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Polish Pride
April 08, 2005 - 9:16 p.m.

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Today, Little Poland came out to celebrate John Paul II's passing in an outdoor mass. The streets were blocked off, ambulances and police were standing by and oh, the crowds. It was an odd mix of Catholic piety, Polish pride and crass consumerism.

The Crowd

Every Polish shop on Roncesvalles, and a lot of the non-Polish ones, have for days displayed crepe-laced pictures of JPII, with crossed Polish and Vatican flags completing the shrines. Today both flags took to the street, hanging off buildings and mounted on cars. It was as if the Vatican was playing a World Cup soccer match against Poland.

Polish Power

For the past week people have laid flowers at the base of the Polish credit union's statue of the Pope. Today flower prices on Roncesvalles jumped, from $3.99 to $5.99 a bunch. Every street vendor with wares left over from Toronto's 2002 World Youth Day was out trying to unload the merchandise...at inflated prices.

Also out in force was every Polish group in Toronto. I have no idea who the guys in the cool hats and capes were. They were just a few of the hordes of uniformed and costumed participants.

Cool Hats

Behind them, leading off the sacristy party (though what, on the street, constitutes a sacristy is beyond me) were the acolytes.

Brushing Up

Waiting to Go

I couldn't really understand what was being said, of course. Lots of singing and speeches and whatnot. But I enjoyed being in the midst of the experience, especially when the crowd began singing the Polish national anthem. A fine day for Roncesvalles, to be sure.

Maybe, if the new pope is Italian, the dollar stores on Roncesvalles can sell their Vatican flags to dollar stores in Little Italy on College St.

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