Czestochowa Local Custom Tips by gosiaPL Top 5 Page for this destination

MY OWN PILGRIMAGE...

I went on the August pilgrimage when I was still a student in 1987. Frankly, I didn't plan it at all...

I was on a private visit to Cracow when a Franciscan father, whom I had just met, asked me to go on the pilgrimage to serve as a translator for a group of Americans that were gonna join his group. I had two days to return to Warsaw, do my laundry, repack my backpack, and get on the train back to Cracow. And I never regretted it!

OK, I know, I know... the walk from Cracow is a piece of cake, just 7 days ;-)
But you meet wonderful people on the pilgrimage, and the locals along the way go out to the road to serve you food and drink, they wave and say hello, they ask you to take their prayer intentions to Jasna Gora, and they put you up for the night ... all for nothing, no cost at all!

I have one photo somewhere... I'll download it when/if I find it... This one is the Sunflowers painting by Jacek Malczewski - a view that you can often see along the pilgrim's route.

PILGRIMS GO ON FOOT...

The true-style pilgrimage is done walking... Pilgrims from all parts of Poland start on different dates so as to arrive to Czestochowa the day before the Feast of Assumption (August 15). There are over 50 walking routes throughout the country. Imagine those who walk from Szczecin in the far north-east... They have like over 600 km (375 m) to cover in probably up to 3 weeks! And every year there are more and more foreign groups joining the local pilgrimages, and they carry their national flags proudly along.

Pilgrim groups keep arriving all day long, and there are even up to 350 thousands of them. Check the photo: this is a view of the beautiful, tree-lined Virgin Mary Avenue as the pilgrims approach the Jasna Gora sanctuary. I was one of them when I was a student. That final distance is when your feet really hurt! But you actually don't mind that... you're rather filled with the memories of all the beautiful things that happend to you along the way... and you're grateful for all the wonderful people that you would inevitably have to part with the next day...

Of course, many people just drive to Czestochowa or come by train or in organised bus trips throughout the year. Any transport is good as long as you choose to visit Jasna Gora at least once in your lifetime :-)

Photo from Jasna Gora website
(sorry, I can't fly! ;-)

6th WORLD YOUTH DAY IN CZESTOCHOWA

For the Sixth World Youth Day in 1991, pope John Paul II invited all the young people to come to the Jasna Gora sanctuary.

The event took actually 4 days (August 12-15) and the local record was beaten: 1,700,000 young people from all over the world came to Czestochowa!
I didn't go but... shhh, got the T-shirt ;-)

The picture shows the crowds in the open space where the Holy Mass for pilgrims is celebrated.

Photo from Jasna Gora website