02085nas a2200193   4500008004100000022001400041245014700055210006900202300001100271490000600282520136100288653002201649653002701671653001201698653002001710653001001730100003001740856012101770       2018                        eng d  a2300-168200a‘White Dress, Guests and Presents’: Polish Migrant Families’ Practice of First Communion and Negotiation of Catholic Identities in Wales0 aWhite Dress Guests and Presents Polish Migrant Families Practice  a165-830 v73 a<p>This article examines how migration to Wales modifies Polish Catholic families&rsquo; religious practices. It focuses on how the First Communion ceremony is performed. Within the Polish migrant community I witnessed three distinct ways of arranging this. Some families travelled to Poland to their parish churches of origin. Of those who celebrated it in Wales, some did so in a Polish church, others in their children&rsquo;s Catholic school&rsquo;s church. These choices had different effects. Holding First Communion in Poland confirmed children&rsquo;s Polish identity and home-country bonds. It exemplified both the fluidity of the families&rsquo; intra-European migration experience and the strength of transnational networking. Holding it in the local Polish parish reinforced both families&rsquo; and childrens&rsquo; identification as Polish Catholics. In the school&rsquo;s church, it strengthened migrant families&rsquo; negotiations of belonging and their children&rsquo;s integration into the Welsh locality. Mothers&rsquo; active involvement in all settings led some to contest Polish religious customs and revealed emerging identifications related to children&rsquo;s wellbeing and belonging. Unlike arrangements traditional in Poland, families&rsquo; religious practices in Wales seem to have become more individual, less collective.</p>10aCatholic identity10aFirst Communion ritual10amothers10aPolish migrants10aWales1 aKaczmarek-Day, Aleksandra  uhttps://ceemr.uw.edu.pl/content/white-dress-guests-and-presents-polish-migrant-families-practice-first-communion-and