Young people wearing ethnic costumes took part in a previous Dozynki Harvest Festival at Holy Mother of Sorrows Church in Dupont.
Submitted photo
Holy Mother of Sorrows Church to host 46th annual event
Children’s games will be part of the fun at this year’s Dozynki Harvest Festival, set for 11 .am. to 6 p.m. at Holy Mother of Sorrows Church in Dupont.
Submitted photo
Festival goers admire the baskets on display at the basket raffle during a previous Dozynki Harvest Festival.
Submitted photo
Volunteers at Holy Mother of Sorrows Church in Dupont have been preparing getting the 46th annual Dozynki Harvest Festival, set to begin at 11 a.m. Sept. 11.
As the name suggests, this 46th annual celebration is rooted in Eastern Europe.
“The Dozynki is a traditional harvest festival that has been continuously held in Poland since medieval times, through World Wars and Communism,” said event chair Dave Petrosky. “Some regions hold it in August, some in the beginning of September.”
Wheat is an important crop in Poland, so people celebrating a Dozynki typically weave sheaves of that grain into a wreath and decorate it with ribbons, greenery, religious symbols and sometimes pieces of other types of food.
“They generally parade the wreath through the town to the local church and a priest will bless it,” Petrosky said.
At the local Dozynki in Dupont, children will wear ethnic costumes and the wreath will be set up in the church, where church pastor the Very Rev. Zbigniew Dawid, will pray over and bless it.
“Our priest is from Poland,” Petrosky said, “so he has seen this many times.”
“We’re thanking God for the harvest, absolutely.”
The blessing of the wreath will take place at 11 a.m. and should be finished within 10 or 15 minutes, volunteer Mary Jo Searfoss estimated. After that, the Dozynki continues until 6 p.m. with games, basket raffles, the accordion music of Joe Lostavica from 1 to 5 p.m. and, of course, food.
“We’ll have kielbasi, the piggies (halupki), potato pancakes, hamburgers and pierogies,” Searfoss said. “We can’t forget the pierogies; we spent two days making them.”
A book sale also will be part of the event, and children will be welcome to make and take home small “fairy gardens” or “gnome gardens” fashioned from colorful stones.
The church grounds are located at 212 Wyoming Ave. in Dupont.
