Saturday November 1, 2008
Members and friends of the West Side Detroit Polish American Historical Society, in conjunction with the Polish Genealogical Society of Michigan, gathered on All Saints’ Day (Wszystkich Świętych) to participate in an All Souls’ Day (Dzien Zaduszny) prayer service.  This gathering was the reestablishment of a centuries-old tradition.  All Souls’ Day is a cherished religious event in Poland, when families travel at great lengths, if needed, to tend to the graves of their family members.  Suburban descendants of Detroit’s Polish immigrants traveled from all corners of the tri counties, and outstate, to come to the cemetery to pray for their families.  Joining in the prayer service were members of the Downriver Genealogical Society, including Sandi Sitkowski and Sharon Rickerson, volunteers who have created eleven indexes of burials at Holy Cross.

The organizations, in conjunction with Rev. Gary Michalik, planned a prayerful day which included a short history of the cemetery and insight into the holy day by the Piast Institute’s Thaddeus Radziłowski, Ph.D.

Author Elaine Raymo is writing a history of Holy Cross, and her findings were read by Michele Lipinski Matuszewski.  The cemetery first served French Canadian settlers in the 1840s, later becoming the resting place of Germans and Irish, and by the early 1900s, the burial ground for west side Poles.  The current cemetery map, printed in Spanish, serves the Hispanic community, who are the largest group using the cemetery today.

Dr. Radziłowski read several lines of inspiring verse that linked the living with those who passed before us and those yet to come.  He shared his personal experience of visiting a cemetery in Poland on All Souls’ Day, a stirring event that can bring a man to tears.  He mentioned that visitors on this day bring extra candles to place on tombs that have no one to look after them.

Attendees brought the names of their ancestors and read them during the Wypominki (remembering) portion of the service.  In Poland, the names would be given to the priest before the day, along with a donation, and read after the mass.  The Holy Cross tradition allowed for each member of the service to read his or her own names.  Some mentioned their relationship to the deceased.  Fr. Gary asked for a show of hands for the earliest burials.  Early burials included the 1903 burial of Stephanie Tobolski‘s uncle, Adam Kowalski  (1903-1903) and Ceil Wendt Jensen’s great-great-grandmother Johanna Psiuk Przytulska, born 26 Jun 1842 in the Polish village of Wielki Łęck,  interred in section B on 15 March  1905.  The largest show of hands was for burials in the 1920s.  Greg Kolasa, manager of the cemetery, addressed the group as they visited the grave of John Kronk, a west side Polish-American leader and politician, and the Redemptorists Priests.

PGSM board member Valerie Koselka baked soul cakes.  The flat, round, cookie-like offering was delicately flavored with spice.  In Poland they are sometimes blessed by the priest before distribution.  Food is an element of the day, and there is a candy known as Pańska Skórka (The Lord's Skin) associated with this day.  A type of Turkish delight, the homemade, fruit flavored sweet is wrapped in paper and sold outside the cemetery gates.  Keeping with the tradition of sharing food on this day, the group met for a Polish meal at Sabina’s Restaurant on Oakwood in Melvindale.  The dill pickle soup was delicious, made with barley instead of the traditional potato, and brought to the table by waitresses speaking with a light Polish accent.  Conversation at the table included Fred Leja’s memories of Father Zadała and the parish of The Assumption, BVM.

A final note of appreciation is extended to Laurie Palazzolo for her organization and delivery of the event.  She must be commended for her volunteer efforts to keep the spirit of west side Polonia alive.  She organized and advertised the event, arranged the meal, and grabbed the broom to clean the Kronk monument.  Thank you for all you do for Polonia!