Sunday, February 6, 2011

moja droga do santiago...

Which, apparently, means "My Way to Santiago." In Polish.

Of course the Poles are great pilgrims, setting out on foot each year, especially in August, from all parts of the country to visit the monastery of Jasna Gora, home to the Black Madonna of Czestochowa, the "Queen of Poland." (In a previous blog, I talked about how this tradition has recently been transplanted to Ontario.)

The research for Virgin Trails, my book about the veneration of the Virgin Mary, didn't take me as far afield as Poland, but the Poles were so good as to come and find me. Polish publisher Sic! released the first foreign edition of All the Good Pilgrims last fall: Moja Droga do Santiago: opowiesc pielgrzyma-agnostyka. (The subtitle means "stories of an agnostic pilgrim." Fair enough.) The cover is gorgeous, the publisher has a very cool logo, and the book is available from various online sellers for a mere 39 zloty. (I know! That's pretty hard to beat!) So if there's a special Pole in your life who happens to be between books...

While we're on the topic, even tangentially, of the Virgin of Czestochowa, let me recommend the fascinating and idiosyncratic pilgrimage/quest memoir of American author China Galland, Longing for Darkness: Tara and the Black Madonna.Galland's search for the feminine face of the divine takes her to some remarkable places, both without and within.

4 comments:

Anna-Marie said...

Polish. Cool. If I ever have a special Pole in my life, I'll be sure to recommend Moja Droga do Santiago.

(Is it just me, or could "moja droga" be Spanish, if the word order were reversed? Something about wet drugs...?)

Anna-Marie said...

Oh, wait, that would be "mojada" wouldn't it?

Pilgrim said...

Mary is NOT worshipped in the Catholic tradition; she is venerated.

Worship is proper only for God.

Saints, as humans, are venerated for their holiness.

Robert Ward said...

Thanks for the clarification. I've edited the blog and will observe this distinction in future.