Our Community

Canon Richard Moore

Romans in the snow

Canon Richard Moore, our parish’s  locum minister for three months last winter writes about holding Bible Study in the Panorama Bar of The Marriott Hotel  in Warsaw’s thick snow.

“During Advent in 2010 the parish  wondered what to do for a study course, and the keener church members wanted to learn more of the party politics of the Church of England because they affect Anglicans all round the world and even in our small corner of the diocese of Europe.

We looked at the Biblical Evangelical scene from which our Nigerians come; the liberal Anglican churchmanship favouring the American episcopals; Then the developments in Anglo-Catholic circles, of interest to our Polish Catholic members.

We based the study on Romans 13, and it was clear not many would turn up in the bad weather, and being scattered all over the city; also we don’t have a church hall.

I noticed that the city of Warsaw is based on a pie-shaped transport system with all roads and trams leading to Centralny, and so I looked around for a meeting place near there. One evening my wife and I had coffee in the Marriott Panorama bar and talked with the manageress who spoke fluent English. She suggested we reserve the lover’s snug early evening before the kids turn up. This is a famous sofa overlooking Jerusalamski Avenue and many a man has proposed to his lady there. It was  built to be higher than the communist Palace of Culture, and is the highest bar in Europe ! An interesting association of ideas for a study setting on the King of Kings, Our Lord Jesus and His church.

Alistair Blunt

Criste, quod corpus

Alistair Blunt, warden, recently returned from Ghana, where he was working and living for almost four years, writes…

Ghana is a country where approximately 80 percent of the population are Christian and the rest Moslem, with some animists. The first thing one notices in attending any meeting is that it is started and concluded with a prayer, sometimes a Christian one and sometimes a Moslem one, sometimes one for each end of the meeting, which shows a tolerance that is much to be desired.

Religion is much more an integral part of life. In any conversation, quotations from the scriptures are used and appreciated. Drivers and watchmen, are frequently seen studying the holy texts, while waiting for the work day to end or the next call from their employer. On Sundays, the turnout is large and the services long, often two or more hours. But most are much more colourful affairs than we have in Warsaw and most European communities. The men wear suits and ties or traditional robes, while the women are dressed in their finest dresses or brilliantly coloured prints or traditional kente cloth. The dresses are usually long and many a wearer is dressed to catch the eye of a potential suitor and husband, with hip hugging cuts designed to maximise the assets of the young woman. Choirs sway, drums beat, the congregation dances often quite literally. It is a spectacular demonstration of faith. However, my favourite true story occurred at Catholic cathedral in Accra, where the priest despairingly remarked in his address to the congregation that he hoped some of them would display a little less of these assets, for as he said: “It is very difficult for me as a priest – and as a man – whilst giving you the host, saying ‘The body of Christ’, I am really thinking ‘Christ, what a body!’”

I am sure most of us remember with a smile ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’, but in Ghana the impression is that the film would have been entitled Four Funerals and a Wedding. Funerals are the major social event of most weeks and as such result in much intra family tensions and disputes as we often find with the arrangements for weddings in European societies. Funerals are seen as obligatory social events. One does not need an invitation, rather the arrangements are often advertised on billboards. But if you knew the person, you should attend, for as it was once explained to me, you must turn up to ensure that when you die, people will come to your funeral. Funerals are expressions of status just as weddings often are in Europe. The family must throw a big party for the guests and often put themselves in considerable financial difficulties as a result. To cover some of the costs, guests are invited to make contributions when they arrive. Announcements are made by the master of ceremonies acknowledging the contributions made, so important personages are encouraged to be generous. And a funeral must be attended by the chiefs and if possible the District Chief Executive and MP. Guests arrive, dressed in black or earth red colours, sometimes with a banderol in bright red wound around their head and pass down the line of important family members, before being invited to inspect the body of the deceased, either in the coffin or in a great bed. It is important to realise that this is not always possible as the person may have been dead for some months, awaiting agreement on the funeral arrangements, so the body has a sort of shrunken mummified form. Each mourner greets the family who may be dressed differently from the other guests in white or white and black, to signify that the person who has died is the first of the children to die.

Slowly the crowd swells and the drummers entertain the Assembled crows sitting in the shade but sweltering heat. Finally, the Chief arrives. The Chief will take the most important position and often comes to the Funeral feast escorted by a brass band, dancers and wearing his fine black or earth red toga, carrying a staff of office, usually with a carved bird or animal as its head. His fingers and toes will be ringed with gold and his head adorned by a post box hat with more gold symbols, stars, animals and the like, crowning the head. The chief will be accompanied by his retinue, including the umbrella carrier, the ‘voice’ and the ‘Queen Mother’ and in some cases, also by the teapot carrier. The chief is seated on a stool or throne, raised above the other attendees, shaded by the large ornamental umbrella that reflects his status. A traditional funeral will have a large number of drummers who welcome the chief with frantic beats. The chief does not speak. Instead he converses with his people through the Voice. The disputes arising from the funeral arrangements will be put to the voice, who will comment on what he is told. After a time when the dispute reaches some compromise, the chief will indicate his approval by raising his hand and gesturing with two or three fingers. The Queen Mother, whose task is to choose the chief, but not to be the literal mother of the chief, will often take a lead role in the debate between the different parties.

Traditional funerals involve much dancing, drumming and crooning, but all with some significance. Speeches are given by family, friends and colleagues, some of considerable length and gravity. After that, the male members of the family and close friends make their way to the cemetery where the body is interred. After that the feasting can begin and a good deal of beer and stronger spirit flows releasing the tears of the family and the feet of the dancers, for to dance is expected, a form of respect.

I only attended one wedding, somewhat dull in comparison. Thinking back on it, weddings are less special occasions. Traditional weddings involve an exchange of gifts for the brides family. Divorce is easy, and a man may marry several times, and have several wives at any one time. But a man only has one death, and as such, the funeral is a far more important occasion.

David Jones

See China change

Warden David Jones and parishioner Hanzen “Jane” Liu who have visited China every summer since 2005 and several winters since 2004, including two Christmas Eves, file this photo-report…

“These photographs reflect how China looks today, immersed in massive economic and social change that advances some but leaves others behind.

The pictures are from Hu Nan (Lake South) Province, in Central China, home of China’s former chairman Mao Zedong. The two little girls are from the “Miao” minority, one of the poorest of China’s 55 ethnic minority groups. David and Jane are trying to raise funds for Miao children, including their higher education. Even today, most Miao girls cannot attend school beyond grade nine, totally insufficient in the 21st century. This is what happens to any people who lose their independence by losing a war, and serves to remind us how important our national defence is.

The beach scene shows David on and Jane Putuo (Giant Buddha) Island, East of Ningbo in Zhejiang Province, along the Zhoushan Archipelago of the East China Sea (Pacific Ocean).

Enjoy the landscape, the mountains, the waterways, and especially the architecture as the traditional blends into the modern. See China change!”

Daria Merjantowicz

Daria’s Diary – Customs in Poland. 

POLISH FESTIVALS

Dozynki harvest festival celebrations take place all over Poland from mid August to early September every year.

In Poland August 15 is the Christian festival of the Feast of the Assumption and is celebrated as the harvest. It is also referred to as the wheat harvest festival Dozynki Pod Debami or also the Festival under the Oaks, those who reap make wreaths out of grain, nuts, and corn. They present these wreaths to the master and mistress of the estate on which the wheat is grown, they are invited in for a feast, which is the followed by dancing.

The harvesters slowly process to the lord’s manor. As they go they sing typical, merry harvest songs, one of which runs as follows:

Plon niesiemy, plon W jegomosci dom.
Bodaj zdrowo plonowala,
Po sto korcy kopa dala.
Plon niesiemy, plon.

Carry harvest’s yield, to squire from the field.
May the harvest give its bounty
Biggest crop yields in the county,
Carry harvest’s yield.