Christening Dress, 1951

Marty's Christening was in the early summer of 1951.  Look, there he is, the cutest Mr. Magoo ever, obviously, in the lap of his great-grandmother Victoria Zdrojewska.  To their left are his grandparents, John and Eleanor.  To their right are his great-grandfather Ludwig and Dad, our EJZ.  Directly behind them is his Mom, our CAMZ, with corsage.

Marty's Christening gown has ruffles in plenty, as well as blue ribbons; you can see blue ribbon on Great-grandmother Victoria's lap, right next to the gown.

                                     
What a fine day!  They photographed 4 generations of Zdrojewski gents.

Clara made that Christening gown.  After the big day, she packed it up in a box, labeled it, and put it away.  It stayed put away for more than 60 years.

Marty last summer brought it over here to the Historical Preservation Society HQ, where I've finally brought it into the photographic studio so we can take a look at it. You ready?

The overdress of gauzy material, ornamented, is worn over a plain, sleeveless undergown of white satin.

A piece of white satin gives shine and substance to the upper part of the overgown yoke; lace borders that part, as well as the collar and cuffs.  White satin bows attach the satin ribbon streamers, two blue and two white, on each side.

Now let's examine the gauzy overdress by itself, followed by a few details.

Clara handstitched lace to satin collar band.

The satin underdress is collarless and sleeveless, with plain yoke and a couple of buttons at the back.  Both pieces have a great big vertical slit in the back, for uninstalling and reinstalling Marty in greatest possible comfort to him as well as ease to the installer.  That is way better than having to draw both long garments over his head.  I hope you are grateful for that considerate detail, Marty.

The box has a top of heavy, textured paper; it is dirty and uncleanable from sitting in attics all those decades.  But not only did it keep the gown quite clean, it also is the original box, which is something, and to top that off, it is labeled in Mom's handwriting.  So we keep the gown in its box.

I've had it hanging around here for a few weeks, so now I am going to miss the sight of it.  Come visit me here at Hx HQ and we can get it out again to give it  more study and admiration.

CYO Sweater

Gene came home in 1946.  His assets: cultural inheritance, family, a good education, the support of civic and religious institutions, photography skills, warfighting experience.  Missing from that list: cash savings, an actual bed to sleep in (Casimir had the bed now, so he bedded on the floor,) employment, connections in "high places," a plan, and a wife and family of his own.

He pressed trousers at a dry cleaner's until his Uncle Stanley wangled him a job at Lackawanna Plant of Bethlehem Steel.  The GI Bill was in the future.

His family's parish was St. Luke's, where an excellent mentor and friend greeted his return.  Father Tomiak encouraged Gene to active participation in the youth group, the St. Luke's chapter of the Catholic Youth Organization.

John, our JPZ, of course was photographic consultant to the CYO and documented everything on film. No doubt the group shot below was used in the club's publications.  Left to right are Casimir, John, Eugene, and Eleanor Zdrojewski.

Boy, they're snappy dressers!  Check out Casey's sweater and the JPZ necktie!  What is that confusing white blob between Gene and Eleanor?

It is a paper he is holding under his left arm.  That paper mostly obscures, but allows us to be sure of, a big white Club Officer patch that had been sewn onto the left front of the sweater.  The patch is gone, without leaving a trace: maybe he passed it on to his successor in the CYO Presidency.  Yeah, CYO Prez!  Total chick magnet!

Meanwhile, here are Clara and Clara, Jr. Matynka peeling potatoes on a Girl Scout camping trip.

Girl Scouts was okay, but St. Luke's CYO looked interesting too.  Gene was wearing that CYO sweater when he met Clara, on a bus heading out for a CYO trip.

Mom and Dad gave me the sweater when I was in my late teens.  Most of the time I took pretty good care of it, even unto sewing in a metal chain for hanging it on a hook.  One time, though, the moths got to it.  In fact, on two separate occasions, one grandmother after the other picked it up, muttered sad imprecations in Polish, and took it away to take crochet hooks and knitting needles to it.  The results of their professional ministrations are all over the garment, including interior patches to repair exterior appearance, in two slightly different shades of blue yarn.  I would not have those changed for anything.

Psychoanalyze this, if you like:  I've not worn it much over the last 30 years.  Now that the CYO sweater is all photographed and blogged about, I'll wear it often, starting today.  No worries!  I have a cedar chest.

For related posts, you can browse the long list of "Labels," or keywords, that I have been attaching to posts all along.  If you click "St. Luke's," for example, you get a page with all the posts bearing the "St. Luke's" label.

Try also clicking on "Uncle Stanley" and "Tomiak."

For a Christmas-themed St. Luke's field trip story, go to the Search box and and type in "Story Arcs Intersect."

Stay warm, everybody!   Love, Julie

Reprise Post: January 6, The Feast of the Epiphany, in Art and Song

This is a re-posting of last year's Epiphany post.  Happy New Year to all!


φαίνω, I appear, I shine.

ἐπί,  upon.

Epiphany is appearance or revelation. The Christian Feastday commemorates the revealing of the Infant Christ to the newly-arrived Magi, and by extension the revelation to the world at large of the Incarnation.

The Magi were Kings in their own lands. They are described by the Gospel writers as traveling to find the King of the Jews and declare fealty to him. The notable thing is that this King of the Jews has no throne, no crown, no army. His is a rule of moral law. That kings kneel before him, as well as non-kings, demonstrates the equality of all men under God. The appeal of this idea is evident.

For many centuries after this event, kings would claim Divine Right: that they were chosen by God to rule men - to be above other men so as to rule them. Finally, in America, we tossed that. No kings. As all are equal in the eyes of God, so shall all be equal under the law. Our Declaration and our Constitution set that up; our battles in our Civil War realized its full meaning for the continental reach of the country.

"Mędrcy świata, Monarchowie" - Mages, (Wise Men) of the World, Monarchs) is a seventeenth-century kolęda for Epiphany. A Polish Army choir puts in a performance, simultaneously proud and reverent, of the first two verses, here.

1. Mędrcy świata, monarchowie,

Gdzie śpiesznie dążycie?

Powiedzcież nam, Trzej Królowie,

Chcecie widzieć Dziecię?

Ono w żłobie, nie ma tronu,

I berła nie dzierży,

A proroctwo Jego zgonu,

Już się w świecie szerzy.

Magi of the world, Monarchs,

Where do you go at such speed?

Tell us, Three Kings,

You wish to see the Child?

It is in a manger, not on a throne,

And bears no scepter,

And prophecy of His death,

Just as death is rife in the world.

Objawienie Pańskie ("Revelation of the Kings") is the Feast of the Epiphany of Christ to the Magi.
On January 6, the tradition is to write in chalk on the doors of the house
the initials of those three Magi,
to commemorate them and ask their blessing in the coming year.

Melchior, the Persian, is the grandfatherly one.
Balthazaar, the Arabian, is of middle age.
Kaspar, a Prince of India, is the youth.

Mosaic, c565, the Basilica at Ravenna.
The kings are always shown to be of three generations.
See their star?

Murillo, C17.
Melchior is kneeling;
Balthazaar stands to the left;
Kaspar stands to the right.
At top left, Murillo shows us
armed soldiers and crossed timbers,
seemingly to foreshadow the death of Christ.
Frankincense and myrrh were substances used
in the treatment for burial of the bodies of kings.

Szymon Czechowicz, of Warsaw, C18,
"Pokłon Trzech Króli."
The arrangement is similar to that of Murillo,
but the prefigurations of death are left out
and the star, the "gwiazda," shines forth instead.

Czechowicz, detail

The crown and scepter of King Melchior he has laid upon the ground.  The image and idea of worldly kings giving homage to a universal God has been the basis, and historically is the means of conveying in art, the concept of equality of man in the eyes of universal moral authority.  From that Judeo-Christian religious concept developed over time and with much sacrifice the religiously-neutral ethical-legal principle of equality before the law.

From a third-century sarcophagus.
Those Phrygian caps they are wearing show up often in
subsequent depictions.

Tissot, C19, "Journey of the Magi."
Or you could say "Podróż Magów."

My new favorite Epiphany art this year (besides this most excellent contemporary tribute) is pre-Raphaelite. Here is a detail of a tapestry by William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones, commissioned in 1886 for an Oxford college chapel.

Again, three generations, evoking historical time in addition to geographic space: Melchior of Persia; Balthazaar of Arabia; Kaspar of India.

The Wiki entry describes the steps in the creation of this work. Additional tapestries and paintings of this design were produced over a couple of decades, throughout the most active time of the Arts and Crafts Movement.

In the New Year, may the Wise Men visit your house in their humility and benevolence. May no tyrant cross your threshold.