Our guests had a very busy day, because in the morning they already participated in the Holy Mass. in the Chapel of the Gate of Dawn, then they visited the Mausoleum of the Mother and the Heart of the Son in Vilnius Rossa, where they laid flowers and lit candles. They visited the Church of St. Peter and Paul, and, of course, Kaziukowy Fair. Guests from Suwałki were delighted with the fair, they simply did not expect such a splendor, and here they play everywhere, bands perform, almost the entire city – from the Old Town to Belmont, and, of course, the entire al. Gedymina is also a fair. They marveled at the huge palm tree on the Cathedral Square. They did not expect Kaziuki in Vilnius to be so wonderful, simply not obvious. Naturally, they complained about the cosmic and very “biting” prices at the fair.
Read more: A colorful Kaziuki Fair was held in Vilnius
Around 4 pm the guests arrived at PUTW in Vilnius. The trip was led by Mrs. Maria Jolanta Lauryn, president of the U3A in Suwałki, accompanied by representatives of the Senior Club, headed by Mrs. Halina Teresa Kluczny, seniors from the Suwałki Starszaki Association, and the “Golden Autumn” choir headed by Teresa Sosnowska. Together with the seniors, there was also a representative of the Suwałki City Hall, Anna Szulc.
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The president of the U3A in Suwałki, Maria Jolanta Lauryn, mentioned at the beginning that they were approaching the 25th anniversary of their university. On behalf of the Polish University of the Third Age in Vilnius, the Rector accepted gifts from the guests, from the seniors of the University of Third Age in Suwałki – a beautiful basket with sweets and drinks, from the city hall – books, advertisements; seniors were given beautiful hand-painted postcards by students of the first classes. The Ukrainian section of the UTA in Suwałki personally prepared a huge basket of caddis cakes for the students of PUTW, which were offered to all our students and guests.
| photo. PUTW archive
Kaberecik “Seniorytki” reciprocated the guests with a performance on the occasion of Kaziuki: they sang the song “Mowa our singing”; Włada Ašmenskienė recited a poem about the Kaziuks; the song “My Poles from the Vilnius Region” was sung. The witch Kaziukowa, played by our listener Wanda Mazolewska, performed an old occasional song: “Our great-grandfathers drank, they were not drunk, they were brave hard-working and we are like that. And whoever doesn’t drink it in two sticks, plunder cupu, let him live in Polish. The guests also sang this song together with the “Seniority Girls”. The witch Kaziukowa treated all the guests to Vilnius bush. “Seniorytki” also sang the song “Oj, Zuzanna, my heart”. Our member of the PUTW Management Board, Dorota Kondratowicz, gave the guests a basket of sweets from Kaziuk, Włada Ašmenskienė had several strings of Smorgon bagels, which she used to treat guests from Suwałki, and Jadwiga Paniczewa presented the guests with palm trees. The speech of “Seniority women” was rewarded with thunderous applause by the guests.
Read more: Shrovetide at PUTW in Vilnius
After the concert, Maria Lauryn presented the Rector of PUTW in Vilnius, prof. Ryszard Kuźma, a beautiful notebook with the image of a silver crane, which symbolizes the Suwałki Region, and the rector of PUTW reciprocated with the book of the fifth edition published by PUTW entitled “The Spirit of Vilnius” and recited the poem “The Spirit of Vilnius”, the motto of which is: “… The land of Vilnius chosen by God, given to the angels and Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn, and our Mother of the Gate of Dawn guides this Spirit, which guarantees happiness and success to Vilnius residents and guests. Every inhabitant of Vilnius has a part of this Spirit, because in this Spirit there is Divine Comfort. Concluding his speech, he pointed out that PUTW in Vilnius is approaching the 30th anniversary of its activity.
Maria Rondomańska beautifully thanked the guests for coming to us and recited a poem about Vilnius. The general hostess, Czesia Petkevičienė, invited the guests to the table for refreshments. Our listeners had a good time with the guests, Polish songs were sung together, and “Vilnius Waltz” to the words of the Vilnius poet, Aleksander Śnieżka, was beautifully performed by a soloist from the “Golden Autumn” choir.
The guests invited students of PUTW in Vilnius to visit them in June this year.
Iwona Kislowska
Member of the Board of PUTW in Vilnius
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