Christmas in Poland

Christmas in Poland

 

Like in every country, Poland has its own traditions. I decided to present you with four of them. Of course there are many others. I don’t know how it is in your country, but in Poland many traditions are different in specific parts of the country and they even differ between families.

1. Leaving one empty place at the table

Once everybody sits down at the table to taste the delicious Christmas dishes you might notice that one place is still empty. Many Poles still leave an empty place set at the table in case a person shows up and asks for help. This rarely happens nowadays. In my house, we remember about it, but we have so many guests that we don’t have place for one more plate. Of course if someone showed up, we would invite them.

 

2. Not eating meat

In strict keeping with old Catholic tradition, Poles usually don’t eat meat on Christmas Eve. However, fish is acceptable and a lot of Christmas Eve dishes are made of fish. There are some meatless soups like borscht made of beetroot with ravioli or sour soup made of flour, water and some spices. Wide mushrooms are extremely popular and they are the ingredient of most Christmas meals.

3. Preparing twelve dishes

A traditional Polish Christmas Eve dinner consists of twelve dishes. They symbolize one for each month of the new year or twelve apostles. Some believe that everybody should try every dish to secure good luck throughout next year. Classic Polish Christmas dishes include, for example, cabbage and mushroom dumplings and a poppy seed cake. In every Catholic family before the Christmas Eve supper, there is a short prayer and everybody shares the wafer and expresses their good wishes. One tradition connected with that is no one should start eating before the first star shows up in the sky.

4. Putting hay under the tablecloth

When you’re in Poland you may see hay under the tablecloth. It is there on purpose, as a way of remembering that, according to the Bible, the newborn Jesus was put in a manger to rest. People usually place the wafer on the top of it. 

Maja Gruda