Polish `oscypek’ continues to be hand made by highlander shepherds and has a cow milk content of only 40%, while in the Slovak `osztiepok’ variety it goes up to 80% and the cheese is produced in seven selected dairy plants with Dutch and French capital participation.

Now if some of my Górale friends or family would just send some over… Oh, and a case of Harnaś as well.

Poland - Polish - Polonia

Memorial Day

We remember

The verses from Czerwone Maki na Monte Cassino (Red Poppies on Monte Cassino).

poppey.jpg

Monte Cassino holds the monastery that is the cradle of Benedictine Order and one of the pillars of Christianity. It was built about 529 A.D. Monte Cassino is strategically located about eighty miles south of Rome.

This song commemorates the World War II Battle of Monte Cassino (actually a series of battles) in which Polish forces prevailed in the battle for the strategically placed monastery. Troops from each of the Allied powers attempted to take the fortified mountaintop position, but only the Poles were able to prevail. The battle was strategic in that it allowed Allied forces north of Monte Cassino, in the Anzio pocket, to link up with southern forces prior to the capture of Rome.

D`you see those ruins on the hill-top?
There your foe hides like a rat!
You must, you must, you must
Grab his neck and cast him from the clouds!
And they went, heedless of danger
And they went, to kill and avenge
And they went stubborn as ever,
As always – for honour – to fight.

Red poppies on Monte Cassino
Instead of dew, drank Polish blood.
As the soldier crushed them in falling,
For the anger was more potent than death.
Years will pass and ages will roll,
But traces of bygone days will stay,
And the poppies on Monte Cassino
Will be redder having quaffed Polish blood.

They charged through fire like madmen,
Countless were hit and fell,
Like the cavalry at Samosierra,
Like the men at Rokitno years ago.
They attacked with fury and fire,
And they got there. They climbed to the top,
And their white and scarlet standard
They placed on the ruins `midst clouds.

Red poppies on Monte Cassino
Instead of dew, drank Polish blood.
As the soldier crushed them in falling,
For the anger was more potent than death.
Years will pass and ages will roll,
But traces of bygone days will stay,
And the poppies on Monte Cassino
Will be redder having quaffed Polish blood.

D`you see this row of white crosses?
Polish soldiers did honour there wed.
The further you go, the higher,
The more of such crosses youl’l meet.
This soil was won for Poland,
Though Poland is far away,
For Freedom is measured in crosses
When history from justice does stray.

Red poppies on Monte Cassino
Instead of dew, drank Polish blood.
As the soldier crushed them in falling,
For the anger was more potent than death.
Years will pass and ages will roll,
But traces of bygone days will stay,
And the poppies on Monte Cassino
Will be redder having quaffed Polish blood.

Poland - Polish - Polonia

Best Polish beers

Tom, from the Polish American Forum on Yahoo advises us that All About Beer magazine, the bible of international beer connoisseurs, lists Okocim Porter as one of the world’s very best.

In the May 2007 issue, All About Beer announced that the Beverage Testing Institute has chosen Okocim Porter as the second best porter in the world for 2006! First place went to Samuel Adams Holiday Porter.

Okocim’s Palone, a dark Polish beer, was selected as the second best dark lager. Hirter Morchl from Austria won the first place prize.

Okocim Porter and Palone were the only Polish beers included in this list of the best 102 beers of the world.

I’ve been drinking Zywiec lately (the Polish beer with the ultra cool beer thermometer on the label – it turns red when the beer is cold enough to drink). It’s lighter than Okocim and most Okocim is more akin to a malt liquor.

While I haven’t had either yet, I understand that Hevelius Beer Named after Johannes Hevelius —“ a famous Polish astronomer (1611-1687). He has built his own observatory in Gdańsk and cataloged 1564 stars, discovered 4 comets, and was one of the first to observe the transit of Mercury. and well as Harnaś (from the highlands of the Tatra mountain range) are excellent.

Poland - Polish - Polonia, ,

Time for toast!

From France24: Polish monks to open chain of hellishly good food shops

Unfaithful and angelic Poles will soon be able to buy jam made for their vice or virtue when the Benedictine monks of Tyniec open a chain of shops selling hellishly good food.

“We plan to open more than 100 franchise outlets. Sixty of them will be opened before the end of the year,” Father Zygmunt Galoch, who is in charge of the monks’ commercial affairs, told AFP.

Pear and apple “angelic jam”, zesty lemon “unfaithful jam”, and even cinnamon, raisin and apricot “prayer book jam” are already available online.

The new chain of shops will also sell cheeses, herbal teas, fruit syrups, prepared meat products and alcoholic beverages, all sold under the “Benedictine Products” label.

All the products are organic and produced either by the monks or by small family businesses located, like the monastery, near the southern Polish city of Krakow, Father Zygmunt said.

Franchisees will help to fund the monks’ plans to go forth and multiply the number of shops selling their heavenly foods.

Poland - Polish - Polonia,

65th Annual Meeting of the American Center of Polish Culture

The Polish Institute of Arts & Sciences of America (Polski Instytut Naukowy w Ameryce) in cooperation with The National Polish Center (The American Center of Polish Culture) cordially invites you to its 65th Annual Meeting to be held at Georgetown University’s Inter-Cultural Center, Washington, DC 20057 on Friday, June 15, and Saturday, June 16, 2007

This national multi-disciplinary conference on Polish and Polish American studies is sponsored by PIASA (208 East 30th St., New York, N.Y. 10016) in cooperation with The National Polish Center (2025 “O” St., N.W., Washington, DC 20036). All persons attending the conference, including panelists and presenters, are required to register and pay a registration fee.

Advance registration by mail is strongly recommended on forms provided. These forms can be found at the PIASA website.

Affordable housing is available on the campus of Georgetown University in newly renovated Village C Residence Hall. All rooms include private baths. Reservations with full payments can only be made directly with the Polish Institute by May 24, 2007.

The final detailed official program with full titles of presentations, room assignments and schedule will be printed later and distributed at the Annual Meeting. It will also appear on PIASA’s website as it becomes available. The following is an incomplete list of sessions and panels that will make up the 65th Annual meeting program. The final version of the program will include additions and some corrections.

PLENARY AND CONCURRENT SESSIONS AND PANELS

1. Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic: Getting Away From the Past
Piotr S. Wandycz, Yale University; Stephen Szabo, Johns Hopkins University; Frank Hadler, Leipzig University; Igor Lukes, Boston University, TBA: Diplomats from the German, Polish and Czech Embassies in Washington, D.C.

2. Perspectives on Polish Literature: The Ghost of Shakespeare, Kresy, Tatra Mountains and the New World
Michael J. Mikos, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Anna Frajlich-Zajac, Columbia University; Anna Gasienica Byrcyn, University of Illinois at Chicago; George Gasyna, University of Illinois at Chicago.

3. Rethinking Poles and Jews
Robert Cherry, Brooklyn College CUNY; Mieczyslaw B. Biskupski, Central Connecticut State University; Shana Penn, Taube Foundation; Carolyn Slutsky, The Jewish Week; Charles Chotkowski, Polish American Congress.

4. Reshaping the Landscape: Polish Contemporary Theatre
Co-sponsored by the Polish Cultural Institute with video taped excerpts from Wojcieszek’s theatrical productions. Krystyna Lipinska Illakowicz, New York University; Agata Grenda, Polish Cultural Institute; Przemyslaw Wojcieszek, Independent Film and Theatre Director from Poland.

5. New Directions in Polish Music: Preservation, Reaction and Reception
Anne Swartz, Baruch College & Graduate Center CUNY; Luke Howard, Brigham Young University; Anna Gasienica Byrcyn, University of Illinois at Chicago.

6. Polish Cinema
M. Marek Haltof, Northern Michigan University; John M. Grondelski, independent scholar, Washington, D.C.; Sheila Skaff, University of Texas at El Paso.

7. Polish American Texts: Fiction, Non-Fiction and Poetry
Grazyna J. Kozaczka, Cazenovia College, NY; Thomas J. Napierkowski, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs; Czeslaw Karkowski, Nowy Dziennik, NY.

8. Economics, Politics, Society in Contemporary Poland
Jan Napoleon Saykiewicz, Duquesne University; Lucja Swiatkowska Cannon, Center of Strategic and International Studies; Richard J. Hunter, Seton Hall University; Susanne Lotarski, Polish American Congress, Washington Metropolitan Area Division; Krzystof Bledowski, Manufacturers Alliance; and Edward Basinski, Embassy of the Republic of Poland.

9. The United States and Solidarnosc
Idesbad Goddeeris, University of Leuven, Belgium; Jakub Grygiel, Johns Hopkins University SAIS; Gregory Domber, Indiana University REEI; and Donald Pienkos, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

10. Exploring the Culture of American Polonia
James S. Pula, Purdue University; Thomas J. Napierkowski, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs; Jerome Krase, Brooklyn College CUNY; and Geraldine Coleman, Loyola Academy, Chicago.

11. John Paul II the Great
Barbara Miller, Polish Women’s Alliance of America; Dennis Martin, Loyola University of Chicago; Francis Borkowski, Appalachian State University, NC; and Margaret Ryznar, Polish Women’s Alliance of America.

12. The Kosciuszko Legacy in the Polish Airforce
Michael A. Peszke; Wakefield, RI; James S. Pula, Purdue University; Mieczyslaw B. Biskupski, Central Connecticut State University; Veterans of the Polish Air Force in-exile during World War II: Jan Koniarek, Kazimierz S. Rasiej and Jerzy Glowczewski.

13. Jamestown (Un) Remembered. On the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the founding of the Jamestown
Angela Pienkos, PAHA and PIASA; Donald Pienkos, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Deborah M. Majka, American Council for Polish Culture, and James S. Pula, Purdue University.

14. The Poetry of Anna Frajlich
Roundtable discussion combined with a poetry reading.
Regina Grol, Empire State College, SUNY; Anna Frajlich, Columbia University; Joanna Rostropowicz-Clark, Princeton Research Forum and Jaroslaw Anders, Washington, D.C.

15. Regina Salomea Pilsztynowa: A Peripatetic Polish Physician in 18th Century Istanbul
Paul W. Knoll, University of Southern California; Wladyslaw Roczniak, Bronx Community College CUNY; Lynn Lubamersky, Boise State University, Idaho.

16. Polish Peoples Republic 1945-1989
Anna Cienciala, University of Kansas; David T. Curp, Ohio University; Idesbad Goddeeris, University of Leuven, Belgium; and Ashby Crowder, Ohio University.

17. Newest Historical Research
Neal Pease, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Marek Payerhin, Lynchburg College, VA; Thaddeus V. Gromada, New Jersey City University.

18. Polish Saturday Schools and Polish Scouting: Their Impact on Polonia Case Studies, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
Bozenna Buda, University of Maryland; John Armstrong, Department of State, and TBA.

19. First Navigation of Canyon Colca by Polish Explorers: 25 Years Later
Zygmunt Malinowski, John Wiley Publishers; Andrzej Pietowski, Bowling Green University, and Piotr Chmielinski, HP Environmental.

20. MDM: Marszalkowska Housing District, a Major Socialist Housing Project
A documentary film will be presented, followed by a roundtable discussion. Irena Tomaszewski, Canadian Foundation for Polish Studies; Eric Bednarski, National Film Board of Canada; Ella Chmielewska, University of Edinburgh and Bart Bonikowski, Princeton University.

Friday, June 15, 2007, 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Reception hosted by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland (2640 16th St., N.W., Washington, DC 20009) for registered participants and guests. ID and tickets required.

Saturday, June 16, 2007, 6:15 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Pre-banquet reception (Cash Bar), South Gallery, Georgetown University Conference Hotel.

Saturday, June 16, 2007, 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., Gala Banquet – Salons CHF, Georgetown University Conference Hotel (Events by
Marriott). Tickets required at $60.00. Reservations must be made in advance by June 2, 2007. Banquet speaker TBA.

Directions to Georgetown University as well as parking, campus map and other information will be posted at PIASA.

For more information regarding the program, registration, reservations, contact Dr. Thaddeus V. Gromada or Janina Kedron.

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