My roadside crosses

I don’t travel around the European Union. But I know (from my earlier observations and from other people’s stories) that a roadside cross is not a common element of the landscape of these countries. Fortunately, there are still crosses in Poland. I write: “fortunately” because, apart from other (religious) considerations, there is no doubt that the roadside cross is an element of Polish tradition, folk and religious culture. As one of the authors * wrote about the roadside crosses: “these are scattered in the Polish landscape – the prayers of the Polish people, carved in wood or forged in stone, the materialization of the lifting of pious hearts (…) as well as the pinnacle of Polish folk art, are an expression of human spiritual needs ”.

In Poland, in “my” area there are quite a few of them. They stand by the roads. At crossroads, at the beginning or end of villages, within individual properties and sometimes in non-fenced areas. However, it seems beyond doubt that there are fewer and fewer people for whom they are sacred in the surrounding landscape. Are they at least a reference to religious reflection? Do they evoke prayer with a gaze shifting to the holy sign of the cross? In my case it is so, but I have a vague impression that this is not a common attitude. Maybe I am wrong. I am glad that there are still crosses in the Polish landscape. It is hard for me to imagine that they would not be there. Although it is rarely seen that people kneel in front of the cross and pray, that they sing the litany to the Mother of God in May, in October they pray the Rosary. Today, not everyone, even passing the cross, makes a mark on their forehead, not everyone takes off their hat. It is forgotten that the cross that was placed was thanked, apologized, asked for grace and protection. Therefore, there were votive and penitential crosses (sometimes with arms down if the sin was more severe), and caravaks. There were crosses of wood, metal, sometimes forged in stone. The old cross standing at the edge of the village, at its beginning or end, was a silent witness to the daily life of the inhabitants. He was a guarantee of security. He marked a tame area. A strange world began behind the cross. Zofia Białas, in her study “History in roadside shrines and crosses inscribed” (published Tygodnik Niedziela), wrote: “The village and the town were most often left when called to the army. Going to look for bread on duty, going into economic emigration and pilgrims on their way to Częstochowa. The mother of the son, the wife of the husband, and the relatives of the pilgrims setting out on the pilgrimage trail, accompanied him to the cross or the chapel. Under the cross, if the church was far away, on Holy Saturday the priest blessed food, and on the Days of the Cross, he blessed the fields and prayed with the faithful for a good harvest. The priest would go to the cross to get the deceased to take him to the church and then to the cemetery. “

On my way from home to work (34 km one way by car) there are 6 roadside crosses. Some are very old. I guess they might be around 70 to 150 years old. I know them all well. I stopped and prayed with each one. I have been driving this road for many years. Some of them have already very crumbly wood. This is the way many Poles travel west to the countries of the European Union. Probably few people know that the founding treaty of the European Union defines national identity as the history, culture and tradition of a given country and orders the protection of such a value, valuable for all members of the Union.

So let’s protect our roadside crosses. Let us protect them authentically, because they are our Polish tradition and culture.

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