Christmas
Festivities around the World: Poland
Poland is cold and ill-weathered during the winter,
but that doesn’t stop the Polish from having their own set of special
celebrations during the winter holidays. Christmas Eve is the start of the Christmas
celebrations, and it is a day where the Polish people fast for 24 hours until
the first star on that night shines. Once the first star shows itself they have
a feast of great grandeur and have family celebrations (Polish Christmas
Traditions).
The feast is a twelve course meal,
and is served without red meat, for it is forbidden. Usually you will see meals
of fish, cabbage, dumplings, potatoes and thin bread which are somewhat holy to
them (Polish Christmas Traditions). The fish is usually herring, carp or pike,
and sometimes the fish is turned into a hearty soup.
Some traditions are not taken as
seriously though, such as the New Year’s weather prediction where on January 6th,
you’re supposed to predict the climate of the oncoming year. Though this may
have been significant in the past, it is now simply a joke or way to entertain
children. There is also a belief like if
there is no snowfall on Christmas, then it will surely fall on Easter day, or
if the star shines on Christmas Eve, then the hens will lay more eggs and be
more productive that year (Polish Christmas Traditions).
There are also three types of Polish
carols: religious, legendary, and imaginative. These are beautiful hymns, and
most of the legendary ones were based on tales the book Apocrypha contains
(Polish Christmas Traditions). This book is filled with fantasies, and no one
believes that it actually is true, but nonetheless they are entertaining.
Now that is how the Christmas
holidays are spent in Poland. Do you believe we have it any better?
-
Leon Ochs
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