POLISH CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS

12 DISHES In Poland, Christmas Eve dinner is the most important celebration of the year. Most of the dishes served are cooked specifically on this special day – and only once a year! The tradition calls for twelve traditional courses to be served during the Polish Christmas Eve. This number is the symbol of the richness, twelve Apostles and represents the twelve months of the year.

Shepherdess

At midnight between the 24th and 25th of December Midnight Mass takes place. Midnight Mass commemorates the expectation and prayer of shepherds on their way to Bethlehem. This is one of the most important Polish traditions.

FREE SPACE 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 down on luck should show up and ask for shelter. While this rarely happens nowadays, the tradition nevertheless requires that lone strangers be taken in and treated as family.

BREAKING WAFER

Usually takes place before the main supper. During this moment, family members wish all the best to each other. Even if they don’t like each other. Honestly..

FIRST STAR Christmas Eve is known as Wigilia . The house is also cleaned and everyone gets washed and puts on their festive clothes. The main Christmas meal is eaten in the evening and is called "Kolacja wigilijna" (Christmas Eve supper). It's traditional that no food is eaten until the first star is seen in the sky! So children look at the night sky to spot the first star!

The Christmas tree is also often bought in and decorated on Christmas Eve. It is decorated with a star on the top , gingerbreads, lights and "bombki" which are baubles and glass ornaments in different shapes. They are usually hand-made, painted or decorated in other way. In the east of Poland the decorations are traditionally made of straw and are very beautiful. In some houses there is also a custom of breaking one of the Christmas Tree decorations to scare the evil out of the house for the whole next year!

Christmas tree

Christmas carolls

Christmas carols are not celebrated in Poland until during-and-after the Christmas Vigil Mass called Pasterka held between 24 and 25 of December. The Christmas season often runs until February 2. The early hymns sung in Catholic church were brought to Poland by the Franciscan Brothers in the Middle Ages. The early Christmas music was Latin in origin. When the Polish words and melodies started to become popular, including many new secular pastorals (pastoralka, or shepherd's songs), they were not written down originally, but rather taught among people by heart. Notably, the song Bóg się rodzi (God Is Being Born) with lyrics written by Franciszek Karpiński in 1792 became the Christmas hymn of Poland already in the court of King Stefan Batory. Many of the early Polish carols were collected in 1838 by Rev. Hioduszewki in a book called Pastorałki i Kolędy z Melodiami (Pastorals and Carols with Melodies).

ONE OF A POLISH CHRISTMAS CAROLS - SLEEP JESUS (EXCPERT)

Lulajże, Jezuniu, moja perełko, Lulaj, ulubione me pieścidełko. Lulajże, Jezuniu, lulajże, lulaj, A Ty Go, Matulu, w płaczu utulaj /x2 Zamknijże znużone płaczem powieczki, Utulże zemdlone łkaniem usteczki. Lulajże, Jezuniu, lulajże, lulaj, A Ty Go, Matulu, w płaczu utulaj /x2 Lulajże, piękniuchny mój aniołeczku, Lulajże, maluchny świata kwiateczku. Lulajże, Jezuniu, lulajże, lulaj, A Ty Go, Matulu, w płaczu utulaj /x2

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MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR !