Can someone explain blessed chalk to me?

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Mystrx

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So I’ve heard that at a certain time of the year priest bless chalk and people use it to write over the doorways of their homes or something like that. Can I have some clarification on this custom? :confused:
 
Here is a link that contains the blessing of chalk (item #7), and the blessing of homes (item #8), in case you (a) want your priest to bless the chalk for you, and (b) want to use the chalk to bless your home.
 
I was always happy when I would have the occasion to do this.
 
I just noticed that the chalk over my door says 2014. I guess we missed a year? Well, we usually do it at Epiphany.
 
We don’t do this in the UK, sadly. I think it sounds a lovely custom.

Where did it originate? And is it peculiar to the US?
 
Each year around New Year’s, or maybe it is Epiphany, our parish hands out heavy stock paper cards with those initials printed on them, to hang above the doorway.

I was told it was a Polish (Polish American?) custom, although being ethnically Polish I had never heard of it until our parish started with the papers. My mom said when she was young the priest would go to people’s houses and chalk the doorways.

Our parish had, several years ago, a retired priest who was Polish. Well, he was American, and I don’t know if he was Polish Polish or American Polish, and he would do a Polish Mass. I guess the custom came from him. He has since passed away but the custom continues.

It’s a nice practice, and we have a “collection” of these papers that goes back 10 years or so. 🙂
 
We had it done by an elderly Czech priest once, at my mother’s home. It is still there above her doorway and the year reads 1975. Maybe she didn’t know it was to be done every year.🤷
 
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