My Pilgrimage to Poland - Good bye Poland

Maureen and I had planned to kiss the ground in Poland when we arrived. Well it never quite happened that way.

Maureen did kiss the ground at the Divine Mercy Centre. It was the day we saw the miraculous rainbow, Maureen was so happy that she did a happy dance, and then she kissed the ground in joy.

By the time we were at the Krakow airport on our way home, I remembered that I still hadn't kissed the ground yet. Maureen said, it's still not too late, hurry up and get outside and you can kiss it. So outside we ran. Where there was a lot of pavement. I said yuck, we have to go to some grass, which I promptly did.

Maureen had my camera and noticed some workmen who were watching our shenanigans. They were laughing and Maureen laughingly explained to them that I hadn't kissed the ground yet. They continued to laugh and I'm pretty sure they didn't understand a word she said.

When our flight was finally called, we all exited the terminal and were herded onto a bus. Where we waited for about 30 minutes. Standing room only. Finally, the bus started to move. And it travelled all of about about 200 feet. When we all got off the bus. Sheesh. We could have walked that. Then up the stairs to the plane we went.

Bye bye Poland. We love you. Jezu Ufam Tobie.

(A few more pictures below. Pictures that never made it to any of my other posts. But that I liked.)

My Pilgrimage to Poland - the Feast of Corpus Christi

In this short video snippet Maureen took in Chocholow, Poland you can see the beautiful 200-300 year old houses that are scrubbed twice a year, and especially in honour of the Feast of Corpus Christi, which is tomorrow.

Our guide mentions the statue of "Sorrow Jesus", which Maureen didn't catch in her video, and I never did get a picture of one of these statues. So I asked Stan for a picture of Sorrow Jesus.

I love this statue. I think Jesus is sorrowful for Canada and the continued slaughter of our pre-born children.

Figurka Jezusa Frasobliwego

My Pilgrimage to Poland - Tribute to John Paul II

Only this I want. Song by Dan Schutte.

Sung by Maureen. Pictures courtesy of Poland.

My Pilgrimage to Poland - in honour of the deceased

The Polish have a lovely tradition for their cemeteries.

"All Saints’ Day is a festival which has been celebrated in Poland and the rest of the Catholic world for many centuries. All Saints Day is a national holiday, and a day when people all over Poland visit the graves of loved ones and to place candles and flowers on graves. The special candles, which can burn for many hours, are placed there so that departed souls can find their way through the darkness. Cemeteries are lit by many hundreds of these candles and at night the cemeteries can often be seen glowing from long distances. Many Poles travel long distances to visit family graves and to remember the dead. The holiday is also sometimes known as the Day of the Dead. 

All Saints’ Day (Wszystkich Świętych), Poland - 1st November 

All Souls' Day (Dzien Zaduszny or Zaduszki), Poland - 2nd November"

I saw evidence of these candles while in Poland. I also noticed that outside one of the cemeteries we passed, were shops that sold the candles.

I have also been told by my son-in-law Mike regarding this tradition:

"I'm not sure if it's a commonly-held tradition but our family also brings cleaning supplies and cleans the grave site up (they remove vegetation and polish the marble etc...) in addition to placing the candle and flowers."

Here are pictures I took of the cemetery at the Divine Mercy Centre. You can see the candles on the graves.

 

A cemetery I saw when on the bus, and below it, shops where candles were sold.

My Pilgrimage to Poland - the Pilgrims