Living away from Poland, we do not forget about its beautiful traditions and customs and we want to continue them over here. One of such traditions is join singing of Polish Christmas carols. As every year, on the first Saturday of the New Year, that is on January 7, 2023, our JPII Foundation Chapter in Southern California organized a Christmas meeting combined with caroling.
Thanks to the great kindness of our Chaplain, the Pastor of Our Lady of Jasna Góra Church and the Custodian of the Sanctuary of St. JPII in Los Angeles, Fr. Mirosław Frankowski, we could meet in the parish hall and thus accept a lot of guests, which we have more and more every year. The meeting was open to everyone and gathered both members of our Chapter and other parishioners. The meeting was also attended by the Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Los Angeles Dobrosława Siemianowska. There were also our Missionary Sisters of Christ the King for Polonia: Sister Bożena Błęd and Franciszka Keler, who to everyone’s joy have been in our parish since October of the last year.
Before the meeting, we participated in the Holy Mass celebrated for us by Fr. Mirosław Frankowski, and then, spiritually prepared, after the Mass we went down to the parish hall. There Fr. Mirosław read a fragment from the Holy Scripture about the Nativity of the Lord, then there was a common prayer led also by Fr. Mirosław. After the prayer we followed another Polish tradition and we shared Christmas wafers, breaking it and making wishes. After that, there was a time for a dinner prepared by the ladies from our Chapter.
Our parish Song and Dance Ensemble “Krakusy” has prepared a beautiful surprise for the guests. First, the children danced for us a poleczka, krakowiaczka and polonaise to probably the most beautiful Polish carol: “God is born” by Franciszek Karpiński. After the children’s performance, the lights went out and a group of colorful carolers entered the hall, singing with a folk rite, including Angel, Death, Devil, Grandfather and Turoń and with them a choir in folk costumes. They sang some pastorals and carols for us and played some traditional scenes depicting carolers visiting homes. The guests were delighted.
After this performance, we all started singing Christmas carols together. The beautiful musical accompaniment was provided by the members of our Chapter: Ludmiła Pyter, who played the keyboard and Andrzej Kozłowski who played the accordion. The common singing of carols of such a large group of people was masterfully and beautifully led by our parish priest Mirosław Frankowski.
It was a beautiful evening. In addition to the joy of singing carols together, it also provided a wonderful opportunity to meet acquaintances and friends, to spend time together and to recall memories. It was also very moving that it was a meeting of several generations, because children also sang with us and they had a lot of joy from it.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all thanks to whom this beautiful Polish event could take place: Fr. Mirosław Frankowski, the Missionary Sisters, Ela Romuzga and Edward Hoffman and the “Krakusy” Ensemble, our musicians and the management of the Chapter for the enormity of the work that they put in it. I would like to thank all guests for coming and I invite you today to another Christmas caroling.
By singing Polish carols together we entered the New Year 2023 joyfully.
May this New Year 2023 be full of health and peace for all, and above all full of God’s graces and blessings, which our Holy Patron John Paul II intercede for us from the height of Heaven.
Bogusława Doerr
