Front and Back Covers, Volume 23, Number 4. August 2007

Abstract

Front and back cover caption, volume 23 issue 4COMMEMORATING THE ‘POLISH POPE’The cover of this issue illustrates Ewa Klekot's article about how Pope John Paul II (Karol Jósef Wojtyla, 1920–2005) was popularly commemorated in Poland during the ‘Week of Vigil’, 1–8 April 2005. One of the longest‐serving pontiffs of modern times, and the only non‐Italian to have been elected since the Dutch Adrian VI in the 1520s, Pope John Paul II died on 2 April and was buried on 8 April in the grottoes under St Peter's Basilica in Rome, the Tomb of the Popes. During this week unprecedented expressions of grief and mourning were displayed in Polish cities. Whole streets and squares were converted into temporary shrines, decorated with burning candles, flowers, papal portraits, letters to the departed Pope and both papal and Polish flags.The front cover shows a mother and daughter paying homage by lighting and placing candles along John Paul II Avenue, one of the biggest streets in central west Warsaw. The back cover shows a spontaneous memorial in the form of a large cross in Pilsudski Square, Warsaw, where John Paul II had celebrated mass during his first visit to Poland in 1979, the year after he was elected Pope. The memorial incorporates lanterns, flower offerings and a commemoration board made by primary school children.In constructing unofficial, vernacular and temporary commemorative sites from candles and flowers, Polish citizens re‐enacted both the rituals of All Saints Day and the tradition of arranging flowers and candles in public places. The latter is, in the Polish context, more than an expression of grief provoked by deaths of important Polish personalities: it is also historically a way of expressing popularly shared feelings and values, and of asserting a degree of autonomy from the government of the day.Until 1990, Pope John Paul II symbolized powerful nationalist‐Catholic sentiments that had helped Polish citizens stand up to communism. However, the slogan ‘I didn't mourn the pope’ which appeared on T‐shirts made by a young Polish artists' group suggests that this new alliance between religion and official politics is being contested.Mourning rituals surrounding public figures frequently have a multivocal quality, and are barometers of change. As part of its ongoing engagement with public events, ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY invites debate on how collective memories are punctuated and shaped by historical moments such as these.