A letter from Stanisław Orzełowski on the fifth anniversary of the Jasiński Family Reunion in Jasionka

Dear Relatives of the Jasiński family,

Friends and Guests, all of you who took part in that memorable Reunion in Jasionka,

on 21 July 2007!

…"21 July 2007 has passed into history. It was an extraordinary day. What made it so remarkable was that, like birds from beyond the seas, you flew in at my invitation to Jasionka, to your family nest. What force could have made more than a thousand people, from the farthest corners of Poland and from beyond its borders, leave their homes and travel to the place their roots come from? Only family ties could do that, for they are strong enough to last for centuries. When the spirits of our ancestors called you, you came to Jasionka on the appointed day, heedless of the effort, the distance, the weather. The call of kindred blood told everyone to be together that day. No one forced you; of your own accord you set out on a long journey, crossing hundreds of kilometres, and some had to fly over the ocean to reach the family nest like Polish storks"…

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The passage above comes from my letter published on the family website just after the Jasiński Family Reunion in 2007. Today marks five years since that day, so I have decided to share my thoughts about it with you once again.

Five years in a person's life might seem to mean little. But think about it a moment longer and it turns out to mean a great deal, at every stage of life. Those born back then are five years old now, and the 10-year-olds of that time are young people today. Over the past five years many young cousins have started families, and a new generation is already growing up. Yet when we look more closely at the family records, we see that many of our elders, members of this family, have passed into eternity in that time. Because I knew almost every one of them, I feel their absence keenly; I know very well how much they gave to the "Jasiński Family Book 1750-2005" that I wrote.

The writing of the Family Book I had to manage on my own, though the great help of my wife Basia and our children – Przemek and Izabela – can hardly be overstated. But to prepare, organise and carry through the Great Reunion I needed a whole team of allies within the family. They deserve to be named here. There were the members of the Family Choir, who spent months in rehearsal so that they could sing for you on the day. There were the members of the Reunion Committee, who met again and again to decide what shape it should take, and who each then took a share of the work of preparing it. And there were the young Ambassadors, who looked after the Great Reunion and handed out your packets and name badges. Many family members took on several roles at once: they sang in the choir and at the same time helped with all the other tasks the reunion called for. This team of helpers put the reunion grounds and their surroundings in order, helped decorate the field altar, and worked on the brochures and their mailing. It is thanks to the work of the Cousins named here that the reunion went the way you saw it go. Once again I offer them my warmest thanks.

Someone might ask, or put it this way: if it was possible in 2007, why was it not repeated five years later? The answer lies in the paragraph above, which says that five years in a person's life mean a great deal. Today I know that the same team of people could not have set to work preparing another reunion five years on. There would be no way to put together a Family Choir able to sing at the same level. Time has worn voices down; many of the young ones have started families, their children have been born, they have important new duties. Many cousins have also scattered to other parts of the country and abroad. The greatest obstacle, though, is that the organisers are in poor health, which would make it very hard for them to take on the preparations.

Five whole years have passed since that day, yet time has not erased the traces of what we did for the Jasiński family. The commemorative stone left in Jasionka speaks of it, together with the message to future generations placed beneath it and the oak planted alongside. For centuries these symbols will bear witness that we were able to gather as a family in harmony. Did any of you, even in your boldest plans, expect that so many relatives would come to the reunion? And yet more than 1100 of us met there. In its 600 years the family village of Jasionka had never known such a celebration. Walking through the village in so large a company of cousins, we honoured the memory of our forefathers as well as anyone could. Whoever was in Jasionka then and lived through those hours knows exactly what kind of celebration it was. Whoever was not there will never quite understand what happened, because it cannot be described or retold. The only thing that can help is the film "Ród Jasińskich, Kronika Działań Kulturalno Integracyjnych w latach 1992-2007".

Thank you, dear Relatives, for that wonderful gathering in Jasionka, for that beautiful journey to the place where our common roots lie. The family love we drew there will help us endure and remember those who gave us life and whose legacy we draw on so richly.

Cherish your family ties, and never forget that family is a treasure.

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Below are the songs the Jasiński Family Choir sang at the Reunion. I hope that being able to listen to them, and to download them, will help our Cousins bring back those unforgettable moments of five years ago.