May 3rd at the Center

 

     It’s Friday night at the Center and people are arriving. The main hall, with the red and white flower arrangements reflects  the red and white seen  on many of the guests’ wardrobes. Some of them cluster around the bar in a jovial mood. The Polish language is heard through, greetings and chitchat continue until the lights dim and so the 2019 May 3 rd celebration begins, the core of which, involved performances by the students of the Maria Konopnicka School [Malgorzata Dziadyniak, director] with the support of Ela Zysko on the vocals and Anna Prochoroff on the piano. In the  patriotic theme, Children recited various poems and all present were encouraged to sing Polish songs, under Ela’s direction. The  dancing of the Polonaise with audience participation ended the program, which was followed by the Center’s usual sumptuous reception and a return to conversation, mixing and mingling.

       And on the historical notes: “The Constitution of 3 May 1791 is considered one of the most important achievements in the history of Poland, despite being in effect for only a year, until the Russo-Polish War of 1792. Historian Norman Davies calls it “the first constitution of its type in Europe”; other scholars also refer to it as the world’s second oldest constitution.The 3 May Constitution was designed to redress long-standing political defects of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Constitution sought to supplant the existing anarchy fostered by some of the country’s magnates with a more democratic constitutional monarchy. The adoption of the 3 May Constitution provoked the active hostility of the Commonwealth’s neighbors, leading to the Second Partition of Poland in 1792, the Kościuszko Uprising of 1794 and the final, Third Partition of Poland, in 1795. In the words of two of its co-authors, Ignacy Potocki and Hugo Kołłątaj, it was “the last will and testament of the expiring Fatherland.The memory of the 3 May Constitution—recognized by political scientists as a very progressive document for its time—for generations helped keep alive Polish aspirations for an independent and just society, and continued to inform the efforts of its authors’ descendants. In Poland it is viewed as a national symbol, and the culmination of all that was good and enlightened in Polish history and culture.

The 3 May anniversary of its adoption has been observed as Poland’s most important civil holiday since Poland regained independence in 1918. Its importance for the Polish people has been compared to that of 4 July to the Americans”.

 

Julian Boryczewski