October 29, 2020

I would like just to share with you the tradition of Kolacky Days. I lived on a farm near Montgomery, Minnesota. A Kolacky is a pastry that is made with, just imagine cutting a square sized dough piece and filling it with either prune filling, or poppy seed filling, or apricot. It’s a Czechoslovakian or Bohemian pastry, so they named a festival after it. What I’m remembering from my childhood, I went home some times for Kolacky Days, just because it was kind of fun. I’m remembering three different things. At one point in the day the streets would be packed. I remember smelling something very odd and not pleasant. I turned around to look into the face of a Hells Angel, a huge man, you smelled him before you saw him. He had a ring in his nose like you’d put on a pig. The kind that went in and around and came out the other. It was not attractive but apparently, it was a statement of something. I don’t know. Anyway, I backed away.

Another memory I have, oh, the parades. We had the usual bands and flag twirlers. I always looked forward to the African American young women who would dance. They had so much life and we just loved the rhythm and I can just feel it, it was just wonderful. Another memory I have, which is not very pleasant, they no longer exist, but there was a group of men called the Vulcans. They would dress up in these red suits with just a red cap and they had a black face, they would smear this, whatever it was, grease or whatever, in black. What they would do is they would go around and target a young girl and go after her and hug her and smear her. Some young women seem to wear it as kind of a badge of I don’t know what.

I had been sitting quietly on my parents’ front lawn with my family. I was actually recovering. I had just had brain surgery earlier that month, and so I did not want to be approached by a Vulcan. Well, I just think my vibration went out very strongly such that that Vulcan just came right diving toward me. My sister said, “You moved like a jungle cat.” I leaped out of my chair, just taking a stance of don’t you dare. And he didn’t, he backed off. But these guys were big. I felt attacked. I don’t know. I’m not being dramatic. I really did feel attacked. I mean, who wants somebody who you don’t know with a black greasy face coming at you with the intent to label you? So anyway, I can’t remember if I wrote a letter to anybody stating this should not happen. But anyway, they didn’t last much longer. Small town parades, you never know what’s going to happen.

Well, those are different years that I’m remembering, but actually, I was 33 when I had the brain surgery. I just love that my sister said that I moved like a jungle cat, just took a stance, don’t you mess with me. We have to tune in to that powerful part of ourselves on many occasions in life.