A wafer, a Nativity scene, a carp and a Christmas tree – no Pole could imagine Christmas, the most beautiful and domestic holiday in...

 

A wafer, a Nativity scene, a carp and a Christmas tree – no Pole could imagine Christmas, the most beautiful and domestic holiday in the Polish calendar, without them.

Polish Christmas begins on Christmas Eve. From the very morning of the 24th of December, preparations for this cheeriest and most fragrant holiday are under way in every home. You can smell unique smells specific to this very special day that begin with the scent of a fresh Christmas tree. In most cases, it is a green spruce cut a few days earlier in a forest. Then, the whole house becomes increasingly infused with the aromas of borscht, mushrooms, dried fruit and cooked and fried carp – meals characteristic to the Christmas Eve that come more often the closer you get to supper.

According to tradition, supper should be 12 dishes, all of them meatless. The table must be covered with a white tablecloth with a few straws of hay underneath. An additional place is also prepared in case a fatigued wanderer knocks at the door during the meal. Tradition has it that on this special day, nobody should be alone.
The entire family sits down for the first course when the first star in the sky lights up. This is why Poles often also refer to Christmas also as holiday of “the Little Star”. What’s more, in many Polish homes, a tradition of reading a fragment of the Gospel before the supper is preserved, after which everyone shares a wafer (a small, thin, white bread, baked especially for this occasion in local parishes). The custom of sharing the wafer and exchanging wishes is cultivated in all homes, not only the religious ones.

Supper usually begins with cold starters: herrings and jellied carp. These are followed by soup Which, depending on where you are in Poland, can be mushroom soup, borscht with pierogi (specially formed tiny dumplings) or fish soup made from carps’ heads – a dish characteristic of the Wielkopolska Province. Next come fried fish and cabbage with mushrooms and peas and, eventually, dessert: rice with raisins, noodles with poppy seeds (so called makiełki), and, in some regions, also kutia, originating from the East. This is made of poppy seeds, nuts, raisins, figs, almonds, honey and boiled wheat grain. At the very end, a compote made of dried fruit is drunk.

This mostly consists of plums, apricots, pears and apples with sugar and cinnamon.

This incredible meal is followed by what children await the most – presents! When they’re still small, the house is visited by the ‘real’ Santa Claus with a sack full of presents; but as they grow up, Santa tends to arrive so quickly that they lose the ability to see him. The only trace of his visit are the presents tucked under the Christmas tree. Curiously enough, the adults of the house do their best to keep this business quiet...
Most frequently, the evening is ended with carolling. Those most persistent and faithful attend the Pasterka (a special Holy Mass welcoming newly-born Jesus Christ).
Christmas in Poland lasts two days. On the first day of the holidays, everybody rests; on the second day, guests are invited for a meal of turkey and afternoon cake, usualy poppy-seed, ginger cake and fruitcake.