Kolędy Polskie - See the colorful invitation below!
A Special Invitation from our PACT President
Dear Friends and family (Przyjaciólmi i rodzina):
On behalf of the “Kolędy Polskie” organizers, we want to invite you, your family and friends to join “
Kolędy Polskie” on Saturday, December 30, 2017 at 11:00 a.m. in Chappell Hill, Texas at St. Stanislaus Catholic Church
. This will be our 10th annual “Kolędy Polskie” and we hope that you will invite your loved ones to join in this beautiful Polish tradition. Everyone is encouraged and welcome to attend to help celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ embracing our Polish culture and Christian faith.
This year we will be hosting a delegation from Poland
"Majeranki"
. This is a musical high school group that will join our Texas Polish musicians as we celebrate “Kolędy Polskie.” There are 15 members in this delegation with 11 fiddle players, 1 Dudy player, 1 Bass player and 1 Accordion player. This group is from the Polish Mountains near Zakopane. Also, they will perform
a concert at 4:00 p.m. at the Chappell Hill Museum and they will perform for mass at 6:00 p.m. at St. Stanislaus Catholic Church
.
The “Kolędy Polskie” will convene at 11:00 a.m. on the steps of
St. Stanislaus Catholic Church. In addition, we encourage everyone to
bring a Polish covered dish for our evening meal to share for a pot luck supper. You are welcome to take your dish early to Jozwiak’s store if it is something that needs to stay warm. In addition, we would like for you to
dress in costume and bring a candle for our cemetery vigil at dusk. Dressing in costume is an old Polish custom dating back to the 14th century and we would like to honor that tradition. However, you do not have to wear anything elaborate or fancy.
You may dress as a beggar, an angel, a king, a shepherd, a devil, St. Nickolas, a wise man, make a homemade costume and/or wear a traditional Polish Folk Costume.
To reduce the number of cars in procession and to foster fellowship, we have rented a school bus that will seat 50 people. Vehicles will be left in the St. Stanislaus parking lot and we will come back for them before mass. After 6:00 p.m. mass, we will go to the cemetery for the candle light vigil. All donations for the bus will be given to St. Stanislaus Catholic Church.
The Kolędy Polskie tradition - Sometime during the 14th century, the tradition of ”Kolędy Polskie” began on St. Stephen’s Day and continued thru Epiphany, January 6 (the 12th day of Christmas) until Candle Mass, February 2. We encourage you to go visit your friends and relatives to bring cheer and joy to those in need, especially our elderly in nursing homes and those living alone. Please join us in celebrating the true meaning of Christmas by sharing your time with friends and family honoring the birth of Jesus Christ with one of our most beautiful Polish customs ”Kolędy Polskie.”
Once again, we look forward to celebrating “Kolędy Polskie” with each of you and passing down our Polish traditions to another generation of Polish decedents and friends. Each year, it continues to grow in attendance and participation. Your presence would help make this year’s “Kolędy Polskie” memorable and fun. Please feel free to invite your family and friends to join in the celebration, especially the children. We want to share this tradition with our youth so that this beautiful activity is passed down to another generation. We have admirers from Poland, New York, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois that are envious of the Polish heart and soul in Texas! Please join us and help make this the best “Kolędy Polskie” to date!
Below is the schedule of our host families and their addresses who will welcome us on December 30 during the Kolędy Polskie! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me personally. Remember, this tradition is open to everyone!
Please forward this email to your friends and family!
A special thank you to:
Father Jozef Musiol
Pat Jozwiak for confirming our host families
Host families: Kaminski, Herridge and Kopycinski
Chappell Hill Museum
Texas Polish Musicians: Brian Marshall, Ronnie Kasowski, Jakub Marshall, Michael Marshal, Jake Kasowski, Frank Motley, CJ Jozwiak, Charlie Brossman, Leonard Kasowski, Johnny Kubeczka, James Mazurkiewicz, Fabian Jezierski
Photographers: Stan Aponiuk and James Smock
Wesołych Świąt i Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Dr. Jim Mazurkiewicz, Ph.D
PACT President
Regents Fellow, Professor and Leadership Program Director
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
Department of Agricultural Leadership,
Education & Communications
Texas A&M University
P.S. If you would like to learn to sing some of the songs in Polish, you may go to the Polish-Texans website at:
All the songs that we sing are on this site and if you scroll down, you will see all of them listed. They are YouTube video's for you to sing along Karaoke! It is a great way to learn!
