Page 22 - LOTN Issue 45

FAITH AND CULTURE

fortunate that they were both at home that day”.
As Justyna mentions, in many Polish households
the Christmas tree is not dressed until Christmas
Eve. Christmas trees are decorated not only with
baubles or paper chains, but also with candies or
gingerbread cookies. Justyna also mentions carp.
Carp farming is a popular tradition in Poland, so
it's no surprise that this fish often makes it to the
Christmas dinner.
As for the table on Christmas Eve, it is covered
with a white linen tablecloth under which there
is placed a handful of hay, a memento of Jesus'
birth in a stable. Also, Poles are seated at the table
when the first star appears in the sky on that
evening. In the Polish tradition, it symbolizes
the star of Bethlehem seen by the Three Kings.
A very important element of Christmas Eve is
The Christmas Eve wafer / Opłatek wigilijny the breaking of the wafer, which is preceded by
(Silar, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via the common prayer of all gathered at the table
Wikimedia Commons) and the reading of the nativity story in the Holy
Bible. The scripture is usually read by the head
renewal before Christmas is very necessary to prepare well for of the family. Breaking the wafer symbolizes reconciliation - by
the birth of Jesus. sharing it, we wish each other all the best, health and prosperity.
On December the 24th, from the early morning hours many In the Polish tradition, there are usually 12 dishes on the
Polish households are busy preparing dishes for the Christmas Christmas Eve table (this number symbolises the 12 apostles).
Eve dinner. Justyna, another inhabitant of the Granite City, The Christmas Eve dishes can vary slightly from one region
eagerly recalls memories of her early childhood: “On December of Poland to another. Agnieszka’s family come from Kurpie
24th in the morning, my father would decorate the Christmas (Mazovian region) and where you would expect to find the
tree, my mother would be cooking and we (the children) following dishes: carp, Greek-style fish (fried white fish with a
helped her. There was no carp, just mushroom yeast buns and tomato and vegetable sauce), dried fruit compote, red borscht
homemade borscht. There were the traditional number of with “ear-shaped” little dumplings stuffed with cabbage
twelve dishes on the table and it was a dinner with the whole and mushrooms, dumplings with potato and cottage cheese
family. We read the Bible, broke the wafer and then we went stuffing, dumplings with cabbage and mushrooms, marinated
to Midnight Mass. There was none of the commercial madness herring, potatoes, cabbage with mushrooms and plums, potato
that is seen here and no pressure from the children for gifts. croquettes with mushrooms. In the house of Damian who
My parents worked - my father worked in the Gdańsk shipyard comes from Pomerania you will also find drop scones and kutia,
and my mother worked at the railway station. We were just which is a Christmas Eve dessert made of poppy seeds, wheat,

Midnight Mass, St Mary’s Basilica, Kraków, Poland / Pasterka, Bazylika Mariacka w Krakowie, Polska
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