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Published: December 24th 2011
Christmas Dinner
Family together for Christmas dinner.We have arrived from New York City to Poland on December 16th, 2011. My sister Martyna and her fiancee Daniel picked us up at the Warsaw Chopin Airport and drove to Lodz. My parents welcomed us with a traditional and extremely delicious Polish dinner. I moved from Lodz to the US in 2001 and this trip marks the third time Suzi and I are in Poland together for the holidays.
Lodz is the third-largest city in Poland. Located in the central part of the country, it had a population of 742,387 in December 2009. It is the capital of Lodz Voivodeship, and is approximately 135 kilometres (84 mi) south-west of Warsaw
Lodz" literally means "a boat" and it's also a name of a small river that runs through the city. The beginning of the town's history dates back to 1423 when Lodz granted the status of a town by the Polish king. It's economy was mainly based on agriculture until the beginning of the 19th century when the period of prosperity began. The domestic textile industry came into being and Lodz started to be the leading center of Polish textile industry. Just before World War I, Lodz was one
Lodz Cathedral
A view of the cathedral when we went to see the nativity scene. of the most densely populated industrial cities in the world and had a growth rate bigger than New York. The late 19th and early 20th century period was seen to constitute "the Golden Age" of this "young city," which became popularly known as the "Polish Manchester" and "the Promised Land." This was a time when the majority of factories and palaces of the factories owners were built. The biggest of them and also one of the biggest in Europe was Israel Poznanski's textile factories complex, where the Nobel prize winning novel "Promised Land" by Wladyslaw Reymont took place. The complex along with Israel Poznanski's palace was recently restored and named "Manufaktura" and is slowly becoming the cultural centre of Lodz.
Until the Second World War and the German occupation Lodz was a city of many cultures (among them the four largest: Polish, Russian, Jewish and German) and a mixture of many traditions, histories and religions whose traces can be found in various buildings and temples across Lodz.
We spent 8 days in Lodz. We went out to beautiful dinners with family and family friends and enjoyed a lot of great Polish food. We also spent time catching
up with my friends.
During our stay, we visited the University of Lodz, Faculty of Economics and Sociology, from which I received my Masters in Finance and Banking and where my Mom is a professor. When I come home, I like to visit the university to say hello to professors I have had in the past. We also visited the Technical University of Lodz, where my Dad is a professor and the university from which my sister received her Masters in Applied Mathematics.
A few other highlights in Lodz included the Opera night at the Teatr Wielki in Lodz as well as Carolls Night at the Poznanski Palace.
During one of the days we took a road trip to the Jasna Gora Monastery in Czestochowa. The Jasna Gora Monastery (English translation: Luminous Mountain) is the most famous shrine to the Virgin Mary in Poland and the country's greatest place of pilgrimage - for many its spiritual capital. The image of Black Madonna of Częstochowa, to which miraculous powers are attributed, is Jasna Gora's most precious treasure. Founded in 1382 by Pauline monks who came from Hungary at the invitation of Wladyslaw, Duke of Opole. The monastery
has been a pilgrimage destination for hundreds of years, and it contains the most important icon of the Virgin Mary in this part of Europe. The icon, depicting the Mother of God with the Christ Child, is known as the Black Madonna of Czestochowa or Our Lady of Czestochowa, which is widely venerated and credited with many miracles. Among these, it is credited with miraculously saving the Jasna Gora monastery during a siege that took place at the time of The Deluge, a 17th century Swedish invasion.
We spent the traditional Polish Christmas Eve in Lodz with my parents and Martyna. We had a lot of delicious Polish Christmas dishes, shared host and wishes as well as opened a lot of Christmas presents from under the tree! On the first day of Christmas, we had a traditional festive breakfast after which my parents drove us to the Warsaw airport to continue our trip - next stop, India.
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Mike and Ariel Lurye
non-member comment
Wish we were there!
So good to see your parents and Martyni, Kostek. Hope Suzi likes Polish food, wish we were there to help you deal with all the delicacies. Safe flight to Mumbai!