OK, this isn't quite as timely as it could have been (which is always a good way to break flaming hot news...!?). But we thought the story worth telling even if we couldn't wrap it up in red paper and hand it out with a box of choccies.
So back to the point. It's about St. Valentine's Day. For as it goes, St Valentine's passed pretty much unnoticed in Poland for decades. But over the last three or four years it's taken off. As anyone in Cracow last week will know, Valentine's Day is now big business. Yes - it's easy to be cynical about the enforced chivalry of it all, but let's not be spoilsports as we want to tell you this story.....
Indeed, as it turns out, the fashion for Valentine's Day larks has prompted some fantastic discoveries the length and breadth of the country. And the most fascinating of all was in a fourteenth century church in the picturesque town of Chelmno. As a result of this find, the authorities have rebranded the place 'Town of the Enamoured.' Has a mischievous fairy cast a spell on them all...?
Well, the reality is that unbeknownst to the inhabitants of Chelmno - and a few priests too it seems - a church there was in possession of a bona fide relic of St. Valentine. It had been donated to the parish by a local Polish noblewoman, Jadwiga Dzialynska, in 1630. A silver reliquary was fashioned, and the relic became the focus of a cult, with many miracles reported. (In those days St. Valentine was not so much an icon for lovers - he was patron saint of epileptics and cholerics). Anyway, it seems that in the nineteenth century, the cult faded, and for most of the twentieth century, the relics languished in a vault. But now the tables have been turned. St. Valentine's Day is big news and the Church is joining in the fun. Celebratory masses are held regularly, and on the big day itself, the market square is agog with song, games and sweet sensations from the local bakers. To top it all, the town is now 'Miasto Zakochanych' - City of the Enamoured. Thankfully, Chelmno is one of the prettiest towns in Poland, which means that the tag doesn't sound too out of place. Looking for a weekend away this time next year? You know where to go.
For more on Chelmno try the link below:
City of the Enamoured
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