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.”   

The Kosciuszko Foundation is accepting applications for summer study programs at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Undergraduate students have the opportunity to earn college credit while studying language and courses such as history, literature, and contemporary Poland.

Students of Polish descent have the opportunity to apply for funding to attend the Jagiellonian University’s programs via the Foundation’ s Tomaszkiewicz-Florio Scholarships. Candidates must be at least 18 years of age by the first day of the program and have a high school diploma. Graduating high school students, undergraduate freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors are eligible to apply. Two letters of recommendation, transcripts with a minimum GPA of 3.0, an essay/personal statement, and financial need are part of the requirements for scholarship funding. The deadline to apply for a scholarship is April 17th. Scholarships are awarded on a competitive basis.

Classes begin in July. Programs include language classes, afternoon classes on Polish history, workshops, Polish traditions, meals, a shared room, and sightseeing on weekends. Students are responsible for registration fees, single room fees, fees which are not covered by the scholarship, airfare and out-of-pocket expenses.

For additional details regarding eligibility, how to apply for a scholarship, and course descriptions may be found at www.thekf.org/kf/programs/study/

or contact Dr. Kathleen Farkas at kathleen.farkas@case.edu or 216.368.2276.

8-Week Continuing Education Non-Credit Course
Lesław Tetla, Ph.D.
2016 Cleveland State University Visiting Polish Scholar and Kosciuszko Fellow
Dean of the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice, Poland
When: October 5— November 30
Day & Time: Wednesdays, 7:00-9:00 pm
Location: The Polish American Cultural Center
6501 Lansing Avenue, Cleveland
Cost: $125 for the 8-week course
Course Description: This course will examine Polish art and Polish institutions of
culture that are currently in the process of social and economic transformation.
Registration: Visit http://www.csuohio.edu/class/world-languages/worldlanguages
and click on the “Continuing Education (CE)” link.
You may also register in person on the first day of class.
Questions? Please contact Dr. Edward Horowitz, the director of CSU Polish Studies,
at e.horowitz@csuohio.edu
CSU Polish Studies is grateful to Gene Bak and the Polish American Cultural Center for hosting this course.