On Canovals' Blog you will encounter Croatian and other music that I like, along with the Psalms, some Croatian Bajka, and fairytales from other lands. I also write about other topics that intrigue me and I hope will interest you too. Dobrodosli! Welcome! Enjoy! Uživati!
Funny, its a day like today when you can see how many of us there are down here at the end of the world. The Amerikanski are all somewhere eating turkey and whatever. Its a holiday and we are either in our usual holes in the ground working or somewhere else working. I decided I wanted something warm to eat. There's only one place open on the holiday around here. Guess where? Jup! Coffee, cheese danish, and a samitch of cheese and bacon of turkey. Don't even ask what language in which I ordered. :) Starbucks came though just fine today. (Hmmm, samitch - that's teksikanski for sandwich on engleski).
The call from the daughter I mentioned last blog? Turned out to be a mass text message to the whole family so she didn't have to mess with any of us. She was too busy to answer the phone when I called her back. Sigh. But she did better than the others, none of the rest of them called or texted. Funny how that bothers me less and less these days.
I remember the first Bozic after Carole died. That soon will have been six Bozic past. The service at the church concluded. I locked up the building and realized that I was alone. Easter was the same. All the holidays were the same. Even when I made sure that I had showered before I came to church it was the same. The children didn't call then either. For years, other people who came into my life made excuses not to be around me on holidays too. It got to the point that when people put on their supercilious smiles and wished me "Merry Christmas" that I snarled "bah! humbug!" somewhere deep inside of me where no one could see.
I went away and cooked my own Christmas eve and Veliki Petak fish and kupus according to the season and the Grinch did what he did in private for himself by himself. I did not realize at the time how many of my brothers and sisters were around me. By brothers and sisters, I do not mean my parent's children. When Jesus brothers and sisters (ok, I suppose they were half-brothers etc.) came accusing Him of being insane, Jesus motioned his hand around the room and said "these are my brothers and my sisters." As it turns out, I have rather a lot of really nice brothers and sisters whom my parents never knew. And me, the Grinch, I am not alone any more and so today on Amerikanski Dan Hvala I am thankful indeed.
First of all, CJ's dogs are "babysitting" me this afternoon as the sun slips out of sight. One is right under my desk. I can hear him when he scratches. Another talks to me if I take too long clicking another song to play.
Still another has been laying quietly near my feet for a good while. We listened to "Second Waltz - Dmitri Shostokovic" for a while and when we finished that playlist we moved on down the line. Right now we are listening to "Breze" performed by Irena Vrčkovic. Next up is Vrčkovic with Pidži singing Tam dol na ravnem polju. Pidži enjoys a bit of fame in the central Teksas area because they've heard him on the radio and some lucky folk have seen him in person.
You really didn't think that Pidži took Teksikanski music back to Slovenija did you? If you thought that, the joke is on you. You've read already here where I've discussed the origins of Tejano music, yes? You've read how that influenced the rest of the music of the region and you read about the "Commanches" in Blanco County, yes? Jup. You got it, the whole blooming Texas music scene is dominated by music with Slavic origins, hi hi :) If you happen to be an "Anglo" Texan reading this,,, go to YouTube and watch Irena and Pidži and the band work out "Tam dol na ravnem polju."
If you have your "languages" ear turned on, no "po noci" in the song most assuredly does not mean the same as "panoche" on španski jezik. The slovenijan expression means "by night" more or less, and the spanoljski means, ummmpf something a bit more crude, yet the root meaning is still something "by night." Hmmmmm so who is going to pop up and give me a reasonable explanation how this non-hispanic heterographic homophone arrived into Mexican Spanish? Ummmm. Gotcha didn't I?
Ok, one of the doggies has just put in her request for Vesna Maria, so we're going to listen to her for a while now.
Today was Vesna Maria's birthday. Sretan rođendan Vesna Maria! We all need to remember the date so she really knows how many friends she has out here next year. Hi hi, I see at least two pages of birthday congratulations on her page over on FaceBook. She is a wonderful performer with a wonderful voice. CJ and I both love to watch her and listen to her voice.
Someday when I think the time is right I am going to ask a certain question and if the answer is right, and if I've won the lottery by that time, I wouldn't mind a bit if Momir and Vesna Maria flew over and sang something like "Tri palme na otoku srece" at a special occaision after that. That would just about make the celebration extra fino. Sigh. If I win the lottery. Anyway, me and the doggies have them on YouTube and we can dream.
Somewhere in one of Patria's songs they say that "a man without dreams is like the heavens without stars." I believe that and so as long as my sky has stars in it I refuse to not dream. Another song I would like Vesna Maria and Momir to do on that day is "Ljubav." Momir knows why. It has something to do with the video sash958 made with Vesna Maria and Momir doing this song. Momir, what do you think? Should I say why this song is so important to me? Or should that just be one of those things that goes to the grave with me?
Another random trip into linguistics. Mariachi. A truely Mexican word. Please explain its Spanish construction for me if you can. You can not, can you? I didn't think so. Mariacke. Slavic. Polish. And no this did not arrive with Napoleon. As I've shown you elsewhere, we Slavs have been arriving in North America in a steady stream since the 1500s. Just 'cause we didn't raise a flag and build an empire doesn't mean we weren't here. We were. We are. Marian musicians in certain cathedrals. Trumpets sound the hours in Krakova and in Warsaw. Hmmmmm. Originally these were church musicians not from the indiginous culture, in Mexico banished from the church into the streets and to this day allowed to perform religious works only at the Shrine of Guadalupe, or perhaps Christmas Eve in certain show cathedrals or in the streets. The priests have taught the mariachi they cannot to play in church. Do you wonder at the anti-clerical feelings in the North of Mexico? Religion was banned from church. Ufffff !!!!! What a concept ...
There was once a wedding at which I had certian duties. The bride's father is a mariachi. He had written a song especially for his daughter's wedding but he was sure his group could not sing in church. Hi hi hi hi hi, that's exactly where that sung was first heard. In Church. I insisted, and they played the man's song for his daughter inside the church in front of the altar. Viva la revolucion!!!! Bog i Hrvati!!! Dios y la gente!!! God and the people! Oh dear, I am a bit radical I'm afraid.
Oh my, here we are, me and the doggies, listening to Vesna Maria sing "Alaj mi je veceras po voji" along with Djerdan - now this is a recording that thrills my heart.
Now here is CJ, and she really thrills my heart.
pa,
do sljedeći put, blagoslov - until next time, blessings,
Today when the typical older Amerikanski hears the word "rocket" the image that comes to his mind is about Niel Armstrong on the moon. His parents thought about "Buck Rogers" in the fictionalized stories about things that were yet to come in that time. In the 1960's in America there was a lot of talk about Werner Von Braun from Hitler's V2 rocket program who was now assisting the Americans in their "race for space."
Again, what comes to the mind of Amerikanski is words to his national hymn. O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
At the words "The rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air" there is moisture in the eyes of many patriotic Americans. In school the American is taught about how the Chinese supposedly invented rockets. There used to be a mention that Marco Polo brought this technology to the West, but of course there is no mention that Marco Polo was Croatian. Sigh.
There might be some mention about how the British attempted to use rockets in the 18th century. Of course their rockets were ineffective weren't they? The Americans won against them - right? So the school books skip ahead to the rockets of the invincible American military of the present time. There's little mention of William Congreve whose work was behind "the rockets' red glare" in the hymn.
The American never hears about Kazimierz Siemienowicz. I suppose its because his name is too long and too difficult to spell. I will be the first to admit that Казімір Семяновіч is much easier to spell in Belarusian than in Polish. The man literally wrote the book on rocketry in 1650. His "Artis Magnae Artilleriae pars prima" stood as the basic artillery manual for the next two hundred years.
Siemienowicz provided the standard designs for creating rockets, fireballs, and other pyrotechnic devices. It discussed for the first time the idea of applying a reactive technique to artillery. It contains a large chapter on caliber, construction, production and properties of rockets including multistage rockets, batteries of rockets, and rockets with delta wing stabilizers.
What on earth does Siemienowicz have to do with American Veteran's Day, Canadian Day of Remembrance, oh and by the way, Polish Independence Day on 11 November. Why would a Croat, especially a Texas Croat care about any of this?
The year was 1673. The game was on! The grad was Khotyn. Poland versus Ottomans. The odds are on an Ottoman victory. The Turks had won the year before. The Ottomans were invincible. They brought 120 of the most technologically advanced cannons to the battle at Khotyn. Jan Sobieski brought Siemienowicz and his rockets. The Ottoman's lost. Sobieski and Siemienowicz beat them again the next year at Vienna and the Ottoman's were forever excluded from Slovakia and Hungary. Croatia began to arise again. Poland began to recover from the Khmelnytsky disaster and the harsh period of the Swedish disaster during which Poland lost about one third of her population. The red glare of Siemienowicz rockets vaulted the Lion of Lechistan (as the Turks called Jan Sobieski) to the throne of Poland.
For a time Poland's fortunes were much much better. There were major advances toward democracy and Polish officers assisted the Americans in their struggle against monarchy. In that time Poland promulgated one of the world's first written constitutions, a document Potemkin derisively dismissed as "a contagion of democracy." The autocrats of Europe couldn't stand such a contagion. Armies marched and Poland began another long night of foreign domination.
According to many historians Poland ceased to exist then until 1918. Are they correct? I submit to you that these historians are incorrect. Poland existed, but where?
"Oh sure," you say, "Poland existed in the hearts and minds of the Polish people scattered around everywhere and in the hearts and minds of the Polish people under foreign rule." Yup. True enough. But there is more to the story than just that.
Let's start with Felix Wardzinski. One man. A soldier. A Polish soldier. A soldier in an army defeated by the Prussians and defeated by the Russians. A soldier in an army totally crushed. A soldier on the run for his life, Felix Wardzinski crossed the border into Galicia which at that time was controlled by the Hapsburg empire.
If the Hapsburg government had been faced with just one Felix Wardzinski that would have been the end of the story. Felix would have found a job and he would have settled down in his new homeland. That was not the case however, there were a lot of Felix Wardzinskis who crossed into Galicia.
Examine this scenario with me. Let's step inside the brain of the Austrian Crown for a moment. All these Felix Wardzinskis form up their units again inside Austrian territory and continue to strike at the foreign armies occupying their homeland. The Prussians use this as an excuse to strike at Galicia, or the Russians come to stop the raids into the territory they occupy. Either way, the Austro-Hungarian empire loses. The Hapsburg family has just lost Mexico in the Mexican revolution of 1825. Further loses to the family are ~ shudder ~ unthinkable.
The Austrians could just shoot these men and be done with it. That would set the Polish population in Galicia on edge. Galicia, Slovakia, Bohemia, Moravia, Czechy and - God forbid - Croatia might rise up. In short, the Austrian Crown might be left with only Austria. All that disaster over Felix Wardzinski, a defeated soldier, who may have had no idea he could be that important to the rise and fall of nations.
There is a way out for the Triple Crown. (What? You thought the "Triple Crown" was a horse race in Kentucky? Ha! Austria - Hungaria - Croatia, that's the Triple Crown.) There's a simple way out. "Felix, brate moj, where you want to go buddy?" The Triple Crown offered to furnish transportation to any place in the world these men might want to go as long as it was away from any where they could cause trouble to the Empire. "By the way, brate, there is a little thing going on in Teksas. A professional soldier might be appreciated there just now."
Problem solved!! The potential source of grief to the Austrian Crown is on his way to give grief to the Mexicans. Serves them right for breaking away from Hapsburg hegemony! Ha! A brilliant stroke!
Felix was on a boat from Austria to New York in a heartbeat. Ok ok, in as many heartbeats as it took to get Felix from Galicia to the nearest Austrian seaport. So now you are looking at a map and you are asking me where Austria had a seaport. Sigh. That's the same question my son-in-law asked me once. Slovenija, Istria, and Dalmacija were under the Triple Crown dear friend so Austria had a lot of access to the sea.
From New York, Felix found his way to New Orleans where he and a lot of other Felixes were met by a recruiter for the Teksas army which was being formed.
There were already Polski in Teksas. Napoleon had attempted to establish a French colony about where Liberty, Texas is now. The textbooks tell you that the French failed and that they withdrew. Yeah. That's true. The French officials withdrew. The colonists remained.
Simon Wiess was among those colonists. Simon was Polish. Simon was Jewish. Simon hooked up with my father's family and their little business about the Trinity River about which they were a long time discarding. I've already told part of that story elsewhere. Simon was a merchant, a trader. This Polish Jew knew all the roads, all the oxcart trails all the paths and all the waterways of any kind in eastern Texas. Like a true viking he knew how to use them too.
The sort of person who think Jews are all supposed sitting in their counting houses counting out their money are going to have trouble with this story. That kind of person will have difficulty with the picture of a Polish Jew in a coonskin hat, a hunting knife in his belt and a rifle on his shoulder sweaty from walking through the breeze-less forests in the weltering 100+ degree East Texas spring/summer/fall. This, however, is the true picture of Simon Wiess, a frontiersman and pioneer in Texas. We will come back to his role in the matter at hand in a few moments.
19th century Bosnia
19th century Texas
After the battle of the Alamo, the Teksikanski fought the Mexican centrist army at Goliad. Does the flag used by one regiment of the Refugio volunteers remind you of a familiar "Bosnian" ensign? It should. The Texas Hrvati were quietly out in force. They were not alone. Michael Dembinski, Michael Debicki, Francis Petrussewicz, Adolph Petrussewicz, John Kornicky, Joseph Schrusnecki and a lot of others fresh from Poland were right beside them.
Again they lost. Santa Ana gave Colonel Jose Nicolas de la Portilla orders to execute the prisoners. Today there is a monument to Colonel Fannin on that location. The Mexicans attempted to cover up the matter by burning the bodies and burning the records, so its not an easy task to find who all these heros were.
General Sam Houston continued to recruit and train an army to fight Santa Ana. They withdrew toward eastern Texas with Santa Ana in pursuit. Santa Ana's supply lines grew longer and longer and his troops suffered more and more. The soldiers under Sam Houston fared much better. At every river crossing they were met with fresh food, clothing, equipment, and other supplies brought by Simon Wiess.
There came a day when Santa Ana's troops were essentially cut off. They were resting, resting as much as a hungry army being devoured by hordes of mosquitoes can rest. Frederick Lemsky brought his flute to the front with him. Felix Wardzinski was there too in the Teksas army. The Teksikans struck up the tune "Come to the Bower" and began to "drill" right in front of their opposition. The Meksikans were entertained by the Teksikans in their rough clothing as they slouched into formation. No one payed any attention to the cannon which were being brought forward behind the ragged appearing group.
When they were at nearly point blank range, the Teksas army suddenly revealed how well trained and how professional they were. Instantly they stepped aside from the cannon. They formed a straight line with their rifles to their shoulders.
The cannon fired.
The rifles fired.
The shout went up "Zapamiętaj Goliad!" as the Polish army with bayonets fixed streamed across the Mexican position and drove them into the swamp where the alligators had a feast that day. That day the proud Polish army was vindicated as it vanquished tyranny. All the seething anger at Santa Ana for the murder of their brothers at Goliad flashed and flamed with a furious ferocity. All the pent-up anger they had for the Prussian Kaiser and for the Russian Czar burned fiercely for eighteen intense minutes during which the entire Mexican army was utterly destroyed. Felix Wardzinski has the satisfaction of being present when Santa Ana was captured.
Oh dear! Oh dear!! Now I've done it! I was supposed to say all on english "The shout went up 'Remember Goliad" as the Texas army with bayonets fixed .... Oh dear! What have I done? Well now, I told you Poland didn't cease to exist and I asked you "but where?" Here it was, a piece of Poland existed right here in plain view in Texas. Jeszcze Polska nie umarła!
What happened to the Polish soldiers who survived the war? Some of them melted quietly into the Slavic corners of Texas and went about the business of living. Some of them had other adventures. Last Sunday I had breakfast with the great-grandson of one of them. My friend's surname sounds Hispanic. What of it? He is proud of his ancestor who came from so far away bring liberty to this land.
What happened to Simon Wiess? One of his descendants married into a branch of my mother's family. Am I Jewish? Nope. Am I Polish? Nope. Am I proud of my shirt-sleeve relative who was both? Yup. Perhaps more of this story will be another adventure for another time.
In the video I made for this year, I used "Texas Our Texas," the traditional and now legal National Hymn of Texas along with the Polish National Hymn. The school books for the young people in Texas make no mention of these heroes from Poland who came at just the right time. I thought they should be honored. From their blood the flowers of freedom sprang.
The words to "Texas, Our Texas," written by William J. Marsh and Gladys Yoakum Wrightare:
Texas, Our Texas! all hail the mighty State!
Texas, Our Texas! so wonderful so great!
Boldest and grandest, withstanding ev'ry test
O Empire wide and glorious, you stand supremely blest.
(ref)
Texas, O Texas! your freeborn single star,
Sends out its radiance to nations near and far,
Emblem of Freedom! it set our hearts aglow,
With thoughts of San Jacinto and glorious Alamo.
(ref)
Texas, dear Texas! from tyrant grip now free,
Shines forth in splendor, your star of destiny!
Mother of heroes, we come your children true,
Proclaiming our allegiance, our faith, our love for you.
ref: God bless you Texas! And keep you brave and strong,
That you may grow in power and worth, throughout the ages long.
God bless you Texas! And keep you brave and strong, That you may grow in power and worth, throughout the ages long.
The Polish National Hymn: Mazurek Dąbrowskiego - Dąbrowski's Mazurka, also called Pieśń Legionów Polskich we Włoszech Song of the Polish Legions in Italy or Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła Poland has not yet perished :
Jeszcze Polska nie umarła,
Kiedy my żyjemy
Co nam obca moc wydarła,
Szablą odbijemy.
Marsz, marsz, Dąbrowski Do Polski z ziemi włoskiej Za twoim przewodem Złączym się z narodem
Jak Czarniecki do Poznania
Wracał się przez morze
Dla ojczyzny ratowaniaPo szwedzkim rozbiorze.
Marsz, marsz...
Przejdziem Wisłę, przejdziem Wartę
Będziem Polakami
Dał nam przykład Bonaparte
Jak zwyciężac mamy
Marsz, marsz...
Niemiec, Moskal nie osiędzie,
Gdy jąwszy pałasza,
Hasłem wszystkich zgoda będzie
I ojczyzna nasza
Marsz, marsz...
Już tam ojciec do swej BasiMówi zapłakany
Słuchaj jeno, pono nasi
Biją w tarabany
Marsz, marsz...
Na to wszystkich jedne głosy
Dosyć tej niewoli
Mamy racławickie kosy
Kościuszkę Bóg pozwoli.
on english this is: Poland has not yet died,
So long as we still live.
What the alien power has seized from us,
We shall recapture with a sabre. March, march, Dąbrowski,
To Poland from the Italian land.
Under your command
We shall rejoin the nation.
Like Czarniecki to Poznań
Returned across the sea
To save his homeland
After the Swedish occupation. March, march...
We'll cross the Vistula and the Warta,
We shall be Polish.
Bonaparte has given us the example
Of how we should prevail. March, march...
The German nor the Muscovite will settle
When, with a backsword in hand,
"Concord" will be everybody's watchword
And so will be our fatherland. March, march...
A father, in tears,
Says to his Basia
Listen, our boys are said
To be beating the tarabans.
March, march...
All exclaim in unison,
"Enough of this slavery!"
We've got the scythes of Racławice,
God will give us Kościuszko.
Texas is not the only North American nation who should give thanks to God for Poland. The Americans also should give thanks to God for Kościuszko who so greatly assisted in their revolution.
hrabrivojnici izkrvi slobodecvijet
do sljedeći put, blagoslov - until next time, blessings,
Twe oczy, skąd Kupido na wsze ziemskie kraje,
Córo możnego króla, harde prawa daje,
Nie oczy, lecz pochodnie dwie nielitościwe,
Które palą na popiół serca nieszczęśliwe.
Nie pochodnie, lecz gwiazdy, których jasne zorze
Błagają nagłym wiatrem rozgniewane morze.
Nie gwiazdy, ale słońca pałające różno,
Których blask śmiertelnemu oku pojąć próżno.
Nie słońca, ale nieba, bo swój obrót mają
I swoją śliczną barwą niebu wprzód nie dają.
Nie nieba, ale dziwnej mocy są bogowie,
Przed którymi padają ziemscy monarchowie.
Nie bogowie też zgoła, bo azaż bogowie
Pastwią się tak nad sercy ludzkimi surowie?
Nie nieba: niebo torem jednostajnym chodzi;
Nie słońca: słońce jedno wschodzi i zachodzi;
Nie gwiazdy, bo te tylko w ciemności panują;
Nie pochodnie, bo lada wiatrom te hołdują.
Lecz się wszytko zamyka w jednym oka słowie: Pochodnie, gwiazdy, słońca, nieba i bogowie.
a fellow who calls himself Deacon Jim translates this as: O great king’s daughter! Your eyes
From where Cupid continues to abide.
No, not eyes but two cruel torches
Which burn to ashes the hearts of the unlucky.
No, not torches but stars, which aurora
With sudden wind tosses the sea.
No, not stars but suns which burn so bright
That no mortal eye can comprehend to view.
No, not suns, but the heavens, because they have
In their color that which the heavens cannot give.
No, not the heavens, but almighty gods
In front of whom kneel all the world’s monarchs.
No, not even gods! For do gods
Rule so severely over the hearts of men?
No, not sky: For sky has only one course.
No, not sun: For the sun always rises and sets.
No, not stars: For stars only shine at night.
No, not torches: For torches fail in the storm.
No, they are everything contained in the word “eye:”
Torches, stars, suns, heavens, and gods.
About her Shakespeare wrote "The Tempest" and Peacham, in honor of her marriage to the Elector Palatine, Frederick V on St. Valentine's Day 1613 wrote the "Nuptial:"
Nymphs of sea and land, away,
This, Eliza's wedding day,
Help to dress our gallant bride
With the treasures that ye hide:
Some bring flowery coronets,
Roses white and violets:
Doris, gather from thy shore
Coral, crystal, amber, store,
Which thy queen in bracelets twist
For her alabaster wrist,
While ye silver-footed girls
Plait her tresses with your pearls:
Others, from Pactolus' stream,
Greet her with a diademe:
Search in every rocky mount
For the gems of most account:
Bring ye rubies for her ear,
Diamonds to fill her hair,
Emerald green and chrysolite
Bind her neck more white than white;
On her breast depending be
The onyx, friend to chastity;
Take the rest without their place,
In borders, sleeves, her shoes, or lace:
Nymphs of Niger, offer plumes,
Some, your odours and perfumes:
Dian's maids, more white than milk,
Fit a robe of finest silk:
Dian's maids who mont to be
The honour of virginity.
Heavens have bestowed their grace,
Her chaste desires, and angel's face.
She was of Carpathian descent, Polish in fact. Had Guy Fawke's torches touched the tinder leading to the powder she might have been Queen Elizabeth II of England, nay, more, queen of all the lands between the Urals and the Great Western Sea.
Alas and Alack, as it was to be, the Queen of Hearts became only Zimní Královna, the Winter Queen, and that for one winter alone as her husband was defeated at Bílá hora (White Mountain) in 1620.
Alas alas alas. If the Catholics had won in England, the protestants would have won on the continent. How we in the south would have loved a Polish monarch instead of a Hungarian one. Instead, what happened subsequently happened subsequently and here we are. Hmmm, as it is, all the English monarchs since Elizabeth are her descendants, and there are some who worry that we Carpathians and Balkan types will overwhelm the "native" population of the Western Islands. Heh, perhaps we shall.
Sjeti se, sjeti se
petog studenog
remember remember the fifth of November
do sljedeći put, blagoslov - until next time, blessings,
It's such fun when you dig back in history past the point when the languages still used the now lost yers and yats and so on which are no longer used in the south anyway except in ultra archaic forms like in my own surname. There used to be a place called Halych–Volhyn. Volhyn. Wet.
I mentioned earlier that I was born among the Mvskoke. I am not Mvskoke and so I do not have any tribal rights associated with them, nor am I a citizen of their almost invisible state in the middle of North America, but I do understand their history a bit. Hehehe, my father had an unwitting impact on their "traditional" music, bless his heart. Wet. Mvskoke = Wet. So many words in Mvskoke jezik talk about "wet": a fast running creek, a slow running creek, a boggy creek, a dry creek, a river, a pond, a lake, a big lake, cold water, hot water, etc., etc., etc., each has its own word to describe it so there is little need for adjectives to attach to one of the "water" words. Volhyn = Wet, but not on Mvskoke, on Volhynijan.
Volhyn was situated in the Buh river basin, a sometimes wet place and a major obstacle to the migrations into Europe. Over the years the region was under a number of administrations including that of Małopolska and Krakova. Among others, Aelfred the Great of Wessex mentions us.
The Germans and some of the tribes traveling with them moved through the Volhyn area on their way west. A vast horde of them the old songs say. With their great wagons, they wanted no part of the marsh lands so we stepped quietly back into the forests and into the marsh lands out of their way and let them pass. They would be gone soon enough, and they were. When the most of them had emptied out to the west we came crawling out of the marshes like so many cockroaches of a Texas coastal summer's evening back into our own land. Haraldr harðráði's chronicler says in the Heimskringla: "Tryggvi ok Tvívívill höfðu komit 12 skipum: Læsir hafði skeið ok alla skipaða með köppum" which is to say: "The Laesir, they have arrived on the large, and long-ship ..." Hmmm Maybe I've heard a story like this put another way: "Sju tusen 777 sjösjuka sjömän," (seven thousand seven hundred and seventy seven sea sick seamen). Ok, say that three times fast on Croatian and see how your mouth feels: "sedam tisuća, sedam sto, sedamdeset sedam morsku bolest pomoraca" This was the moment when Haraldr harðráði, the last fierce Viking, encountered the Hrvats.
The Laesir, as the Swedes called the Bielo-Chorvats or "White" Croatians were on the move too. Some modern historian types wonder what happened to them. If they were to listen to the old songs they would know. When the time came, they loaded their wagons and moved. Some of them again boarded "the large and long-ship ..."
Some were left behind. Their fate was not so good. As usual, someone wished to harm them and they did.
Of those who had the prescience to leave, not every one had moved at the same time. My ancestors went south about a thousand years ago. Some Bielo-Chorvats whose families had remained in more northerly regions arrived in Ohio in the early 1900s. Adolf Emil Kannwischer arrived in North America from the region in the 1940s as a refugee from the Nazi's and the Communists and the general disorder which prevailed at the time. Was he "German?" Ummmm. Was he Ruthenian? Ummmm. Was he Polish? Ummm. Was he Russian? Unh uhhh - he made that super clear, no! To all the other questions, the answer is yes. And no. Kannwischer was Volhynijan and more specifically, he was Evangelical (Lutheran) and Hrvat.
His father was Emil, born during Advent in Wartrowka in 1879. Not far away in Nowopol there were some of my relatives. These were relatives whose ancestors were the same as mine, who had made the trek south and had lived in Western Slavonija near Palešnik for generations before the troubles came. (Did you read my story about TS Takt from Palešnik?) This I know because they knew the same story songs as I know - up to the point of the wagons with wings which flew over the long water. Their ancestors had been protestant and on their way with the Palatine immigration to North America when word came that they were welcome back in the Volhynija and so they had gone. Now they had come away from the Buh river and had gone to Kansas to gather up with others who had come away from where is now Russia.
In the Volhynija they were Evangelical (Lutheran), here they were Mennonite, Kannwischer was Southern Baptist, go figure. There were a couple more families in Houston in support of the young people from their selo who were doing "Alternative Service" in the hospitals during the Vietnam War. That's another story for another time. Eighty-six dollars and a few pence per month for four years at twelve to fourteen hours a day. It was impossible to live in the metropolis on less than poverty wages so hundreds and hundreds of our youth bunched up and bundled up. Mess with us and we know how to survive. We are Hrvat. You can not knock us down and keep us down. Its stupid to try, but that's why my relatives sought me out - they were rural and I already knew my way around the big city by that time so I could help them stay on their feet. We were putting together a new selo. Somehow I think Kannwischer helped them find me.
I looked Dr. Kannwisher up on Google. There was precious little to find any more. He was an author of a number of books. Its amazing how a man who was so much in the public eye in his lifetime could fade from view so quickly. A winter 2006 newsletter from Houston Baptist University said "Ruth Kannwischer, passed away Oct. 29. She was a longtime supporter of HBU and was a member of the HBU Auxiliary for many years, serving as president. She donated the HBU seal in the center of the Walk of Honor in Dr. Kannwischer’s memory. Dr. Kannwischer passed away in 1994."
I hed met Dr. Kannwischer in the spring of 1965. The place was called "Houston Baptist College" in those years. Kannwischer taught all the "Sociology" there was to be had in the school at that time. I was there on a scholarship, don't ask how. I took every class Dr. Kannwischer had to offer in the 1965-1966 school year. The man sent me on adventures I'll never forget. Some of them I might even share with you someday. Hmmmm which ones? Maybe Bugaloo George on midnight to dawn radio in the Third Ward? Maybe. We'll see. Another time perhaps.
Meantime let Enya tell the story commemorating that glorious day along the Buh when the Vikings exclaimed: "The Laesir, they have arrived on the large, and long-ship ..."
do sljedeći put, blagoslov - until next time, blessings,
