Daj Mi Buzi

My family growing up was basically half German and half Swiss. Trust me, there are tons of other things thrown in here and there. But, the fact is that my mother is mostly Swiss and my father is mostly German. I spent most of my life near my father's family so mostly the German culture has rubbed off on me. My dad grew up in the heart of PA German country. I was trying to do a bit of genealogy and found that one or two families that one family back there had a whole town named after them. A visit to my grandmother's house always included food and a table set with at least 7 sweets and seven sours. I used to help get lunch on the table and it was a very time consuming process. The breakfast and dinner table were much the same. At breakfast, there was always shoo fly. I grew up with Lebanon bologna, German Ring bologna, schnitz, bot boi, and many other PA German delights. My great Aunt married a Scot and she gave my grandmother a recipe for mince that was a childhood favorite of mine.

When I was about 8 or 9 years old, we moved to the coal regions of central PA. Here, I was introduced to a whole cultural life that was new to me. I fell in love with the foods and folklore of Eastern Europeans. I learned about pierogies, kielbasa, pisanky and golumpki. I learned to dance the polka and how to pronounce foot long names originating from Polish, Russian, and Czech. I had my first taste of baklava and my first gyro and learned how to pronounce it. I met Welsh people and tried to sing in Welsh. All those years living with various cultures gave me a love for foods and cultures of different people. Part of my love for studying language is that it includes getting to know the culture in order to better understand the words.

But I also developed a love for the Poles in particular. As I looked around me, the history of the mines depended greatly on those industrious people from Poland and other nations who came here looking for a better life. I could not imagine working in darkness for much of my life. No only that, but they risked a sure and eventual, yet slow death from breathing the dust from the mines day by day. Then, in 1981, I will never forget lighting candles on Christmas Eve on behalf of those in Poland who were being so mistreated. Here is a link I found to a copy of the speech that Ronald Reagan gave that year.

When I later entered college, I met Ski. Imagine!! I fell fore a Pole!! I will never forget stopping in Ashland at a little diner where he ate his first pierogi. Funny as it seems, while Ski is from NJ and I am from PA, I recently learned that his great grandfather once lived not far from the coal mining town that I once lived in. Since Ski grew up with little Polish culture, it has been my goal to keep a cultural heritage of sorts for my children. It is kind of funny that even though Ski's last name has been anglicized, people still can't pronounce it.

On Shrove Tuesday, we celebrate Fastnacht Day which is a German tradition. We hang a Moravian Star on our house at Christmas which reminds me of my home in PA. On New Years, we have pork and Sauerkraut.

This year, we set an extra place at the table for the Christ Child which is a Polish Tradition. Next year, I plan on adding straw to our table to remind us of the stable which is another Polish tradition. I make a casserole with the ingredients of golumpki, but is much easier to make than the individual pigeons. We also eat pierogies. Unfortunately, I have not found a source for REAL kielbasa. I have not had it in years. But I am always on the lookout. Oh, and we looooove to listen to Polkas. And if I am in the mood, I will grab someone and try to teach them how to polka.

When we went to Washington, D.C., Ski made a point to stop at the statue of Kasimir Pulaski who was a famous Revolutionary War hero. In some places, they celebrate Pulaski Day and it is Ski's dream to someday visit one of these celebrations.

Ski is also part American Indian and whenever we come across Indians in our studies, we try to talk about the kids' ancestry. Something else Ski would love to do someday is to visit the area where his ancestors lived in NY state. Any time I see a book on the Iroquois, I pick it up.

Awhile ago, I came across this cool video on you-tube on Polish history. I thought it would be fitting to add it in here. It is 10 min long, but very well done.