| Casimir Pulaski Day | |
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| Observed by | City of Chicago; state of Illinois |
| Type | city holiday; state holiday |
| Date | First Monday in March |
| 2008 date | March 3 |
| 2009 date | March 2 |
| 2010 date | March 1 |
| Related to | General Pulaski Memorial Day |
Casimir Pulaski Day is a holiday observed in Illinois on the first Monday of every March to commemorate Casimir Pulaski (March 4, 1745[1] – October 11, 1779), a Revolutionary War cavalry officer born in Poland as Kazimierz Pułaski. He is known for his contributions to the U.S. military in the American Revolution by training its soldiers and cavalry.
The day is celebrated mainly in areas that have large Polish populations. Chicago has the largest Polish population of any city in the world, save for Warsaw.[2]. The focus of official commemorations of Casimir Pulaski Day in Chicago are at the Polish Museum of America where various city and state officials congregate to pay tribute to Chicago's Polish Community.
This is a separate holiday from the federal holiday, General Pulaski Memorial Day, which commemorates Pulaski's death from wounds suffered at the Siege of Savannah on October 9, 1779.
Illinois enacted a law on June 20, 1977, to celebrate the birthday of Casimir Pulaski and held the first official Pulaski Day celebrations in 1978. The bill was introduced by State Senator Leroy W. Lemke, a Democrat from Chicago. Chicago Public Schools, Cook County government offices, and the Chicago Public Library close on this holiday.
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Outside of Illinois
The holiday is also observed in some Wisconsin public schools, celebrated March 4, as outlined in state statute 118.02 (although this is not universally observed). Indiana also marks the day as a commemorative day by governor's proclamation IC 1-1-12.5.[3]
On November 6, 2009, President Barack Obama signed a joint resolution of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives making Pulaski an American citizen, 230 years after his death.[4]
In popular culture
Michigan-born songwriter Sufjan Stevens titled a song "Casimir Pulaski Day" on his album Illinois. The song is not specifically about the celebration but about a personal event that took place on Casimir Pulaski Day as indicated by the lyric, "... in the morning, in the winter shade, on the first of March, on the holiday..."
Big Black, a Chicago-based post-hardcore band active between 1982 and 1987, have a song titled "Kasimir S. Pulaski Day".
See also
References
- ^ Father Stanislaw Makarewicz (1998), "The Four Birth Records of Kazimierz Pulaski", Archiwa, Biblioteki i Muzea Koscielne (The Catholic University of Lublin (KUL)) 70, http://www.poles.org/birth.html, retrieved 2009-03-04
- ^ Chicago's Polish neighborhoods, USA Weekend, 2005-05-15, http://www.usaweekend.com/05_issues/050515/050515travel_diverse.html, retrieved 2008-11-04
- ^ http://www.in.gov/legislative/ic/code/title1/ar1/ch12.5.html
- ^ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091107/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_us_citizen_pulaski
External links
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