09/08/2026
FIND YOUR "NAME DAY" -- AND WHAT YOU CARE ABOUT!
You can find this N.S. Polish Heritage Month-related column (for a general audience -- you don't have to be Polish!) online today on the platforms for the Cape Breton Post/Halifax Chronicle Herald/Saltwire Network
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Find your “name day” -- and what you care about
A self-learning exercise you can try this month
By Tom Urbaniak
September is Nova Scotia Polish Heritage Month, and the theme this year is storytelling. You don’t have to be connected to Polish heritage to try a little name-day exercise this month.
If you see a Polish wall calendar, you will notice that each day has a few names listed on it. Until recently, name days (imieniny) were bigger than birthdays in many Polish regions. They’re easier to remember, and nobody asks how old you are on your name day!
POPULAR CULTURE
In Poland and Polish diaspora communities, the name days are rooted in Catholic popular culture: The names attached to days correspond with current or previous (or folkloric) feast days of saints.
But it’s also a very secular (non-religious) observance. This tradition is not exclusive to Poland, but it’s definitely connected to the Polish experience.
Admittedly, American influence and mass media have eaten into the name-day tradition. As a Canadian-born person of Polish heritage, I have childhood memories of my grandparents always marking their name days here in Canada, including with cards and flowers. My parents did so a little bit. But my sisters and I hardly marked our own name days.
For common names like mine – Thomas (Tomasz in Polish) – there are several days on the calendar. It would be typical for me to go with the Thomas Day that is the first one (December 29) after my birthday.
But it’s not a strict rule to go with that one. I love that: I have a choice!
STUDYING STORIES
To pick a day, I could read and listen to stories (even old, “teachable” popular legends) about the different Thomases being commemorated on different days.
The Thomas of December 29 is St. Thomas à Becket. I admire his courage for standing up to the king at the cost of his life. That was in 1170. We are living in times that require that courage.
If I go with March 7, that would be Saint Thomas Aquinas. He’s the great 13th century philosopher whose ideas about logic, observation and natural law influenced some of the major underpinnings for modern systems of human rights, scientific enquiry and institutional ethics.
However, his ideas about just war, progressive for the time, need a major re-think today.
Although St. Thomas More (June 22) is a favourite of people who are into law and principled politics, I actually admire him more for coming across as a caring, egalitarian husband and father. Sadly, that’s a relative rarity for Catholic saints.
Unfortunately, St. Thomas More loses me: He was willing to persecute “heretics” for King Henry VIII.
Where More could be rigid, the original Saint Thomas – the hesitant apostle – questioned himself. His name days are July 3 and December 21. The July date is because of a 1969 church-calendar reform. The December one continues with the old Polish tradition.
We’re talking here about the biblical “doubting Thomas,” the one who insisted on proof that Christ had re-appeared in his presence. Good for him! Don’t get swept up in groupthink!
SEPTEMBER 22
But I keep leaning toward September 22. That is the day for St. Thomas of Villanova (1486-1555). He was an academic who rolled up his sleeves in the world. He lived an intentionally simple life, even though he could have had access to lots of comfort.
He didn’t leap for leadership positions (archbishop); he really wanted to decline. Once in office, this Thomas used all the resources he could muster to feed and house people, without regard to their religion or origin.
He literally gave away his own mattress! He let homeless people stay in his residence. He was alert to people who were too ashamed to ask for help.
He saw effective communication as a gift. Use it! Motivate others and show an example.
“I will not measure out my love.”
Thus, I will go with September 22 as my name day. I will use the day to reflect on how to be a more generous person and lead a simpler life. I will try to remain energetic and motivated, but I want to catch myself if I am getting too personally ambitious.
In line with this Thomas, I will try to communicate more effectively. I hope I won’t expect anything in return for good deeds.
TOUCHPOINTS
I wish I had done this name-day exercise with my late wife, Rev. Alison Etter. Actually, the generous, loving qualities I have just described remind me of her.
I think I might have suggested December 16 to Alison for her name day, after Saint Adelaide (Alicja) of Burgundy.
At any rate, I’m positive our name-day exercise (debate?) would have led to stories and discovery. We would have reflected on the hardships our various namesakes faced. And we would have celebrated the human spirit together.
-Tom Urbaniak, professor of political science at Cape Breton University, serves as president of Cape Breton’s St. Michael’s Polish Benefit Society.
