Cultural letter #11
Dear friends,
This year I learned, that is, really learned a few things about Polish holiday traditions. I was talking about some of the Polish traditions in my English class and we had a little discussion about some of them. The kids had some sections in their school books which also aided in this compilation.
First of all, let me give a disclaimer. Since
So, here goes.
The big evening for the celebration of Christmas is
Christmas Eve and begins with the big meal, which is "wigilia"
(pronounced "Vigeelia"). (This word is
similar to our word "vigil" and has to do with setting up a watch.)
This meal is supposed to have 12 courses, completely meatless, but with several
fish dishes. It is not to begin until after the first star comes out in
the evening (or in our case, afternoon), sky. This can be any time after
When they set the table for the meal, they use a white tablecloth and under the tablecloth they put a little bit of hay to represent the manger/stable where Christ was born. (I thought that was sweet--it can be some dried grass from the side of the road.)
At the end of this meal, they have a little white thin wafer that looks almost see through which they have to purchase from the priest or nun, with an imprint of Mary in the wafer, and they break off a little bit and wish you "all the best" while you are supposed to break off a piece of theirs and say the same to them. (I was VERY uncomfortable with this while at the school --our children's classes had a "wigilia" which meant just fruit, candy and cakes).
After the dinner, the kids are supposed to leave the room and Santa Claus comes (St. Nicholas) and the presents are put under the tree and the kids come back in and they open them. (This seems to be much nicer to Santa Claus than making him come down the chimney--he just comes in when the parents are ready for him.) During this evening, they say that the animals can talk with human voices. (But they won't do it when any people are around.)
Then, they stay up and talk all evening and at 12 pm they are to go out and walk to church (This church being, of course, the Catholic church), and attend the midnight mass which celebrates the birth of the Christ child. Many Poles don't do this, however, as they go to bed instead. I was told by one young lady who said she could just stay home and pray in her heart. This is the most important evening for everyone. The rest of the holiday is kind of like "anticlimactic".
December 25, they more or less take it easy, and sleep in a
little (after staying up until after
Here are some things taken from a book I have, written by a Pole, --in English, so the word choice is hers--
" The day preceding Christmas Eve is a unique one. It is believed that everything that might happen on it might influence the whole year to come. Much attention, for instance, is paid to the person who first enters the house and if it is a man, he ensures welfare to all members of the family. Some people say that if you ask for food on that day, you will hungry throughout the year."
"it is believed that washing hands with silver coins in the morning may bring money. On that day carol-singers dressed as an angel, a devil, King Herod or Death visit people's houses. They sing carols and play various scenes from the Bible."
Then, also, December 26 is ANOTHER holiday--they call it the
"second day" of Christmas. On this day, many will once again go to
someone's house and just sit around and talk and eat. I asked an older
lady why they celebrated this day as a holiday--after all, it isn't December
25. She laughed and said that she doubted anyone really even knew why--but just
that it has always been that way in
taken from this book..."The second day of Christmas is spent in a different way. People pay and receive visits, spend much time at the table talking or singing carols. From that day the Carnival begins."
The Carnival season is sort of a wild season. They have been told not to "drink, marry, or have discos" for a period of about a month before Christmas--in preparation of your hearts for the coming of the Christ child. Then, after Christmas is over, the restrictions are lifted.
New Years is called "Sylvester." People set
off fireworks and have parties--big ones. Some are at their homes and
some are like in the Old Town of Warsaw--there are signs placed at various
places that show that you are invited to a "sylvester
party" for a certain amount of money. This year I saw them for about 100 zl (here in our part of
Our kids had to return to school on January 2, which was today. This seems very fast to us, but coming up in about 2 1/2 weeks they will be let out for 2 full weeks for a winter break. Christmas break for our kids from Polish school was only 1 1/2 weeks long.
When we first came to
This year I saw Christmas decorations for sale in early to mid November--whereas the first year we were here, I had a hard time finding them that early. This year I saw people decorating earlier than before also. The first year the twins (Aga and Beata) were with us and we decorated our tree on the 15th--they asked us if we felt "weird" that we had decorated "so early." (I just laughed and said "No!" I didn't feel like I had decorated that early.)
So, that's it for this year's
In
Becky Petersen for us all