Posted on 03/04/2019 9:51:45 AM PST by EveningStar
Casimir Pulaski Day is a holiday observed in Chicago, Illinois on the first Monday of every March in memory of Casimir Pulaski (March 6, 1745 – October 11, 1779), a Revolutionary War cavalry officer born in Poland as Kazimierz Pułaski. He is praised for his contributions to the U.S. military in the American Revolution and known as "the father of the American cavalry".
ping
> Kosciuszko deserves a day, too. <
As does the Hungarian Michael Kovats.
From Wikipedia: General Casimir Pulaski and Kovats are together known as the “Founding Fathers of the US Cavalry.”
Pulaski and Kovats were both killed in action.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Kovats_de_Fabriczy
I’m not dissing Casmir, but these days holidays have less and less to do with the intent of the person being honored and more and more about having another day off work and school and sales, and sales and sales.
There are a number of states that have a county named after him .Chicago has a major N/S arterial avenue, Pulaski, named after him.
Nobody has the day off for this holiday, except maybe city workers. They just made it a holiday to please the large Polish immigrant population in the city.
For the same reason, a big street called Crawford Avenue was renamed “Pulaski Road”. That wasn’t enough though. In the 90s, they came out with “honorary” street names where they would put a little placard beneath the street sign with another name on it, usually to honor someone from the community who had died. Well, what do you know, now Pulaski Road also has an honorary street name of “Casimir Pulaski Boulevard”. I guess naming it after Pulaski once didn’t get enough Polish votes so they did it again!
A Chicago neighborhood (Bridgeport) Catholic parish; Our Lady of Perpetual Help had their college named after him.
Even pols have no idea why Chicago has a holiday for this guy. I did see a memorial for him in Krakow’s cathedral within their famous castle. But for us in Chicago its been 50 years of no school.
Thanks EveningStar.
Over the last few years, Casimir Pulaski Day has become less popular as a public holiday in Illinois. In 2009, it became an optional holiday for schools and it has been estimated that almost three-fourths of all school districts no longer close on Casimir Pulaski Day. In Chicago in 2012, the public school schools decided not to celebrate this holiday at all from that date forward. Many Polish communities celebrate the holiday by having public ceremonies, fairs, parades and group gatherings. Individuals can celebrate this holiday by learning more about the life and heroism of Casimir Pulaski.
One of Stalin’s first acts in WWII was to execute the Polish military leadership because they were so formidable.
They kicked the Red Russkie ass when Trotsky took the Red Army into Poland in 1920.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish–Soviet_War_in_1920
Not bad for a nation that didn’t exist 3 years earlier!
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