Wishart, Saskatchewan

Wishart Holy Assumption Church has Candlemas each year. This is the service where beeswax candles are blessed for the church and its parishioners. The church uses all beeswax candles on the altar. Recently, the parishioners found some very old and unique altar candles hidden away in a cubby in the basement. These special candles are reserved for holidays.

Teresa Kekish and her husband are baptism experts, boasting a combined 23 Godchildren between the two of them. Teresa remembers that, at St. Michael’s Ukrainian Catholic Church in Wishart, SK both the parents and the godparents would come to church and, after the mass, they would have a baptism. The godparents would be either friends or family. The Priest would pour water over the baby’s head and anoint the child with oil. He also used a white cloth in the ceremony which belonged to the church. In the past, they did not walk girl babies around the alter; this practice was reserve for boys. In recent times, however, they have begun doing this with both the male and female babies. During the baptism ceremony, the baby wears a baptismal gown. In Teresa’s family, all of her children wore the same gown for their baptisms. She then passed the gown down to her eldest daughter and all of her children pass the gown around amongst themselves for the baptisms of their children. This means that all of Teresa’s children and grandchildren have been baptised in the same gown.

Here is a small part of the recording of Teresa talking about the baptismal gown: