In our immigrant family, there were many Stations of the Cross,
depending on resonant circumstances -- fleeing from war, or
surviving travails post-war, finding their ways through the
refugee camps, making their way into a culture not at war, but
with daily opprobrium toward immigrants. The “full deck” of
stations was used in times of confusion, hurt, betrayal and
travail. We learned from our babushka grandmother Katerin, there
were at least Thirty-Three Stations of the Cross in our family.
Long ago in the 13th to 18th centuries, many parts of the world
had different numbers of stations, that is, meditation places to
remember and learn from the struggle of the Christ. It was only
in the 18th century that papal decrees proscribed there would be
only 14 stations from now on. But, like most of the world
Katerin, a peasant farmer and horsewoman, was never in a
position to hear the back or foreground of papal decrees, and so
she proceeded with the thirty-three stations instead. When she
did finally hear there were