May 3rd

There's an old joke in the States: "is there the Fourth of July in Europe?" The answer to which is, "of course! Where isn't their one?" The reverse of this joke would be to ask if there was a May 3rd in the U.S.

May 3, 1791 was the day that the Sejm (parliament) approved a new constitution that attempted to repair the damaged Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which had already been partitioned twice and would end up being partitioned entirely out of existence just four years later. So ultimately the Sejm failed in its ultimate goal, but they failed heroically whilst fighting against impossible odds, which is the thread that unites almost all Polish heroes.

Now, May 1st is Labor Day in Poland and is a day off of work. As May 3rd is also a day off of work most people take May 2nd off as well. In effect, it was a five-day weekend that for many turned into a week of vacation, usually spent in the hills or in some other city.

Normally, Americans love to wave the flag around. I usually amuse people here when I remark that in the States, your average gas station or car dealership will have one if not several flags flying. At the University of Pittsburgh it is possible to stand in one spot and see four flags flying, from the museum, the University, a private club and the University hospital. A fifth one is just out of sight at the Soldiers and Sailors memorial hall. That's not usually the case here: while institutions have flagpoles or flag holders, they are actually seldom used. Until there's a national holiday and everybody uses them. The contrast was stunning, and I would argue there was more flag waving on May 3rd than on July 4th in the States.

The festivities themselves were actually somewhat subdued. The army, police, and fire department set up displays on the Błonia, a huge patch of grass to the west of downtown. However, because that green is so huge, the displays only occupied about 5% of it and therefore looked tiny by comparison. There was also not much of a crowd checking these displays out, at least when I was there. Perhaps the biggest contrast for me was that a standard American Fourth of July will draw out a bunch of NGOs and other civic organizations like  the 4H club, Rotary International, The Shriners wearing fezes on goofy toy cars, "The Old Geezers Model-T club" or "Pre-hipsters on Penny Farthing bicycles" or "The Lawn Rangers Precision Lawnmower Drill Team." Here, all of the celebrants seemed very official and government-backed.

What did draw a crowd was the 16th Battalion's marching band, which performed on the Rynek or main square. This concert answered a burning question of mine, which is, what do bands perform at patriotic events if not Sousa? The answer was, ironically, Sousa: the Gladiator March was a part of the repertoire.

It appears that Poland has not yet been introduced to the concept of a college football halftime show, featuring college bands playing peppy popular tunes whilst marching in formations resembling stars, flags, letters that say "GO STATE" and so forth. This is not something typically performed by military bands or formations in the States on the Fourth of July because most Americans would think it looked silly. This particular band was not aware of the connotation, and it did look kind of silly, particularly performed in standard combat fatigues and berets rather than in band uniforms. The entire performance lasted about 15 minutes and featured the band marching up and down the square playing music that was mostly Bacharach-esque. One Polish patriotic tune has an unfortunate musical resemblance to the Marx Brothers number "Hooray for Captain Spaulding."  There was not a larger parade, which was disappointing (just as PiS), but Kraków is having serious financial problems, and so festivities have been run on a tight budget recently.

An hour after the marching was finished, it was time to attend public patriotic song singing on the Mały Rynek or Little Square. Booklets containing lyrics were handed out, and the audience encouraged to sing along. A small number of them even did. Of course, about halfway through it started pouring rain, so I went home but not before carrying away some observations. First, the vast majority of Polish patriotic music (and a lot of Polish patriotism) has been rendered suddenly and shockingly obsolete, or at least old-fashioned. Polish patriotism was in large part a response to external forces destroying the Polish state and then attempting to destroy the Polish nation. Polish patriotism is equal parts stubborn cussedness, a yearning for independence, and a remembrance of past glories. The problem is, the hopes of all those patriots and patriotic songs have largely been fulfilled. Poland is free, the culture can find full expression, the Germans are not going to invade anytime soon, and while Russia still supplies Poland's natural gas, hydraulic fracturing taking place around Lublin might even mean some measure of energy independence for Poland. As with so much else in this country, the question is, what next?

Another thing which surprised me was that some of the songs celebrated the Bar Confederation, shortly before another song celebrated (more or less) the last King of Poland, Stanisław August Poniatowski, under whose auspices the May 3rd constitution was ratified. The problem is, the Bar Confederation was actually a rebellion against the King, justified by the argument that the King was a Russian puppet anyway. I don't want to make value judgements here, because I don't know enough about the Bar Confederation. But suffice to say that celebrating them back-to-back is like celebrating Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis back-to-back on the Fourth of July.

From what I understand, Stanisław August Poniatowski (henceforth "Staszek" or "SAP") is a controversial figure in Polish history. Some regard him as a sellout to Catherine the Great and therefore almost a traitor. Others say SAP is a very appropriate nickname: he was well-intentioned, just not very bright. Still others point out that Poland in 1764 wasn't exactly the mightiest country in Eastern Europe, and Staszek did the best he could after being dealt a weak hand. To add my own two groszy to the conversation, I would point out that the Polish magnates weren't especially helpful at this time, and that by 1764 Poland hadn't really had a competent (or even uncontested or clear) king since Jan III Sobieski died in 1696.

At the singing event, Staszek got....a rap? I think a lot of the 70-year old grannies were confused by this one too: imagine entertaining YOUR grandmother with a rap about James Madison and I think you'll get the idea. 

In short, a very entertaining and enlightening time was had by all.