Krakow, Poland

What do football and the catholic church have in common? Not much unless you’re in Krakow, Poland and trying to find a pub playing the Poland/Austria Football match where there’s room enough to stand and see the TV. And it’s September 3rd.

There’s nothing like watching football (US soccer) in Poland, since they’re crazy fanatics who sing and cheer at every good move, toast beer glasses, hug, kiss, and fight back at the TV when the yellow card isn’t flashed to the opponent. And at the games conclusion, when Poland proves victorious, as they did this night with a score of 3 to 2, they all break out into song, cheering on the Polish team, that inevitably you will hear continued throughout the night and into the late hours of the morning.

But on September 3rd, as I was making my way to another pub, hoping for standing space, I passed by Saint Mary’s Church, most well known for the hourly trumpet song from the watchtower, which ends on a broken note because in the 13th century, during the Tartar invasion, the trumpeter/watchman was shot in the throat mid note and died.

Only this night, there was a different song.

A large crowd stood in the square, candles lit and eyes gazing towards the tower where the trumpeter played a different tune, though I’m not aware what it was. Then, after applause, broke into their own song, sung with melancholy voices and tears in their eyes. It was a crowd of mostly older people, obviously locals, which included a group of nuns, sang their beautiful tunes, doused their candles and went of in scattered directions (including the pub where the match was in the second period with Poland leading 2-0).

So why this special event? As it turns out, the personal secretary of late Pope John Paul II, who was from Krakow, was named the archbishop of the town, a job that the former pope once had himself. And Krakow, and Poland, are extremely religious as one can tell by the numerous painted portraits of the late pope for sale at most vendors around town. And if that’s not proof enough, ask the fans at the pub, who were on their knees when Poland proved victorious again.