Remembering Lent

The short, dark days in February and March were the perfect setting for Lent. There were the weekly rituals of stations of the cross, recitation of the rosary, benediction and confession. Before Vatican II, everything was in Latin and people of a certain age know all the words to Pange Lingua Gloriosi (Praise We Christ's Immortal Body) and Stabat Mater (for the stations of the cross). 
Adults were required to observe a complicated set of rules for fasting (not eating between meals) and abstinence from meat, while youngsters under the age of fourteen were granted a little more leeway. (I looked forward to Friday dinners with Mac 'n Cheese, potato pancakes and Mrs. Paul's Fishsticks). Everyone was urged to “give up” something like soda, candy, gum or TV.
By Holy Week, the days were getting longer and brighter, and the preparation more intense. More church visits, more rosaries, longer choir practice, baking Potica, apple strudel and painstakingly coloring pysanky eggs (every eastern European celebration seems to be time consuming).
Lent is about transformation - darkness to light, from distraction to contemplation, from busyness to solitude. Christ is risen, indeed He is risen from the dead. 
Customs that used to annoy me, now comfort and reassure me. I enjoy the symbolism of ashes, incense, the washing of feet, lighting the new fire and blessing of oils. Ash Wednesday is next week and I'm rehearsing Latin hymns.

  

Stations of the Cross at Holy Rosary Church

Potica or Povitica

Pysanky eggs - ours never looked this good

 

Globeville-Elyria-Swansea Memory Project

I could be in any church for any occasion, but a whiff of bees wax candles, or the spicy scent of incense calls up memories of Holy Rosary Church during Holy Week. My recollections are of the days before Vatican II, of Latin hymns, Tantum Ergo and Panis Angelicus. It is the Globeville neighborhood of that era that is etched in my memory: still intact, neat as a model train layout with small homes, tidy yards, barns and sheds, steeples and smokestacks.
What triggers a memory of the neighborhood for you? The sound of a trail whistle? The smell of the stockyards? A snapshot of the family home? History Colorado wants to hear reminiscences of both long-time and new residents of the Globeville-Elyria-Swansea Neighborhoods.
History Colorado uses site-based remembering techniques to jump-start writing and storytelling that reanimates the community history of a place. Neighbors write stories of resilience and community connection that forge stronger identities.

Wednesdays, September 26, October 3 and October 10
6:30 - 8:30 pm, Swansea Recreation Center
2650 East 49th Avenue
Denver, CO 80216
Call 303-866-4584 to schedule a time

What to Bring:

Pen, paper, an object of importance from your neighborhood/community,
lots of memories, family and friends!

A culminating Community Exhibit will take place on November 15th from 6–8 pm.

¡COMPARTE TU HISTORIA!

History Colorado presenta el

Proyecto Recuerdos de los Barrios: Globeville-Elyria-Swansea

El Proyecto Recuerdos de los Barrios es un programa de narración de historias que se centra en los residentes antiguos y actuales de barrios específicos. Empleamos técnicas de reminiscencia basadas en el sitio con el fin de estimular escritos y narraciones que reanimen la historia de la comunidad. Los vecinos escriben historias de resiliencia y conexión comunitaria que sirven para reforzar su identidad.

Qué traer:

Bolígrafo, papel, un objeto de importancia de su barrio/comunidad,
muchos recuerdos,  ¡Familia y Amigos!

Finalizaremos con una Exposición de la Comunidad el 15 de Noviembre de 6–8 pm.

Miercoles 6:30–8:30 pm

Swansea Recreation Center   •     2650 E. 49th Ave,    •     Denver, CO 80216

September 26, October 3 y October 10
303-866-4584

Holy Rosary Church ® Mary Lou Egan

Intact 4500 block of Sherman Street before I-70
® Mary Lou Egan

Lent

Today's Christian congregations might be urged to prepare for Easter by simplifying their lives, giving up FaceBook, Starbucks, a favorite food, television program, movies or beer. Early settlers in Globeville didn't have many luxuries to give up but regarded Lent as an opportunity for spiritual growth with greater prayer, repentance and charity. Lent was also a way to express their faith, which had been suppressed in the Old Country, and to preserve the food, traditions and culture they had left behind. 
On the day before Ash Wednesday, or Fastenacht, a German-Russian cook would serve her family schlitzkuchla, a deep-fried pastry. While the German-Russians didn't observe a strict fast, many families served meatless meals, such as Kaseknepfla,(cheese buttons) during the season. Lent was a time of frequent church attendance, with special services every Wednesday evening, and no dancing, card playing, amusements or weddings. 
Lent began for Catholics from St. Joseph's Polish and Holy Rosary Churches on Ash Wednesday with the application of ashes on the forehead, and a reminder that "dust you are and to dust you shall return". Lenten practices included abstaining from meat on Fridays and observing a fast that required the evening meal to be no larger than the combination of breakfast and lunch, and avoiding eating between meals. (It was understood that the faithful would cut back on beer and wine during the solemn season). Fridays were for the devotion known as the Stations of the Cross, Via Crucis, or Via Dolorosa, recalling the route Jesus took on his way to Golgotha, with incense, candles and Latin hymns like Stabat Mater, Mary is Standing.
Because Russian and Serbian Orthodox observed the Julian calendar, "Great Lent" usually began later than that of Roman Catholics with fasting that included not only abstaining from meat, but also certain kinds of fish and dairy. Inside the church, the royal gates to the altar remained closed to signify man's separation from God through sin, and the priest donned vestments in the somber color of purple. The Vesper service which began the lenten season was called Vespers of Forgiveness where the faithful asked forgiveness and forgave each other.
Many of the descendants of Globeville's earlier residents return to the neighborhood parishes to continue the lenten practices they practiced as children, and use the dark, cold days of Lent to prepare for the joyful resurrection of Easter. 

One of the stained-glass windows at Holy Rosary Church

German Russian Lent
St Joseph's Polish Catholic Church 
Holy Rosary Church
Holy Transfiguration of Christ Cathedral