Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve in Poland means Wigilia. We celebrate it on 24^th of December. On this day we eat big dinner with 12 dishes what symbolizes the number of Aphostoles.

 

Traditional Polish dishes are :

·  Borsch with ravioli in polish means barszcz z uszkami.

· Carp with potato salad, carp in aspic etc. Carp provides the main component of the Christmas Eve meal across Poland.

· Śledzie - pickled herring

· rollmops- fish fillet,starter
 

· Pierogi with sauerkraut and forest ; mushrooms filled with cottage cheese and potatoes

· Zupa rybna - fish soup

· Zupa grzybowa - mushroom soup made of various forest mushrooms

· Bigos - savory stew of cabbage and meat

· Kompot - traditional drink a light, refreshing drink most often made of dried or fresh fruit boiled in water with sugar and left to cool and infuse.

· Pieczarki marynowane - marinated mushrooms

· Łosoś - salmon, often baked or boiled in a dill sauce.

· Kopytka - potato dumplings

· Kartofle gotowane - simple boiled potatoes sparkled with parsley or dill

· Kulebiak - with fish or cabbage and wild mushrooms filling

· Ryba smażona or ryba po grecku - fried fish laid under lyers of fried shreded carrots, onions, root celery and leek

· Sałatka jarzynowa - salad made with boiled potatoes and carrots with fresh peas, sweetcorn, dill cucumber, and boiled egg, mixed with mayonnaise

· Galaretka - jellied pig's feet or cold legs.

 
· Faworki - Angel wings

· Pączki - donuts

· Kutia - sweet grain pudding with dried fruits and nuts

· Łamaniec - type of flat and rather hard pancake that is soaked in warm milk with poppy seeds. Eaten in eastern regions such as around Białystok

· Sernik - cheesecake

 

· Makowiec- poppy seed cake

Our meal starts with wafer sharing which is called in Polish "opłatek". We wish each other health and happiness forgetting about quarrels and bad feelings.

 

It's then that Santa Claus comes and bring presents for everybody. Bad children can recive rózga - a a dry branch stick.

 

During the dinner we sing beautiful Polish Christmas carols.

 

Another Polish tradition is attending a midnight mass called Pasterka.