Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Polish Minister Anna Maria Anders Cleveland Visit

And the Trail of Hope Exhibit

The Republic of Poland’s Secretary of State will visit Cleveland, Ohio to commemorate her father through the traveling Trail of Hope Exhibit and honor a local survivor who served under her father’s fabled Army.  Minister Anna Maria Anders is the daughter of Polish WWII General Wladyslaw Anders, whose Army’s epic journey across three continents is chronicled in Norman Davies best-selling book, The Trail of Hope. The Polish Government has created a mobile exhibit featuring 15 stations, and this exhibit will be on display at the Polish American Cultural Center in Cleveland’s Slavic Village from September 19 – 30.  A reception will be held at the Cultural Center on Saturday evening, September 22.

Cleveland is just the 2nd American city to host the Trail of Hope Exhibit, which was made possible from an invitation that a Cleveland author received to the Polish Embassy in May to commemorate Poland’s Constitution Day. Cuyahoga Community College Professor Andrew Bajda received an invitation after Poland’s Ambassador to the USA, Piotr Wilczek, learned of his book, Captured in Liberation. Bajda’s book colorfully describes his father’s quest to join Anders Army as a teen living in Poland during WWII, a journey which took him across the vast European continent, including capture and escape from a POW camp.  During the reception, Bajda and his father Marian were invited for a private meeting with the Ambassador. Upon learning more of the story and its impact on the local Polish community, Wilczek phoned Minister Anders to connect her with Bajda and plant the seed for the Trail of Hope Exhibit’s Cleveland appearance.

Cleveland Itinerary for Minister Anders

Saturday, September 22:

2:00 PM – Event with Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur

7:00 PM -  An evening reception (125 seating) at the Polish American Cultural Center in Cleveland’s Slavic Village.  The reception will honor the Anders Army and local surviving members of the Second Corps.  Congresswoman Kaptur will join us, but this will be promoted as a celebration, not a political event. Adjoining the Reception Hall is a local Polish museum that will display the Trail of Hope exhibit from September 19 – September 30.

Sunday, September 23:

10 AM – Polish Mass at the Shrine Church of St. Stanislaus in Cleveland’s Slavic Village. I believe this to be Cleveland’s most beautiful church and was visited by Pope John Paul II when he came to Cleveland.

Noon –  Lunch at the Polish American Cultural Center in Cleveland’s Slavic Village.

http://rajdpamieci44.pl/

Join us at 6:00 PM at the Polish American Cultural Center to welcome…

Three heroic Polish veterans, who recovered from their injuries,and  presently are taking on the challenge of cycling

cross country to honor their fallen comrades from the War in Afghanistan. They are meeting up with American veterans and Polish communities across the US along their very long and hard journey.

The US Challenge team of 3 riders and 1 support person arrived in California weeks ago…and TODAY make their way to Cleveland to tell their story !!

Heartwarming tale….and we welcome them approx. 5 pm Thursday 7/19 in and around downtown Cleveland, as they will be arriving on Rt 6.Po wiecej informacji na stronie internetwoej: http://rajdpamieci44.pl/

We cordially invite you to support our Polish Heritage Garden which will be located next to our Polish American Cultural Center.

This is a great opportunity to create a lasting memory for a loved one or your family to be recognized as supporters of the Polish-American Community in Cleveland, OH. For businesses and other organizations, it is a great way to demonstrate support of Polish-American heritage within the Cleveland area.

Thank you for your kind support! For more information please contact: 216-883-2828

Decorating Pisanki Easter Eggs

Polish American Cultural Center’s wonderful, multi-talented, Bernadette Zubel, came to St. Casimir’s church to teach others the Polish tradition of decorating Easter eggs, called Pisanki. The egg symbolizes new life and Christ’s resurrection.  However, the oldest Polish pisanki (the traditional name for painted eggs, singular: pisanka) date back to the end of the 10th century. 

There are different ways to decorate eggs: kraszanki (also called malowanki) are a type of pisanki colored with natural dyes obtained from onion peel, walnut shells, beet juice and various flower petals, cooked until they give up their colors. An egg is then cooked in the resulting dye. Nowadays, artificial food dyes are also used. People would often scratch the egg to reveal the color of the shell and thus make a pattern on a pisanka. These are called drapanki.

For more information on Pisanki and Polish folk art, visit our center to learn more! We have a whole room in our museum dedicated to Polish Folk Art!

Also here is an article: Guide to Polish Folk Art

Bernadette Zubel
Source: cleveland.com

The tradition of food blessing at Easter, which has early-medieval roots in Christian society, possibly originated from a pagan ritual.^[1][2] The tradition is said to date from the 7th century in its basic form, the more modern form containing bread and eggs (symbols of resurrection and Christ) is said to date from the 12th century.^[3]

Please join us for our annual Traditional Wigilia.

The most important day is Christmas Eve called Wigilia (Vee-gil-ee-ya). This is when family members from far away come home to celebrate a very special meatless meal together. It is prepared according to Polish traditions that have been passed down for centuries. Before sitting down at the table, the oldest person in the group passes a thin wafer, called opłatek (o-pwa-tek) to each person present. It is similar to communion wafer but rectangular in shape, with religious nativity scenes stamped into it. Each person breaks off a small piece of the other person’s wafer and eats it while hugging and exchanging good wishes for the coming year. All transgressions are forgiven and family members start over with a clean slate in their relationships with one another. For this reason, the Opłatek is called the “bread of love.” Then dinner is served, and only one person is allowed to leave the table at a time. Poles believe that it is bad luck not to eat at least a little bit of each food served at Wigilia. After the meal, Polish Christmas carols called “kolędy” are sung and gifts are exchanged by the Christmas Tree called “choinka.”