From my ex-pat perspective, the people here (here being Europe) seem acutely aware of place and of history. Sometimes this takes the form of celebrating ancient anniversaries, sometimes more recent anniversaries, sometimes just celebrating the history of a building or the evolution of a public space. My Russian studies professor used to joke that in Europe, there were so many anniversaries that you could find something appropriate to commemorate for any possible date on the calendar. Indeed, dates are very important (just ask the Obama administration, who made the mistake of announcing the changed missile defense program in Poland on the anniversary of Russia's WW2 invasion of Poland). Regardless, the public administration seems very keen to provide such celebrations and commemorations and the public seems apt to take part.
For example, at the beginning of this month,
posters appeared in the Stary Rynek (old marketplace) and Adam Mickiewicz Square of Poznań, marking the 30th anniversary of
Solidarity. In Kraków this past week, I observed the final celebrations of the
600th anniversary of
Grunwald, the battle between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Teutonic Knights. Celebrations took place across Poland, but some of the highlights were in
Malbork, the former castle of the Knights, and in Kraków, the seat of the Polish dynasty at that time. And today, walking past the
Zamek, I noticed a new set of posters chronicling the
100 years of history of this castle.
However, what surprises me most of all is not merely the initiative of various groups to mark such commemorations and arduously piece together the past and display the history, but the eagerness of the public to take part. The posters outside of the Zamek were completely surrounded today, so much so that I gave up trying to find a space to read them myself. Similarly, for the first week or two, there were always at least 5 people reading the Solidarność posters at any given time (the collections of about 30+ posters in each location are still outside on display). And the Grunwald ceremonies of Kraków were packed! It's not that I don't think that Americans would enjoy these commemorations and exhibits of information, but I doubt that many would take the time to gather to read, observe, learn, and participate.
Maybe America is still too young of a nation to have many public commemorations of places or events. But at the same time, 234 years is a longer history than many of the states of the world. (Though whether or not the nations of people trace a longer history of statelessness is another story). More plausibly, we are still too young to have become comfortable with our cohesiveness as a nation. Or maybe we're just not interested in (or the public administration does not think we're interested in) our own history?
Yet as I walked back today, I found myself wondering about many of the buildings in the cities where I have lived, and how I know next to nothing about them or what has happened in those spaces. I might be able to tell you the year for certain major events in American history, but almost never the exact date. (Whereas in Poland and in Europe, it seems like there's a different anniversary for every week!) I know nothing about the history or places of my home town, besides that it used to be all farmland and earned a spot in a footnote of history as a sometime stop on the Underground Railroad. I can tell you a little more about Rochester, NY, but that is mostly from ventures in urban exploring (be sure to visit the
abandoned subway!), conversations during long car rides with older professors, and flipping through the
tan Images of America paperback books. And even during my short stays in
NYC and
DC, my awareness of the history of each place was mostly only supplemented by what I had learned in schools or a paragraph in a tour book.
Friday marks the 2-month anniversary of my departure from the USA, but as I learn more about Poznań and Poland and Europe, I find myself seeing America in a new light, and wondering things about it that I hadn't considered before, perhaps giving me a new appreciation of home from afar.
Well, according to Wikipedia, because of an out-dated ban on growing blackcurrants thanks to the logging industry that states are only just beginning to repeal (NY state repealed it only in 2003). So I suppose it's not surprising that no one in the States realizes the liquid joy and health that they are missing out on. 
