author: IRENA FRACZEK
Genuine Polish stoneware from Bolesławiec is now available for sale on our Facebook page.
To shop, click on this section's title or the Facebook icon in the right top corner above.
LAST MINUTE NEWS:
The MECCORE String Quartet from Poland will perform in Wisconsin Union Theatre.
Links to this virtual event wil be open for a week starting on February 28th at 7:30 pm.
Check our calendar entry for program, tickets and other details.
WORD ON FIRE
On February 10th, the seven-part MASTERPIECE drama with strong Polish story line resumes on the Wisconsin Channel.
Episodes air on Wednesdays at 6pm (repeated on Thursdays at 2am) and Saturdays at 6pm.
On February 28th, 2021
submissions are due for the contest
░D░o░░y░o░u░ ░k░n░o░w░
░P░O░L░A░N░D░?░
Sponsored by Polish American Congress-Wisconsin Division, the contest challenges all to give their knowledge of Polish heritage a test by identifying images on the new cover of the "Do You Know Poland?" booklet.

On February 23th at 2pm,
the Kosciuszko Foundation features conversation with Anna Fraijlih about her newly published (2020) book of collected essays
Anna Fraijlich is a renowned poet, writer, scholar and educator
(she taught Polish language and literature at Columbia University for over three decades).
Visit the event's calendar page
for more information and to register (registration required)
IT'S TIME TO TRAVEL
Learn about the trip to Poland & Czech Rep. in September 2021 during promotional event held
on February 24th at 1pm in
Polish Center of Wisconsin
EAT SMART IN POLAND
Join Joan Peterson, a long time member of our club, on a trip exploring the memorable flavors and landscapes of Poland in August 2021.
Only few spots left.
Poland Through the Centuries: Who, What, Where, When?
In the first lecture of a series recorded on the invitation from the Polish Center of WI, Prof. NEAL PEASE (UW-Milwaukee) explains how much Poland, and the very idea of Polishness, has changed over the centuries.
The second lecture compares the history
of two Polish cities: Gdańsk and Lwów
(now Lviv in Ukraine).
Click on the respective images
to watch the videos.
The Kosciuszko Foundation Gallery listed in the Do You Know Poland booklet is now open for virtual tours.
The gallery showcases works by great Polish painters including Jan Matejko, Józef Chełmoński, Jacek Malczewski, Wojciech Kossak, Tade Styka, Józef Brandt, Władysław T. Benda and others.
The gallery is located in the Van Alen Mansion, one of the NYC's architectural treasures, the KF home since 1945.
To enter the gallery, click here
or on the image to the right.
Online events coming soon from the Kosciuszko Foundation:
LEX est REX? The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
A lecture by Robert Frost, professor of history and philosophy at the Aberdeen University, UK, the eminent scholar of the Polish-Lithuanian Union (March 9).
LOST BORDERS: IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE SECOND POLISH REPUBLIC
From the Kosciuszko Foundation FB page, here comes an extraordinary online report from the journey along the frontiers of pre-war Poland - including the territories of today's Poland (Kashubia, Greater Poland, Silesia), through the Czech Republic and Ukraine, to Belarus, Latvia, and Lithuania.
"The journey is not about stone pillars, but ordinary people who, despite the atrocities of the 20th century, were trying to survive on the erased border,"
say authors Tomasz Grzywaczewski and Kaja Grzywaczewska.
ABOUT PĄCZKI DAY
Fat Thursday (Tłusty Czwartek) is the real Pączki Day in Poland. This feast begins the last stretch of carnival - six final days called in Poland ostatki. Polish media consistently estimate that Poles consume about 100 milion pączki on this special day. The uncontested favorites are pączki filled with rose petal jam.
This period of intense carnival partying and food feasting ends in Poland with Śledzik (literally meaning "A Little Herring"). Known in English as Herring Day or Herring Night, this is the last Tuesday before Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent) and its name comes from the lean herring dish being served as the harbinger of the upcoming 40 days of fasting.
The Pączki Day in the United States is usually celebrated on Fat Tuesday (or Mardi Grass), called also the Shrove Tuesday. However, the large Polish community in Chicago (IL) celebrates the Pączki Day on both Fat Thursday and Fat Tuesday, while Buffalo (NY) has perhaps the largest Fat Thursday events outside of Poland.
This year Fat Thursday falls on February 11th and Fat Tuesday on February 16th. These dates change every year as they are counted back from the movable date of Easter Sunday depending on the Moon cycles (first Sunday after the first Full Moon occurring on or after the vernal equinox).
But whether on Fat Thursday (February 11) or Fat Tuesday (February 16th), have a wonderful Pączki Day 2021