Casimir Pulaski Day is a local holiday officially observed in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, on the first Monday of March in memory of

Casimir Pulaski Kazimierz Michał Władysław Wiktor Pułaski of the Ślepowron coat of arms (; ''Casimir Pulaski'' ; March 4 or March 6, 1745 Makarewicz, 1998 October 11, 1779) was a Polish nobleman, soldier, and military commander who has been called, tog ...

(March 6, 1745 – October 11, 1779), a Revolutionary War cavalry officer born in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

as Kazimierz Pułaski. He is praised for his contributions to the

U.S. military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...

in the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

and known as "the father of the American cavalry".

Description

Casimir Pulaski Day is celebrated mainly in areas that have large

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

populations, such as

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Bloomington, and Du Bois. The focus of official commemorations of Casimir Pulaski Day in Chicago is at the

Polish Museum of America The Polish Museum of America is located in West Town, in what had been the historical Polish Downtown neighborhood of Chicago. It is home to numerous Polish artifacts, artwork, and embroidered folk costumes in its growing collection. Founded in ...

where various city and state officials congregate to pay tribute to

Chicago's Polish Community Both immigrant Poles and Americans of Polish heritage live in Chicago, Illinois. They are a part of worldwide '' Polonia'', the Polish term for the Polish Diaspora outside of Poland. Poles in Chicago have contributed to the economic, social an ...

. The city of Chicago celebrated its first official Pulaski Day in 1986. On February 26, 1986, Mayor Harold Washington introduced a resolution to designate the first Monday in March General Casimir Pulaski Day, and the City Council approved. The Chicago Public Library closes in observance of Pulaski Day but Chicago Public Schools remain open. Pulaski Day stopped being a holiday for Chicago Public Schools in 2012 as a way to increase the number of days in the school year, although some Illinois schools still observe the holiday depending on snow days. This is a separate holiday from the federal observance,

General Pulaski Memorial Day General Pulaski Memorial Day is a United States public holiday in honor of General Kazimierz Pułaski (spelled Casimir Pulaski in English), a Polish hero of the American Revolution. This holiday is held every year on October 11 by Presidential Pr ...

, which commemorates Pulaski's death from wounds suffered at the

Siege of Savannah The siege of Savannah or the Second Battle of Savannah was an encounter of the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) in 1779. The year before, the city of Savannah, Georgia, had been captured by a British expeditionary corps under Lieutenan ...

October 11, 1779. Illinois enacted a law on September 13, 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 Norbert A. Kosinski, a Democrat from Chicago, and signed by

Thomas Hynes Thomas C. Hynes (November 5, 1938 – May 4, 2019) was a physics teacher who served as Cook County Assessor, President of the Illinois Senate, and 19th Ward Democratic Committeeman. Hynes was also a candidate for Mayor of Chicago in 1987. He was ...

, President of the Senate, on June 26, 1977.

Cook County Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40% of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. As of 20 ...

government offices, the

Chicago Public Library The Chicago Public Library (CPL) is the public library system that serves the City of Chicago in the U.S. state of Illinois. It consists of 81 locations, including a central library, two regional libraries, and branches distributed throughout the ...

, and statewide public and private schools are closed on this holiday. Wisconsin public schools also observe Casimir Pulaski Day, although they do not close for it. Banks in Illinois may close for the holida

Section 118.02 of the Wisconsin Statutes provides that, "...when school is held or, if the day falls on a Saturday or Sunday, on a school day immediately preceding or following the respective day, the day shall be appropriately observed...." The use of "shall" denotes this as a mandatory requirement. Each public school in Wisconsin must observe Casimir Pulaski Day on March 4. How the day is observed — "appropriately" — allows for some discretion among the schools.

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

also acknowledges a "Pulaski Day," which is held in the middle of July, and is celebrated with an annual parade. On November 6, 2009, President Barack Obama signed a joint resolution of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives making Pulaski an honorary American citizen, 230 years after his death. He is one of eight people to be granted honorary United States citizenship.

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...

hosts a "

Pulaski Days Casimir Pulaski ( March 6, 1745 – October 11, 1779) was a Polish nobleman, soldier and military commander who has been called "the father of the American cavalry". He has had hundreds of monuments, memorial plaques, streets, parks and similar ob ...

" celebration annually on the first full weekend of October in recognition of General Pulaski and the Polish culture in general.

In popular culture

Sufjan Stevens Sufjan Stevens ( ; born July 1, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has released nine solo studio albums and multiple collaborative albums with other artists. Stevens has received Grammy and Academy Award nomi ...

titled a song "Casimir Pulaski Day" on his album ''

''. The song interweaves his memories of a friend's battle with bone cancer with an account of the holiday as indicated by the lyric: "... in the morning, in the winter shade, on the first of March, on the holiday, I thought I saw you breathing."

Big Black Big Black was an American punk rock band from Evanston, Illinois, active from 1981 to 1987. Founded by singer and guitarist Steve Albini, the band's initial lineup also included guitarist Santiago Durango and bassist Jeff Pezzati, both of Nake ...

, a Chicago-based

post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. It was initially inspired by post-punk and noise rock. Like post-punk, the term has been ...

band active between 1982 and 1987, have a song titled "Kasimir S. Pulaski Day". Chicago-based alternative hip-hop artist Kidd Russell titled a song "Pulaski Day" produced by

Cisco Adler Cisco Sam Adler (born September 6, 1978) is an American musician and record producer. Personal life Cisco is married to fashion model Barbara Stoyanoff; they have one child. He is the son of legendary record and film producer Lou Adler. Care ...

. The single was released on Pulaski Day 2012, and was featured on the front page of

Vevo Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, di ...

. The video has a cameo from professional wrestler

Colt Cabana Scott Colton (born May 6, 1980), better known by the ring name Colt Cabana, is an American professional wrestler, color commentator, and podcaster. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a wrestler and as a coach, and he performs the same d ...

. The song is an uptempo track that features lyrics about

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in the summer time ... "north beach in the summer time, lake shore drive is on my mind, no matter where I go, the city has my soul, Pulaski Day, Pulaski Day, We are going to party like Pulaski Day!"

References

External links

Casimir Pulaski Day
{{U.S. Holidays Polish-American culture in Chicago Culture of Chicago Illinois culture Holidays related to the American Revolution State holidays in the United States March observances Sunday observances Holidays and observances by scheduling (nth weekday of the month) Monuments and memorials to Casimir Pulaski Military personnel from Illinois

Description

In popular culture

See also

References

External links