A joint initiative of Inisowiacy Polish Folk Group, Clare Immigrant Support Centre and the Polish Arts Festival Limerick, the Easter Tree of Hope aims to allow local people to decorate their own Easter egg in a Slavic style and hang the decoration at a specially designated tree at Waterpark House.
There will be a similar tree in the People’s Park in Limerick. The tree selected in Ennis was planted by members of the Polish Community during the Polska Eire Festival in 2016. Marcin Piotrowski one of those present on the evening the tree was planted and who has recently returned to live in his native Poland was quoted as saying “I’m proud that the roots of tradition we planted are alive and well in Ennis”.
The initiative includes two online videos demonstrating how you can decorate your own egg by traditional methods and a video exploring Easter tradition in Eastern Europe, including Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Slovakia. Of course there is also a look at old Easter traditions in Ireland, Jo Walsh a director of Clare Immigrant Support Centre recalls the “whip the herring procession” which in modern times has almost vanished. The videos are available to watch at www.inisowiacy.com
The videos feature musical input from prominent Polish musician Przemyslaw Lozowski from Lublin, Poland, and the videos were produced by Liliana Wojciechowska of LilyTv based in Limerick.
Anna Scanlan of Inisowiacy Polish Folk Group commented that ‘’the initiative was important as it demonstrates the cultural diversity in Ennis and gives people an opportunity to share their traditions online during a difficult time’’. Justyna Cwojdzinska director of the Polish Arts Festival in Limerick who is co-ordinating the Limerick event said “we hope our videos inspire you to decorate your own egg and bring it to our tree of hope so we can all share in the Easter hope as a community’’
Orla Ni Eili the Co-ordinator of Clare Immigrant support centre mentioned that over seventy different nationalities currently live in Clare, and while not all nationalities share in the Easter Religious traditions, it gave the entire community a chance to decorate an egg to share in the community spirit and hope for the future.
The event organisers and the municipal district have reminded us to comply with Social distancing when bringing your egg to The Tree of Hope. The gates of Waterpark House will be open on Easter Saturday, Sunday and Monday to facilitate hanging eggs on the tree.
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