Every year, the inhabitants of Poljana and the surrounding villages eagerly await the 26th of July so they can once again celebrate the feast, participate in the Holy Mass with procession around the church and socialize.
Pope Francis likes to call the feast of St. Anne the feast of Jesus’ grandmother, a grandmother who did an excellent job: she raised her daughter to be the Queen of Heaven and Earth.
Our Lady's parents, St. Joachim and St. Anne, lived piously and devotedly to God. Still, they had to wait until old age for the gift of a child. That is why St. Anne is a symbol of motherhood, a protector of pregnant women and barren women, mothers and widows, workers and housewives, educators and religious teachers, as well as a happy marriage.
She has been worshiped with special love by many Christian saints and church teachers, such as St. John of Damascus, St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Teresa of Avila.
Christian art most often portrays St. Anne as an older woman (in a red dress, clad in a green cloak, with a head covering and a book in her hand) teaching her daughter Mary the Scriptures.
Such a statue is also found in the Poljana church. Mother Anne stands with the Holy Scriptures in her hand, and her daughter Mary next to her listening attentively to her teachings.
