Christmas Traditions

In Poland, Christmas celebrations generally do not begin before Christmas Eve, unlike in the US where they start around Thanksgiving time and are wrapped up on or shortly after New Year's Day. The Christmas season in Poland lasts until Candlemas on February 2nd. "Wesołych Świąt" is the traditional Christmas greeting and can be translated as "Merry Christmas" (though this is not the literal meaning, the same expression is also used at Easter to wish a person a "Happy Easter").

The Advent & Wigilia

The period of Advent is a quiet time for Poles to reflect on their faith and prepare for the coming of the baby Jesus. During Advent, Poles are supposed to abstain from dancing and any other celebrating, with a few exceptions. The first being St. Andrew's Day (Nov. 30) which is considered a day of magic. Girls have parties and do fortune telling activities. One popular method is pouring candle wax into water, once the wax hardens, the shape is projected on the wall to see the shape of its shadow. This can then be interpreted in any number of ways. All other sorts of fortune telling are popular to do today as well, for girls it mainly consists of who will get married when and what their future husband will be like. Often parties are held the evening before St. Andrew's Day in Nov. 29. St. Barbara's day on December 4th is another day of celebration, especially for miners as she is their patron saint. Miners put on their special black suit and a black hat with either a red, white, or black feather (depending on rank) and host balls all across Poland. Two days later, on Dec. 6, is the feast day of St. Nicholas (Santa Claus) when the saint is thought to be visiting children in Poland during the evening and night. Children hang a white stocking or set out polished shoes hoping St. Nicholas will fill them with candies, nuts, and fruit. Also during the Advent, women will bake piernik (gingerbread), often in the shapes of hearts, animals (especially bulls) and also St. Nicholas, and ornaments will be made in the evenings in preparation for decorating the tree.

The real Christmas celebrations do not begin until Christmas Eve or Wigilia. Wigilia literally means "vigil" and comes into Polish from Latin. This is the most important day of the Christmas season for Poles. During the day the family fasts and prepares for the evening celebrations. Houses are given a very thorough cleaning both inside and out with special attention paid to the windows; Poles believe that if house is dirty on Christmas Eve, it will remain dirty for the next year! Normally the Christmas tree is not put up until Christmas Eve (though sometimes done a few days before). While the women are preparing the meal for the evening and following day, the men and children will put up and decorate the tree. Traditionally, the ornaments are made of blown glass that are painted and come in a wide variety of shapes. Wooden, straw, paper, and hollowed egg ornaments are also used. Strings of lights and gold, silver, or white chains (or even paper chains) are also used to decorate the tree. Tinsel (angel hair) is very common on trees and so are beeswax candles. Finally the star is placed on top. Christmas trees are generally left up until January 6th, though it is not uncommon for them to stay up until Candlemas (the liturgical end of the Christmas season). Once the tree is up, presents which have been previously wrapped may be placed underneath. Christmas trees have gained recent popularity in Poland. Before the introduction of them, the top of a tree would be cut down and hung upside down from the ceiling in the house. Outside the decorations already mentioned, fruit was another major decoration on this type of tree (especially in the countryside). Now it is time to prepare the table for the night's meal.

Traditionally the table is covered in a white linen cloth symbolizing Mary's veil with straw or hay placed underneath. (Straw is used as a reminder that Christ was born in a manger.) The mother of the house will light a candle in a window to welcome the Christ child. While the oldest female present will present the opłatek (blessed Christmas wafer) on her finest china. It is more popular now to have a serving plate with straw and sprigs of evergreen on it covered by a white napkin on which the opłatki rests. An extra place is always set at the table for a stranger who may come by unexpectedly and in memory of departed relatives. As mentioned before, during the day everyone is fasting. The fast ends when the first star is seen in the night sky, called the gwiazdka or "little star" which represents the Star of Bethlehem. Usually it is the job of the children to look for the star. Once it has been spotted, the opłatki are distributed to each family member. Each person goes to each other and forgives them for any past misdeeds and wishes them well in the coming year. Then they will break a piece off the other's opłatek and eat it. This continues until each person has partaken of each other person's wafer. In some parts of Poland the eldest member of the house will take the wafer and break off a piece and passing it around until everyone has a piece, during the breaking and passing of the wafer prayers are said for loved ones. The opłatek is a symbol for the unity of the family and once eaten as a symbol for an individual's unity with Christ. The tradition of the opłatek dates back into the 10th century and is one of the most beloved Christmas traditions.

Finally, it is time to eat! The Wigilia (pronounced vee-GEEL-yah) feast can last up to two hours and contains 5, 7, 9, or 12 courses. Traditionally the numbers of courses should always be an odd number (for good luck) while there should always been an even number of guests (also for good luck), but 12 dishes may be served as commemorating the 12 Apostles. Although the time of fasting is over, Wigilia supper is always meatless. A traditional Wigilia menu may include: mushroom soup or beetroot soup (barszcz) with dumplings (uszka), boiled potatoes (kartofle), pickled herring (sledzie), fried carp or whitefish, golabki (meatless cabbage rolls), pierogi, beans and sauerkraut (groch i kapusta); and for dessert dried fruit compote, makowiec (poppyseed roll), babka, assorted pastries, and nuts and candies may be served. Poppy seeds are very popular in desserts on this night as they are believed to bring good luck. Not all of these dishes are always prepared and there are others that can be eaten as well. Usually one type of food is served at a time, so when pierogis are served there will be nothing else at the moment to eat. The menu is meant to include food from all four corners of the Earth, i.e. mushrooms from the forest, grain from the fields, fruit from the orchards, and fish from the lakes and sea. After dinner the gifts are exchanged and opened and the family will sing carols and tell stories.

Pasterka & Christmas Day

Pasterka or Shepherd's Mass refers to the type of texts used in Mass and types of prayer being offered. It is performed at midnight for the midnight Mass on Christmas Eve/Day, but can be performed multiple times, usually earlier in the day for children and later for adults. Usually there is a Mass in the morning, early afternoon (before supper) and then at 11pm the church will open its doors and music will play while its parishioners wait for the hour-long midnight Mass to begin. Priests encourage families to attend multiple Masses, and most will attend at least 2. There is a popular belief in Poland that while the congregation is attending midnight Mass, peace descends upon their town and domestic animals assume voices that only those with an innocent heart can hear.

Boże Narodzenie (literally, God's birth) is the name for Christmas Day in Polish. Starting on Christmas Day, after Midnight Mass, and lasting until Epiphany (Jan. 6) or Candlemas (Feb. 2), gwiazdory or "star carriers" walk through their village and sing carols (koledy), put on puppet shows, and build and display szopki (nativity scenes). Carolers are called kolednicy. Those participating will often dress up in folk costumes or as angels, shepherds, or kings. They are given food and drink or other small gifts during their walks. The tradition of Szopki can be traced back to the 13th century, and these are not simple manger scenes, they frequently involve details pulled from the Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque periods of architecture.

The day is spent visiting friends and family, and no work (cleaning or cooking) should be done this day. Instead food prepared the day before is heated and served. Christmas dinner usually features ham, Polish kielbasa, roast duck or goose, or Hunter’s stew (bigos).

Twelfth Night & Candlemas

On Twelfth Night (Jan. 6), Poles take small boxes containing chalk, a gold ring, incense, and a piece of amber (a remembrance of the gifts of the Magi) to their church to be blessed. Once home, they inscribe the date and "K+M+B+" with the blessed chalk above every door in the house. This passed year it would have looked like this: "20+K+M+B+14". The letters, each followed by a cross, stand for the the Three Kings: Kaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. They are meant to remain above the doors all year until they are inadvertently dusted off or replaced by new markings the next year. The markings are supposed to ward off illness and misfortune. Some families will bake a "king cake" with either a coin or almond baked into it, the one who finds the coin or almond in his or her piece of cake must host the next party.

On February 2, people carry candles decorated with symbols and ribbons to church to have them blessed for use in their homes during storms, sickness and death. The candle blessing would occur before or at the start of Mass that day. Once they were blessed they became symbols for Jesus, the Light of the World. During storms, a candle would be lit and placed in the window to protect the house from damage by lightning and other destruction. This is why the candles are called gromnicy (thunder candles). A blessed candle was also put into the hands of a dying person, as holding the candle symbolized the dying being received by the Light of Christ. There is a Polish legend that says Mary walked across Poland with her gromnica lit, protecting homes and farm animals from hungry packs of wolves that were looking for prey during the harsh winter. The feast celebrated on this day is called Matka Boska Gromniczna (Mother of God of the Thunder Candle). With this last feast, hosted by the person who found the coin in the king's cake earlier, the Christmas season in Poland ends.