Apparently most Poles don't take down their Christmas trees and decorations till around the same time either, it's traditional to leave everything in place until the local priest has visited and blessed the home, then they come down. A busy time for priests then, but maybe not for much longer. A friend told me that she took her decorations down before the priest had been, and many people no longer even let him into their homes or donate money to the church which has always been part of the traditional routine.
This is another indication of progressive Poland; people seem to be moving away from their previously very strongly held Catholic beliefs and traditions. As I've said before I think it's a shame to see tradition being gradually eroded here in Polska, it may be a very different country in a few years time. I just hope they keep the soups.
Lol. We'll keep the soups, don't worry ;)
ReplyDeleteThe problem with cathiolicism today isn't really about believers, but about the Chuirch. Many Poles are frustrated with rigid, ultraconservative, antidemocratic church in Poland, me including. And inless the Church changes its ways to look at today's world and its attitude towards the believers, it's going only to get worse.
The degrading importance of tradition is also linked with new commercial era. In communism, when we wre opressed, people felt like holding on to traditions was good for the nation, good for them, it preserved the national identity, the sense of community and belonging, it was something to be protected foerm the opressors. Today there is no longer need to protect traditions and this new, shiny commercial world offers so much! People feel less and less like making effort, if they can have the alternative effortlessly. Sadly.
Ciao,
Amy.
Yeah I can see that, it's turning into a nation of consumers, which is a shame, as consumerism can be quite meaningless. I would hate to see Poland be the next England, and that's the way it's looking.
ReplyDeleteWell, as everything, it has two sides: one being becoming more and more a nation of consumers, meaningless, traditionless region of global village. But consumerism means also more liberty, more money and all the perks of the modern world. I wonder if there is a way to grasp that without giving up the traditions, the sense of unique identity and all that's good in the nation...
ReplyDeleteI took the Christmas tree down a couple of weeks ago because the leaves falling were becoming a nuisance, but only took down the lights in the house and garden yesterday. They just seemed to have been around long enough, rather than any time limit. The garden lights in other houses have been slowly disappearing, but there are still some out there.
ReplyDeleteWe do have the priest visiting (after the Christmas tree and well before the rest disappeared), but it seems to be more a feeling that it would be wrong to refuse a guest, especially since he teaches religious education in the local school and is therefore known to us from there. Few other people around seem to let him in, however.
I do suspect, however, that the concept of Roman Catholicism having been a fundamental part of most Polish lives until very recently, is not a full reflection of reality. More so than many other countries, no doubt, but there was a fair share of non-believers and even more people who believed, but did not feel particularly associated with the church side of religion.
I am not disagreeing with Amy, but it is just a shift of attitudes, rather than a new development, and more associated with more demographically changing urban areas than the stable rural communities. Amy's "the sense of community and belonging" is a most apt description, but now at parish, rather than national level.