ORSZAK

During the “Epiphany”celebration – a holiday which is commonly known as the “Three Kings Day” (January 6) it was organized for the seventh time the Three Kings procession in Jarosław. Spiritual message was dedicated to all the town inhabitants. It was also dedicated to Józef Piłsudski and Tadeusz Kosciuszko who contributed to independence of Poland (the 100th anniversary). The holiday festivity began with a Holy Liturgy which was chaired by the guest of honor, Archbishop of Archdiocese of Przemyśl Józef Michalik. The festivity slogan was “God is for everyone”.
The beautiful biblical content of holiday confirms that God comes to everyone generously and with openness. The aim of the event was to promote Polish tradition and Christian values as well as to celebrate the Epiphany.
The Three Kings procession in Jarosław with its strong patriotic and historical theme included many historical aspects of Poland, where faith and love to Motherland shaped the national identity.
The main organizer of the above event is Archpriest of Jarosław, Prelate Andrzej Surowiec who has been coordinated the festivity for seven years.
During the holiday one could be amazed by colorful processions - European, African and Asian ones, which at the same time moved off the churches at noon and occupied the streets of Jarosław: Christ the King Church, Franciscan Church and Church of Divine Mercy. Each colored procession was led by one of the kings. The participants of the fourth procession of Holy Family with little shepherds and donkey were the quickest who came to the end.
The Blue African procession started from Franciscan Church led by King Baltazar. The Green Asian procession was led by King Melchior from the Church of Divine Mercy, while the Red European procession headed by King Kacper included the authorities of the province, district and town along with mayors; among the participants one could also see knights and youth with ribbons, as well as the representatives of health service, uniformed services and education system represented by Rector of PWSTE in Jarosław, prof. UG, dr hab. Krzysztof Rejman and Director of the Institute of Economics and Management, Ph.D. Tatiana Kozak-Syara, staff workers and a lot of students, including foreign students participating in the Erasmus + program.

A great advantage in the European procession was a large number of Polish Kings. The new characters were Józef Piłsudski and Tadeusz Kościuszko. There were characters representing such Polish Kings as: Mieszko I and Dobrawa, Bolesław Chrobry, Casimir the Great, Saint Queen Jadwiga, Władysław Jagiełło, Jan Kazimierz and Sobieski with Marysieńka. There were also representatives of army from various epochs: from Mieszko I soldiers to contemporary soldiers with the famous leaders of the Polish army. Each of the monarchs was accompanied by a court procession and soldiers. It was worth seeing infantry hussars accompanying King Jan III Sobieski.
One could also be impressed by the carriage with Queen who came to Jarosław market square with her children to give the baby gifts; there were also here the representatives of armies from different eras: from the Middle Ages to modern times (musketeers, knights of St. George) as well as an Arab with a large group of children dressed in Arabian costumes and shepherds who sat at the Bethlehem Grotto near the fire. The organizers provided an unusual attraction in the form of a live camel ridden by a black African king. You could see here ponies and an exotic alpaca for the first time.
School children acted as shepherds, warriors. In turn, junior high school students carried stars, banners and flags accompanying the king as senior knights. On the other hand, secondary school pupils and students acted as the representatives of Royal service responsible for maintaining order in the market square, distributing crowns, songbooks, chalk and wafers to each participant.
The aim of the event was to encourage all the town residents to write K + M + B 2018 on the doors of their flats with chalk. The first person who did it on the symbolic door located on the stage of square market was Archbishop of Archdiocese of Przemyśl Józef Michalik. It was also released the symbolic peace pigeon.
The march of kings and the colorful processions referring to the tradition of Nativity plays ended in the market square which served as a local Bethlehem, where people shared the special wafer exchanging Christmas greetings as the sign of meeting with Jesus and sang carols together.
The aim of the event was to promote Christian values and sing Polish carols, to celebrate the Three Kings Day and unite the inhabitants by singing carols during the march along the streets of the town and final joining the group of carol singers at the Jarosław Market Square.