Polish Constitution Day is Coming!

May 3rd is Poland's Constitution Day! 

May 3rd is a big deal in the Polish community.  And this isn't just any holiday, it's in celebration of the 1791 Constitution of Poland, which at the time was considered revolutionary.

Poland's official promotional website of the Republic of Poland, poland.gov.pl, has a great article explaining the May 3rd holiday.

So, what to do in celebration? 

This is a great week to replace or buy new Polish flags, mugs and other items to share your Polish pride.  Check out Dom itp, a Chicago family-owned business which carries your May 3rd weekend needs.  Dom itp was started by Polish immigrant Jan Krynski in 1990 and has been serving the Polish and European community of Chicago and the rest of the USA for 22 years.  Fellow Polish blogger, Pauline of Classy Chaos, is a part of the business as well. 

I hope you go check out their site and find something unique to help celebrate this important Polish holiday.

Some other ideas of how to celebrate around Chicago and other areas.

This year, the Polish Constitution Day Parade in Chicago will be on Saturday, May 5th in Grant Park starting at 11:30 am.  For a map of the parade and other information, check out the parade's website.  Cleveland and other cities will be having celebrations as well.

Whether or not you attend the parade, you can decorate your house with a Polish flag and celebrate your Polish ancestry this weekend with a Polish American cookout.  Make Polish potato salad, grilled kielbasa, and stuffed eggshells.

Of course, you should start the day with a cup of coffee or tea from a Polish mug and visit the Polish Museum of America.

You can also visit a local Polish deli to pick up some culinary treats, such as rose hip jam, rye bread, and pickles.  While there, see if they offer any Polish movies or CD's, which most of them do, along with Polish newspapers, magazines and cookbooks.

Visit a local Polish restaurant, if you are lucky enough to have one nearby.

This holiday is yet another great reminder to share our heritage with the next generation.  Share photos of family members, go online and look up the towns where your ancestors came from, share family stories and traditions, teach them the Polish National Anthem and tell them how strong our families are, what was sacrificed and what was gained by leaving Poland and coming to America.

And contact your families in Poland, if you can, and tell them you love them.  Being Polish American means celebrating both sides, the new and the old.




Check out last year's Polish Constitution Day Parade in Chicago.

Spring is Here!

It's time to start our gardens!  Dom itp has a deal right now for seeds: Buy $30 of seeds and get free shipping.  They carry Polish wild strawberries, leeks, several different flowers, parsley roots (which are irreplaceably delicious in certain Polish recipes), and many other varieties.  Their prices are comparable to going to your local chain or gardening store and they offer seeds which any Pole would be excited to grow and harvest during the warm weather.  It's like having a piece of Poland in your backyard.



Wiwat Polska and God Bless America...

Na razie...




Disclaimers: The links and banner for Dom itp are part of an affiliate program. While the company does not pay for me to post their links and banner, I do receive a portion of all sales made using the links and banner in compensation. If you do purchase something from them this way, I sincerely thank you.

Any other links in this post today are posted by me to help provide more information on May 3rd celebrations to the reader. I am not compensated in any way for sharing them, nor was I asked to by the associated sites.

Word(y) Wednesday: Golonka

My Tato drove into Chicago to buy some items from the Polish stores.

He bought Golonka. 

Golonka belongs in poetry.  When I envision a wealthy landowner from the Dark Ages gnawing on a piece of meat, I don't envision mutton or the modern spin, a turkey leg.  I envision Golonka.


Because if that wealthy landowner knew anything about delicious meat, he would choose Golonka.


I think they should serve Golonka at Renaissance Festivals.


My Tato bought "two biggest Golonka they had", he proclaimed.  He called dibs on the larger of the two he purchased.


Tato said, "I have to go drink a beer because Golonka likes to swim!"


I agree.


Na razie...

Church and What Polonia Could Be

On Sunday, my husband was working so my two daughters and I decided to dress up and go to church.

A woman from a mission spoke to the congregation about her recent trip to Mexico.  I tried to pay attention, but also keep my older daughter focused on the proper etiquette of church and my younger daughter from hurting herself somehow, someway (toddlers have a natural talent for somehow trying to seriously damage themselves as soon as you turn your head to say one word to someone else, namely, their older sibling). 

The main thing I learned was that the woman in front of us had a gigantic mole that she enjoyed picking at constantly (it was extremely difficult to ignore, the clicking of her fingernail against the scab echoed in the quiet church made me cautious and my older daughter even said something, "Mommy, why is she scratching her mole all the time?" but the woman still didn't stop), and that the missionary had lived for a time in a very violent city counseling poor women who were victims of domestic violence.  "What did they do?  They worked at it, it's all they could do.  They couldn't afford to leave their husbands like we could if we were in the same situation."  Thank god I'm not in such a situation but I have to wonder, what could those women do to "work on it"?  What can that even mean?

After Mass, we stepped outside.  I had by then already spotted several people in the pews who were Polish in our not-Polish town.

My suspicions were confirmed with two women.  They stood in the shade of a tree, the older woman smoking a cigarette, both dressed fabulously.  As we walked by to our car, I nodded to them and said "Dzien dobre."

They smiled and said the same, with a look and a smile.  I knew the look.  How could you tell?

In Polish, I told them I could tell because they were dressed so nicely.

They brought me into their conversation effortlessly, introducing themselves, one of the ladies telling me about her daughter, who coincidentally lives a block away from me.

The older woman wore a beautiful turquoise beaded necklace with a gold Polish eagle charm on it and rose earrings with the same materials.  She was dressed the way I hoped I would know how to dress one day.  I thought she was about 60 years old.  It turned out, in talking to her, that she had lived through WWII.  I hope to look that healthy at that age.

I had mentioned I was born in Poland and eventually, she shared that she remembered that because of the bombing in her city, Warsaw if I recall correctly, there were many large holes throughout the city where roads and buildings had stood before.  Because the people were trying to clean up after all the devastation, the holes were used to hold trash and rubble people sorted through to try and find survivors and belongings.

She remembered a family she lived next to coming back to find their entire building leveled and a hole filled with rubble.  They went digging through the hole, hoping, praying to find something anything of their life but found nothing.

These few sentences reminded me something I sometimes need to hear to be reminded of who I am, where I come from, where my family comes from.  I am Polish.  Polish American.  We have overcome unimaginable trials and tribulations and come out stronger.  That is what it is to be Polish American.  When my daughters get older, I am going to remember this woman and this little story she shared with me and I am going to tell them this.  I promise.

The conversation went on to teaching the children Polish and how difficult it is.  That they will definitely learn English in school and with friends, that it is the parents duty to teach them Polish from the beginning, when it is easiest for them and able to be taken in by them as something naturally a part of them.  Another lesson I knew but needed reminding.

The conversation felt so natural.  And I know a large part of it was because the women felt proud to be Polish, Polish American, and that they knew it was natural for another Polish American woman to want to connect with them.

We all left for our separate destinations, having introduced ourselves and stating that we would all see each other next week for Mass and that perhaps we could all get together since we were all so close to each other.

This is the potential strength that Polonia could have.  If we all realized and accepted that Poles should connect with other Poles, on the principle that we do have something in common, being Polish no matter how many generations back or the linguistic skills of one Pole versus another, we could do wonderful things.

I remember at my old job visiting a conference for Jewish people who were moving back to Israel.  Being in awe that they were so organized, so supportive of one another.  Entire buildings built and dedicated to their use, affordable classes for teaching the children their language, religion, culture, history.  Classes for recent immigrants to learn English and find work and have a successful transition into American living.  Information on various political candidates, both American and in Israel, so that the community can make well informed voting decisions.  Classes for those wanting to move back to Israel, complete with resources for moving companies, what the legal details would involve, so much information that it was amazing right there for someone to just ask.  Support for those in the local Jewish community who all lived around this area.

I remember the Greek community in our area also had this.  Affordable Greek classes, information about living in Greece, support for the local Greek community.  The same as the Jewish community has for themselves.

There were as many, if not more, Polish Americans in my old state.  This was feasible.  Some tried for this.  But not enough.

I remember looking at the strong Jewish and Greek communities around me.  And thinking, The Polonia could do this.  But many, too many, don't.  This is what my father has always told me, that if Polonia could tap into it's own resources, acknowledge that it is Polish, Polish American, what we could do as well.

If people in the media spotlight who are Polish American would embrace and publicly acknowledge that they are and publicly support the Polonia, this could be a turning point. 

If Poles weren't like this.

If, as Classy Chaos reminded me (thank you), more of us were like the Polish Americans of Chicago, the Polonia of Chicago who embrace it.  But here in the "sticks" as I call it, the Polonia seems silent.  In my old state, out of over 7 Polish churches, 2 barely stand.  There, the Polonia is silent, spread out, moved.

You are no less American if you acknowledge your Polish roots.  You are no less Polish if you acknowledge that you are also American.  You can be both.  And you can do amazing things. 

If you embrace both.

Why I Love the Polish Store

My husband knows how to show that he loves me, he goes to the Polish store.  And, of course, I have to tag along.  I love going to the polish store.

First, I have to share with you something I personally enjoy.  The old tradition of walking into a shop is to greet the owner with a "Dzien dobre" may not be practiced by all anymore as time has gone from the days when all shops were the lower level of a business owner's house, but I still love it and teach the tradition to my kids.  I think it's just nice to acknowledge the persons working to give me a pleasant shopping experience when I enter their establishment.

I also have an obsession with bread.  Some people could never give up steaks, chocolate, alcohol, or other foods, my passion is good bread.  The kind of bread that molds or becomes stale just a few short days after being purchased because it is free of preservatives.  The kind of bread that smells like it was baked that day, and the crust still crunches oh-so-right when I squeeze it.  Mmmmm, bread...

I lost my train of thought there, sorry about that.  But then, bread does that to me.  My husband knows to buy at least two loaves for me.  I have to love that man.  Especially since he hates bread.

Some, but not all, of the items which are different at the Polish store than elsewhere are the mustards, farmers cheese, Polish Dill Pickles (which the Polish store variety has no food coloring or preservatives, tastes better, and is the same price or cheaper than what the major grocery store carries, go figure), teas, jellies, Ketchup, and donuts.  Well, to be clear, actually they are Paczki (pronounced "Pohn-ch-kee" and meaning a Polish style Donut). 

Other items which cannot be bought elsewhere are real actual Kielbasa (pronounced Kee-ehw-bahsah and meaning Sausage, which could literally mean any one of about 250 different types), Polish Movies, CD's, magazines, premade Polish foods, etc.



I also can buy packets of Kisiel, Budyn, premade Nalesniki, Steak Tartar, and a myriad of other delicious pre-made Polish foods.

On today's trip, I purchased the following:

Polish Dill Pickles

"Wiejskie" (Old Country Style Polish Dill) Pickles

Sauerkraut

Black Currant Jam

Pierniki z Czekoladzie (a Polish gingerbread cookie covered with chocolate)

Granulated Bran with Plums (Never had this one, so decided to give it a try)

Ketchup "Ladodny" (This is not the Ketchup you buy at the typical American store)

Budyn

Juniper berries (For making Hunter's Spice Mix)

A pound of Ham (vague, I know, I called it out to my husband as I walked protectively with the Baby so that she wouldn't hit her head or break something so who knows what kind he got)

A pound of Mazowiecki Cheese

A plastic container of Kluski (for a quick dish for kids when I need a break this weekend)

Honey Mustard (Forgot to grab French Mustard & another, oops)

6 Parowki (little Veal Wieners which are way more awesome & healthy than hot dogs & my kids love)

A tub of Farmer's Cheese

A Szarlotka (Polish Apple Pie/Cake, how could I resist?)

And 3 Polish Magazines so that I could get ideas and also practice my Polish...

Altogether, the trip cost us less than $70, so I would say it was definitely worth it!  I hope you feel inspired to visit your local ethnic store and give something amazing a try...

Other Sites I Love About Poland

I can't write this blog without writing a list of some sites which I really enjoy reading.  These are not Blogging Mom sites, these are sites which offer useful information about Poland, Polish Americans (the Polonia), and our culture.

First and formost, the Official Promotional Website of The Republic of Poland
This site has lots of interesting and useful information.  The public holidays of Poland, news, beautiful photos, information about towns and areas, and lots more.  There are also some very insightful videos of the perspectives of some tourists from various countries around the world in Poland.  The official description is "poland.gov.pl is the official promotional website of the Republic of Poland run by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in English."

Another website is the Polish National Tourist Office

Poland's Ministry of Culture website that catalogs wartime losses. You can see which works have been recovered, and browse through information on those that haven't - including royal pocket watches from the 17th &18th centuries; intricate chalices; a gorgeous wedding dress from the early 19th century; sculptures & paintings. Website visitors can also submit any information they may have on missing works.

Another site I enjoy is about my hometown, Wroclaw

Polish Culture Forums , which I visit and write in and which is chock full of information about Poland and Polonia

Piast Institute, an organization who's goal is to build a New Polonia (which I look forward to)

An organization making great strides to spread the word about Poland and it's amazing people and culture, The Kosciuszko Foundation

A site that is in the works which I am interested in
http://landofpoland.pl/

A blog written by a Polish gentleman in London who is writing about true Poland, not the stereotypes or wrong information

Another great blog about Poland...  And be sure to check out the widget on my sidebar that teaches you a Polish word each day, courtesy of

A Blog about European Facts

A Website written for Polish Americans living in Texas (but just because you aren't from the Lone Star State, doesn't mean you won't enjoy it!) which I have also contributed to.

A site following Poland's EU Presidency http://pl2011.eu/en




Many of these sites also have facebook fan pages and twitter accounts, so you can keep up to date with them. 

I hope you check these sites out.  There are many more which I have not yet listed but keep checking back!

Also, I have not been compensated monetarily or with any gifts from any of these sites, I just really enjoy them and wanted to spread the word.

Perhaps you will feel inspired to visit Poland.  Or, become an active member of the Polonia.  If so, feel free to share your story with me.