You’ve probably heard of Johnny Cash, but more and more people are hearing about Johnny Kashub. A podcast by local David Shulist has been bringing awareness of Kashubian culture across the world.
“The Johnny Kashub Show” on Podbean was started less than a year ago and has already surpassed the 1000 download milestone.
“You know there’s people from all over the world, a lot of them from Europe, a lot of them also from the US because there’s communities in the US and they’re connecting” Said Shulist, “A lot of them didn’t even know about this heritage. Yet they are part of this heritage.”
Shulist is also the recent winner of the Canadian Ethnic Media’s Life Time Acheivment Award for his contributions to Kashubian culture, He attended the awards ceremony last November.
“There was just about every culture that was there and here was I this Kashubian from Wilno, Ontario. Then my name was announced as the the lifetime achievement award. I felt kind of unique because nobody really knew me” Said Shulist, “Because I’ve been at this here, you know probably 26, 27 years. So I put a lot of time in and I guess they they recognized that”
Shulist says Kashubia is not a country or a region, but a homeland:
“I guess if I could compare it to something it could be like Sicily, right? Sicily is not a country, but it is a a homeland of the Sicilian because they’re under Italian rule. The only thing with Kashubia is they haven’t had their own government for you know, for centuries”
In his book “Discovering Kashubia Europe, the Fatherland of my Kashubian Ancestors” Shulist writes about his discovery of his true Slavic identity as a Kashub and he writes about what his community is doing to preserve and promote the Kashubian Identity in Canada’s Kashubia.
To learn more about Kashubia you can check out the Jonhnny Kashub show on Podbean or go to the Johnny Kashub facebook page.