Traditional Corpus-Christi procession in my town - Lowicz, Poland (see colourful picture gallery)

own pictures | June 15, 2006 | lizol

[lizol]

Corpus-Christi in Lowicz

Corpus-Christi Day - the solemnity of the Body {Corpse} and Blood of Christ - is one of the most important holidays in the Catholic church , begun in 1247 r. in Liege in France. The first information about the solemn celebration of Corpus-Christi Day in Poland comes from the Cracow - diocese from 1320 . Almost from the beginning the Holiday was connected with the procession, being mostly the adoration of Jesus of Christ under the form of the host. Soon however, in the XVth the adoring prayer was supplemented with the begging prayer. The holiday had also the character of the request for the weather, the harvest, the removal of elemental defeats. Then also the custom of the reading or singings of the beginnings of gospel at four altars was introduced. It was and is still practiced in the most of Polish parishes. Many worships who take part in processions all over Poland take the twig of plants from the altars to their own houses This is often the imitation of preceding generations' behaviour. Only few people remembers about the meaning of this custom which referred mostly to the agrarian character.

On the ground of the former Lowicz Principality the twigs from four altars were put in the corners of barns, so that they could protect the grain before vermin. Sticking {them} on the banks of the{fields}was supposed to assure high crops. The twigs were also used to the treatment of crying children - biting them with the twig was supposed to calm them, and to the protection of homesteads before different defeats, for example the fire. To get that, the plants from altars were put into straw - thatched roofs and hung over the door of the buildings. Those activities had a magic character, now it is rather rare, because there are fewer and fewer thatched roofs. However, the procession in Łowicz and neighbouring parishes is not less solemn than it was many years ago. Nowadays more than hundred people - women, men and children put on coloured, striped dresses on Christi Corpus Day, to colour with their own presence that important holiday. For many years it has also been a tourist attraction for guests coming even from distant places.

There are a lot of foreigners among those who watch the processions in Łowicz.. In the beginning of 30th. XX "National Geographic" qualified the Lowicz procession as the coloured parade. You can see all the rainbow colours in the clothes of the participants , and in ornament of feminine and {male} shirts - "bielonek", the main important manual mark embroidery with floral motives. Many years before, on the turn of ages, those who took part in Corpus-Christi Day processions wore clothes in which the orange- colour was dominated. Fifty years earlier the procession could resemble the corn-field of flourishing poppies, as contemporary dresses( ksiezackie) were made from homespun fabrics in the red colour, interweaved with narrow black and white belts. This holiday very often showed a patriotic significance. The procession in Cracow in 1860 and many others later taking place during the war - state had such patriotic character too. (For example the decoration of the altar in the eastern row of the Old Market on which the motives of Solidarity were found.) Nowadays Corpus-Christi Day in Lowicz is solemnly celebrated by Lowicz bishops, there is also an opportunity of admiring Ksiezakow in their regional dresses, putting on to preserve the tradition and marks of the ethnical separateness.

http://www.um.lowicz.pl/eprocesja.html

[lizol]

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[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

Thanks, great photo album!

[Pyro7480]

Look at those sun-worshipping pagans! (sarcasm, imitating some here on FR).

Thank God for the Polish people!

[rogue yam]

Thanks for the ping. Great photos! The faces of freedom. May God bless Poland!

[HoosierHawk]

Great pictures!

[CATravelAgent]

Meanwhile, in the rest of Europe and the US, homos are dancing in the streets wearing nothing but day-glo thongs.

Poland - please don't change.

[Pyro7480]

Question: what was the reaction of people to the President of Poland not doing anything to prevent the "Gay Pride" march in Warsaw, unlike his previous response when he was Mayor of Warsaw?

[Nihil Obstat]

Praised be Jesus Christ.

[redhead]

Gorgeous traditional dress!! Na Cesky se "kroje."

[FJ290]

Beautiful! Thanks for the photos.

[big'ol_freeper]

Thank you for posting! The pictures are wonderful.

[NYer]

Thank you, lizol, for posting these absolutely magnificent photos from your home town. What a beautiful procession!

[hummingbird]

So beautiful, lizol! The children are especially precious. Your photos make my heart sing!

I have lost, in a move, the Polish/English translator site. Do you still have it?

[nanetteclaret]

Beautiful pictures! The children are precious! Who is the saint on the banner in pictures 4, 5, & 6?

[Unam Sanctam]

Thanks for the beautiful pix. Our pastor has brought back the Corpus Christi procession these past two years, although on Sunday.

[Thorin]

Thanks for sharing these wonderful pictures.

[lizol]

http://www.dict.pl/plen?lang=PL

[lizol]

That's blessed Boleslawa Lament.

She was a nun, born in Lowicz in 1862.

She has been beatified in 1991.

Sorry, couldn't find anything about her in English.