Poemas del río Wang

Signs

We have taken photos in several places of the shutter labels left here from the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, which have several unnoticeable little signs scattered around of a once lively and extensive network the cities of Eastern Europe. We have noticed the products of the locksmith’s workshops of Prague, Vienna and Budapest even in Czernowitz, Lwów and Żółkiew.

Oddly enough, it was in Budapest, in the city most visited by me, where I have not really noticed them. Until today, when we strolled past the shutter of the “Lumen” Café, its shutter conveniently pulled down just to eye level.

Sándor Árkai (1841-1910) must have had a thriving company once. His workshop produced the door and window screens for Szeged Town Hall, renovated in Neo-Baroque style in 1883, as well as the metalwork and furniture locks for the St. Stephen’s Room in the Buda Castle, finished in 1900.

Árkai Sándor, Budapest, Csengeri utza 42

Design for a casting
Sándor Árkai master locksmith, by Royal and Imperial Appointment, Budapest.
Kecskemét, June 16, 1897

Desert people

Iran is like a big plate, into which, however, they do not laddle the soup into the middle. The rains fall down on the mountains surrounding the Iranian plateau, making them turn green and fertile, and creating one of the world’s most ancient agricultural civilizations. Inside, on the actual plateau, however, it never rains, and the large rivers running down the hills after reaching the plains, soon seep away and disappear in the immense desert covering the middle of the country.

However, as long as there is water, there is life. People still live at the edge of the desert, irrigating the land from the last, thin stripes of water, grazing goats and sheep, waiting for the caravans crossing the desert. Ahmad Kavousian’s photos from 1975.

Kayhan Kalhor (kamanche): شب کویر (Shab-e kavir, Night in the desert, 6:15). From the album شب، سکوت و کویر (Shab, sokut ve kavir, Night, silence, desert)

An Indian in Subotica

Catechist John Grey Bull (Crow) playing organ by Aloysius Vrebosch, St. Anthony’s Mission, Crow Indian Reservation, Wyola, Montana, 1925. Marquette University Archives

By leafing through the hundred year old editions of the daily Bácsmegyei Napló, we have already seen how many exotic visitors came to Szabadka/Subotica just in 1912, the glorious year of the local Art Nouveau, from the Chinese “idol god sellers” through the German students coming to work here as cowboys and the mysterious Turkish globetrotters to the Bulgarian and Serbian rulers who gave each other rendezvous at the railway station of Subotica only to point it out again and again how ugly it is. But perhaps the strangest one was that “red-skinned” Indian seminarist who dived into the city during his theological studies in Europe, and who was immediately noticed by the vigilant reporter of Bácsmegyei Napló.

Choctaw altar boys, Holy Rosary Mission, Tucker, Mississippi, ca. 1900–1915. Marquette University Archives

Bácsmegyei Napló, 4 January 1912

A Native American seminarist in Szabadka
From our correspondent. Szabadka, 3 January

Yesterday afternoon an interesting young man walked about the streets of Szabadka. His clothing was the blue cassock of the Catholic seminarists, so he was not conspicuous for anybody.

This seminarist is a red-skinned Native Indian from America.

He is called Philip Gordon, and came from the state of Minnesota in Northern America. His grandfather may have hunted for scalps, his father was perhaps still a nomad roaming the endless American plains, and the son will probably become a bishop.

Philip Gordon was baptized, and took a liking to the priestly career. Now he sailed across the ocean to the Old World, and will go to Innsbruck to learn theology.

He got to Szabadka by having got acquainted with a seminarist from the village of Bajmok, Ernő Rickert, and he invited him now to us.

The Native American speaks in English, French and some German as well.

Whatever he has hitherto seen from Hungary was very pleasant to him, and he feels quite well here.

Philip Gordon remains in Bajmok only a few days, and then he goes to Innsbruck. And a few years later he will spread Christianity among his red-skinned siblings.

One hundred years later our American reader ribizlifőzelék was just as vigilant as the reporter of Bácsmegyei Napló, and noticing this article, he recalled having seen the grave of an Indian priest of the same name in Wisconsin, where it is held in high regard. In the wake of his guidance we have established that Philip B. Gordon indeed existed. What’s more, he was the first Native American Catholic Priest in the USA. He indeed came to Hungary. And even if he did not become a bishop, he indeed spread Christianity until his death among his “red-skinned siblings”.

Rev. Philip B. Gordon (Ojibwa) and Dr. Carlos Montezuma (Yavapai), Lac Courte Oreille Indian Reservation, Reserve, Wisconsin, 1919, on a speaking tour as officers of the Society of American Indians. Marquette University Archives

“The aging Indian priest sat, as his ancestors had, beside the war drum. A stiff breeze whistled through the tops of the tall pines, but beneath their sheltering branches, the eagle feathers in his war bonnet were barely ruffled. Although the priest was a Chippewa, the headdress he often wore was Sioux; he received it while he was doing mission work in the western states.

Along the sandy river bank a campfire, adding its glow and warmth to the cool June evening in the north woods, accentuated the priest’s Indian features and his ample figure. Around him sat twenty St. Paul, Minnesota, Boy Scouts, eagerly waiting for the proceedings to begin.

Friends of the scouts and the priest had gathered at the camp the scouts called Neibel to witness the presentation of the Chippewa war drum and peace pipe to the troop by Reverend Philip Gordon (Ti-bish-ko-gi-jik). The Calumet or peace pipe had always been sacred to the Indians, and like the drum, its presentation was attended by strict ceremony.

Among the spectators was Luther Youngdahl, Minnesota’s governor and a friend of Father Gordon. He had invited the priest to drum out a song.

For forty years the drum had been used for tribal ceremonies and it was said that on a calm night it could be heard for ten miles. But now the sound reverberated through the dense woods, one of the few stands of virgin timber remaining in the once heavily forested area.”

Thus begins the biography written by Paula Delfeld in 1977 about Philip B. Gordon, the first Native American Catholic priest.

John Frog (Ojibwa) by Philip B. Gordon, Lac Courte Oreille Indian Reservation, Reserve, Wisconsin, 1922. Marquette University Archives

Philip B. Gordon was born on March 31, 1885 as one of fourteen siblings in Wisconsin, the Great Lakes region, in a commercial station called Gordon, which was founded and named after their family by his uncle. Both of his parents belonged to the Ojibwe (Chippewa) tribe, but in both lineages there was also a French ancestor. Hence they inherited the name Gaudin, which was englicized for Gordon by his uncle. Philip, who at birth received the name Ti-bish-ko-gi-jik, “Heaven Viewer”, still grew up in the traditional Native American culture, but he also fluently spoke in French and English.

The railway arrived to the Great Lakes region in Philip’s childhood, and Philip witnessed the radical changes it had brought: the clearance of the forests and the destruction of the traditional Indian way of life. Depression, alcoholism and suicide rapidly spread among the Indians deprived of their living space and livelihood. Philip, who first went to a military college, felt obliged to devote his life to his Native American brothers, thus after two years he went over to the seminary of the local Franciscan mission. There he excelled with his intelligence, physical and rhetorical skills, and so after the first year he was sent to the American College in Rome. From there he went to the theology of Innsbruck, where he remained for two years, until finishing his studies. This is the period when he also came to Szabadka.

“Philip enjoyed traveling and spent two summer vacation periods in France, Germany, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium and made one trip to England. Some of these were walking tours. In the land of his French ancestors, he learned to speak the language fluently and spent much of his time in the French department of Loir-et-Cher. Besides English and French, he spoke fluent German, Italian and numerous Indian dialects.”

On December 8, 1913, the feast of the Immaculate Conception he was ordained a priest in Wisconsin. His Czech bishop, Koudelka wanted to send him to an urban parish, but he successfully begged to be left among his Ojibwe brothers. In the coming decades he accomplished a huge organizational work. He built missions, organized the life of the local communities, actively fought for their rights against the authorities and the private companies who wanted to expropriate the lands and forests of the Indians. He became member, and then president of the Society of American Indians which fought for the emancipation and rights of the Native Americans. By denouncing the burning crosses as defamation of religion, he successfully defied the Ku-Klux-Klan; thanks to his perseverance, the sheriffs and other official persons, and even Baptist preachers who were members of the Klan, were dismissed or moved, so that the Klan could neve put root in Wisconsin. He carried out a great missionary work not only among the Ojibwe, but also among their ancient enemies, the Sioux; it was his merit that the two people finally made peace with each other. He was an exceptional organizer, an excellent orator, and, moreover, “a charming personality, highly educated and possessing a natural humor which made his remarks very entertaining as well as interesting and instructive.”

Rev. Philip Gordon addressing Catholic Sioux Congress, 1923. Marquette University Archives

Attendees by tipi at Catholic Sioux Congress, 1923. A bit to the right, behind the two old women stands Rev. Philip Gordon. Marquette University Archives

The local newspapers reported on his activity regularly and with large sympathy.

Philip Gordon preaches in German and English in St. Louis, calling upon the support of the Indian missions. The Guardian, Arkansas, March 11, 1922. The complete edition.

Philip Gordon speaks in the interest of the emancipation of the Indians. The Guardian, Arkansas, February 17, 1923. The complete edition.

Philip Gordon died in 1948, after thirty years of intensive work, and two years of serious illness. With the last of his strength he organized the Odjibwe Inter-Tribal Organization, which claimed hundreds of millions of dollars against the government for the lands taken away from the Indians. He was buried in his native village Gordon. His tomb is still highly respected, and, as the Indian Country News writes, it is an obligatory element of every documentary on the Native Americans of the region. Subotica can be really proud of his former visit.

Lemberg-Odessa, April-May

Again, two last-minute tour invitations, although May is still far. However, the hotels in Lemberg/Lwów’s city center have been booked since last Christmas for the May 3-6 weekend, partly by the travel agencies, and partly by the emigrants, who want to participate at home in the greatest feast of the Orthodox, Greek Catholic and Armenian Catholic Christians. Thus, we really have to hurry if we have to get an accommodation at a relatively good place and reasonable price for our Orthodox Easter tour.

The applications for the other travel are also urged by the scarcity of accommodations. Last year we stayed in Odessa in the middle of the downtown, at the beginning of Deribasovskaya Street, opposite the City Park, in a series of newly renovated and cheap apartments. Apart from them, there are no other reasonably priced hotels in the city, because, however odd it sounds, Odessa is not a tourist town. The – almost exclusively Russian – tourists coming here usually stay at the beach, and only come to dinner to the elegant restaurants of the downtown. And in late April the preseason starts, so the apartments will run out quickly.

Therefore we announce a final application until March 21 for the following two tours:

• Czernowitz-Kamenets-Podolsk-Odessa, April 25 to May 1st (Thursday to Wednesday). See here the joint reportof our journey in last October, and here the detailed outline of the program We will reach Odessa in two days through the breathtakingly beautiful Maramureș mountains of the Eastern Carpathians, and the hills of Bucovina, and after three days spent at the Black Sea we come home in two more days. During the twice two day long travel we will stop in a number of historical places. the Hasidic pilgrimage sites of the tomb of Baal Shem Tov, founder of Hasidism in Medzhibozh and at that of Rabbi Nachman of Breslav in Uman, and at the magnificent medieval castle of Khotin along the Dnester. On the way there we will stay for the night in the city of Czernowitz still preserving the air of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, while on the way back in the city of Kamenets-Podolsk with a traditional Armenian presence, in a hotel under the old town’s fantastic central rock surrounded by a mountain river. In Odessa we walk about the city, the Neoclassicist seaside promenade, the 19th-century trading city, the Moldavanka, the Jewish and Greek neighborhoods, the Sunday flea market. This is probably our last trip to Odessa in this year, so if you like it, join it now! Planned costs (travel with minibus + accommodation + guide): ca. 400-430 euro, depending on the number of the participants.

• Eastern Easter in Lemberg/Lwów, May 3-6 (Friday to Monday). One of the most beautiful weekends, a veritable festival in the multi-ethnic, multi-confessional city, when the Greek Catholic, Armenian Catholic and Orthodox Easter coincide with each other. I will indicate the date of the most beautiful Easter celebrations of the various confessions, at which the participation is of course optional, just like at the peak of the feast, the Resurrection Mass at Saturday night. In Saturday and Sunday we will walk about the old city of Lemberg, the Armenian and Jewish quarter, the Art Nouvea neighborhoods and the surviving monuments of the Jewish suburb, and will also visit the open air museum of Rusyn wooden churches. On the way to Lemberg we will visit the little town of Drohobycz, birthplace of Bruno Schulz, and on the way back we will stop to look around above the Carpathians on the Pass of Verecke. Planned costs (travel with minibus + accommodation + guide): ca. 250 euro, depending on the number of the participants and the available hotel prices.

Deadline of application and payment of advance: March 21.

Persian letters

“How can one be Persian?” asks Montesquieu. “How can one learn Persian?” they ask me sometimes.

The French of the East. For a thousand years, the language of culture from Istanbul through the Caucasus to India, and in many places still it is; without it you cannot penetrate beyond a certain point into this world. The language of the purest poetry: the Persian poems are structured so much by the musicality of the language that they are untranslatable, any attempt is just a prosaic extract of their content. The language of music: the two and a half thousand year old Persian music is just as sophisticated, powerful and engaging as the European classical music. The language of a unique visual culture, to which, apart from the miniatures, the Iranian films and photos also bear witness. Of a multinational, multicultural, beautiful and isolated country of the size of a quarter of Europe, where only this language opens up doors and people, but this really does.

Kayhan Kalhor (kamanche) and Erdal Erzincan (saz): Gulnîshan (7:01)
Iranian Kurdish folk song performed by the classical Persian kamanche-player Kalhor and his frequent companion, the Turkish Erzincan, to illustrate Iran’s many cultures. From the concert held in Tehran’s Vahdat Hall.