The recipe for organising a cultural event can be summed up in three words: concept, people and money. How to combine these factors so that a cultural undertaking of regional importance could be created was demonstrated by the “Christmas Eve of Four Cultures”, organised for the second time in Gromadka.
The undertaking, an original idea of Gromadka commune head Dariusz Pawliszczy, aims to show the interpenetration and mutual complementarity of the traditions of Polish, Balkan, Borderlands and Ukrainian cultures. The funds for organising the Christmas Eve celebration were provided by the Marshal of Lower Silesia, who recognised that the event contributes to preserving the region’s cultural heritage. The team of employees of the Gromadka Municipal Cultural and Sports Centre, managed by director Bożena Kuchmacz, turned the idea into a cultural event.
This year’s Christmas Eve celebration began with a Mass presided over by Cardinal Henryk Gulbinowicz, celebrated in the parish church in Gromadka. The Mass was concelebrated by Włodzimierz Juszczak, a Greek Catholic bishop, and the sermon was delivered by Stefan Cichy, the ordinary bishop of the Diocese of Legnica.
The artistic part of the event was preceded by the traditional Christmas sharing of the wafer and prosphora, which in the Greek Catholic tradition is the equivalent of the Catholic wafer.
A number of distinguished guests from local and regional circles of the Church, business, politics and the uniformed services sat down to the Christmas Eve supper, including Bolesławiec County head Cezary Przybylski, MEP Lidia Geringer de Oedenberg and former MPs Ryszard Maraszek and Tadeusz Samborski. The musical setting was provided by the Bolesławiec Municipal Brass Band, conducted by Jan Chojnacki, and the Music School Orchestra from Żagań, conducted by Iwan Moroz.
The stage of the Gromadka Municipal Cultural and Sports Centre hosted, among others, young people from the Ukrainian-language 4th General Secondary School in Legnica and the vocal ensemble of the Relaks Club from Gromadka.
Although organised only for the second time, the event has become a permanent fixture in the calendar of Gromadka commune events. Alongside such events as the summer “Festival of Four Cultures” and the autumn “Heather Festival”, it highlights the richness and complexity of the local tradition, which has grown out of the interpenetration of diverse cultures, languages and religions.
(information: Tomasz Matyjewicz)