I have to put this down. I have been talking to Stefica about distances and her father and the way she grew up. I finally got the bright idea of opening google maps and finding the places and distances (and saving them).
This is a map from her village Vrbno to Lepoglava. Her father WALKED this route (13.7 km, 2 hours 49 mins) each morning - worked all day - and WALKED home.
It is hard to fathom (and hard to believe) when it is just stories from another time ... but when I look at it in google it is somehow more real!
There is one more that I literally was struggling with the physical possibility of the stories. It seems that for generations people walk to their local Marian Shrines for "Mali Gospa" (little Mamma - Annunciation) and "Velica Gospa" (big Mamma - Assumption) and in petition (and thanks) for special requests.
Stefica's mother would take her by her hand and for eighteen years of her life (from when she was a baby till she was married) walk with her and her seven brothers and sisters AND ENTIRE VILLAGE to Marija Bistrica. 44.5 kilometers. They walked from around 10pm till they arrive. Attended mass (and other stuff I am not clear about) and then walked home. Everyone seems to agree they sang along the way. Also that the communists tried very hard to get this process to stop but were unsuccessful.
And thus - long before - Medjugorie - this country had a very deep and strong love of the Blessed Mother.
1 comment:
Amazing! I put these on ancestry.com--send me anything else you have as you get it, and I'll load it in for you.
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