Polish-American Culture - Essay Example

OVERVIEW The history of Polish-American culture s back to the late 1800s when most of the Poland citizens started migrating to America in the quest of improved living conditions and better working opportunities. The first ever group of Polish people migrated to America in the year 1820 and then the flush of immigration continued until the beginning of second world war. Even after the World War II, the Poles kept on coming to America in search of better opportunities and this trend continues to date. According to a study in 1995, around 9.4 million in the American population are Polish.1 Researches have further shown that in America, most of the Polish immigrants resides in the near the Mississippi and Ohio, whereas the Chicago is considered to be the city containing high Polish population in America.2 The Polish population is a one of the major aspects of American multi-culturalism and a society mingled with various ethnicities and cultures. Although this ethnic group is living in America with such a huge population, there happens to be a lot of diversity among the group members i.e., the Poles. Their culture has an essence of variation in it and therefore, this fact contributes to the significance of studying this ethnic group in anthropology. POLISH AMERICAN CULTURE The Polish culture is as distinct as their historical arrival in America. There are various aspects through which one can peep into the cultural threads weaved into the lives of this ethnic group: Literacy and Education At the outset, the Polish were less into literacy and education. Most of the families considered schools as a place that they feared would deviate their children from their original identities. They regarded education as a threat to their social and religious lives. 3 When these people came to America, they were highly unskilled without any education. It was very rare for any Polish American to attend any school or college and receive a higher education. However these attitudes were gradually transformed into modern views after they felt lagged behind than the other communities in America. Therefore, they started taking interest in education and most of the Polish families worked hard to send their younger generation to schools and colleges. By the year 1950, the number of Polish students attending schools, colleges and receiving degrees started to multiply.4 Now, Poles are mostly educated and widely learned people in America. Profession and Employment The major reason for the Polish immigration to America was better working conditions. Hence, work and employment were the basic concerns around which most of the Polish families spent their lives. Polish were very passionate about working, as they were deprived of occupations in original country, Poland. Consequently, they even took up low-grade occupations and lived miserable lives. Their younger generation followed the trend of their forefathers in making the employment choices. 5 The only ambition for Polish was to be hard working enough to acquire and accumulate more wealth. 6 However, as more and more Polish families began to educate their children, they took up new and respectable jobs and reformed their social and economic status. The Polish were even passionate about saving. They accumulated more money and sent back to their families in Poland. Linguistics The natural language of Polish-American group is Polish, which they brought with them from the Poland. When they first entered the land of America, they cherished their language and restricted their children from learning English language as it was regarded as infidelity to their natural language amongst them. However, the Polish were soon to realise the importance of learning the English language for the improvement in their working and living conditions. Consequently, the younger generation was permitted to learn English and go to school, which further enhanced their language skills. When the next Polish generation grew up and got educated, they were reluctant to speak Polish as they had born and brought up in a complete American environment. They rather chose to speak in English and eventually most of the Polish families started to use English language even at their home. Therefore, among this group, both the languages i.e., Polish and English are common, which vary from family to family. Social Ethics The Polish Americans are very polite, compassionate and welcoming as a society. They tend to be very warm and friendly guests. 7 However there are some ethics that they are very sensitive about and expect everyone in collaboration to follow those ethics, otherwise the other person will considered to be misbehaving. They are very loving by nature and usually demonstrate their love with children very openly. However, Polish Americans do not tend to reveal and display their romantic love with each other. These people are very generous about praising and acknowledging the positive efforts of other people during their coordination in work or family life but they do not show their intimate feelings regarding each other in a frank manner. 8 Polish show a great respect and compassion to the women. It is also a part of this group's social ethics to show a token of gratitude to the lady of the family who is responsible for the household chores in the home. This term is usually met with the help of flowers, chocolates and cards presented to the woman in the family. 9 The Polish are very concerned about the physical and social status of a person when communicating with him. They show high respect for the elders and persons with high social status. They expect their young ones to show respect and etiquette to the elders at different occasions.10 The Poles are comfortable when they are able to maintain intimate relationship with other people. They mostly communicate with others in a light manner and give due consideration to the manners and etiquettes shown during the communication especially with the elderly people. They are also very generous with each other in their social and economic requirements. Masculine and Feminine Responsibilities In the Polish American culture, females especially the married ones are considered the head of families in terms that they are responsible to look after their entire families as well as children. They also bear the responsibility to provide food to their children, educate them and go about their routine household chores, including the in-house sanitation. However, this also varies with the background of families and their current social status. With the male Polish-American population being educated and skilled, are responsible to provide bread and better to the families. Consequently, a father remains to be the most dominant person in the family in terms of economic support. In certain situations, the church or a church representative may bear a right to influence the family decisions. 11 Art and Architecture Arts and architecture seem to have been in the flesh and blood of Polish-Americans. During their time in America, where they are allowed to stay with more peace and security, the Poles made immense contributions to the performing arts as well as the architect. The Poles gave birth to one of the greatest musicians in American history, Artur Rubinstein. Some other Poles also did well in other corners of arts such as Stan Musial and Carl Yastrzemski, whereas Czeslaw Milosz also won a Nobel Prize for his contributions to writing. The Poles also made their contributions to architecture in America. They have a very fine taste for arts and aesthetics. This all shows their inclination towards nature and natural beauty. The Poles becoming successful in the field of arts proved it to America that they had a great potential in themselves that they would show to the world if they are allowed to live with peace and serenity. Religious Rituals and Practices Most of the Poles are Roman Catholics and therefore church is a vital part of this society. They are also required by church to pay a visit every Sunday and other holy days such as Easter and Christmas etc. Especially for the last few decades, there has been a continuous increase in the number of Polish American Christians visiting the church. The Poles regard the church as the most influential factor in their social, religious and economic life as well as an agent for preserving the cultural identity and ethnicity of Polish-Americans. For this purpose, they built a separate Polish Catholic Church in America, as they perceived American Catholic Church not protecting their rights. 12 Poles regard religion as the most important aspect of their lives, with the beliefs revolving around mostly the God, Jesus Christ and Virgin Mary. They pray to these for the protection of themselves as well as their families and friends from the evils and vice prevailing in the society. 13 They all celebrate these two occasions with great respect and zeal, serving different varieties of food to the family according to the social status of the family. The celebrations of such occasions may start from the eve and remain on for a few more days. The other festive occasions in the Polish-American society are the marriage ceremonies, which serves as a sort of get together for all the family members. They particularly emphasise the importance of a variety food in such occasions. They display a lot of happiness and festivity in the wedding occasions, which serves as a social bond between them 14. Polish-Americans are also keen about celebrating birthdays of their friends and family members. Again such occasions are celebrated with mush festivity and zest along with delicious food for all the guests. They even display their love for music on such occasions by singing various birthday songs delivery best wishes to the birthday person. 15 Therefore, the above-mentioned elements serve to be a few of the most evident aspects of the cultural life of Polish-Americans. After the discussion of these elements, it is clear that like many other ethnicities surviving in America, Polish-Americans do have a culture of their own, which is both distinct and elegant at the same time, providing more opportunities for anthropologists for an in-depth study. Endnotes Information please: Almanac, (48th ed.), (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co, 1995) Lopata, H. Z., Polish Americans (2nd. ed.), (New Brunswick: Transaction, 1994) Abramson, H. J., Ethnic diversity in Catholic America, (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1973) Olson, J., Catholic immigrants in America, (Chicago: Nelson Hall, 1987) Ronowicz, E., Poland: A handbook of intercultural communication, (Sydney, Australia: Macquarie University, 1995) Mostwin, D., Emotional Needs Of Elderly Americans Of Central And Eastern European Background, In D. E. Gelfand & A. J. Kutzik (Ed.), Ethnicity and aging,. (New York: Springer, 1976) Chrobot, L. F., Polish Proxemics, (Polish American Studies, 33, 1976) Buczek, D. S., Polish American and the Roman Catholic Church, (Polish Review, 21(3), 1976) Swick, T., Unquiet days, (New York: Ticknor & Fields, 1991) Ziemba, W. J., The Polish-American: His Customs, Traditions, And Characteristics, (Michigan Challenge, April 1972) Read More