POLISH CHRISTMAS EVE CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS

WIGILIA MEANS A VIGIL
During the time before Christmas, students of the Polish language courses for foreigners often ask about the Polish Christmas customs and traditions. There are so many of them and they are so interesting that it can take more than one lesson to describe them.
In Poland, the Christmas time begins with the Christmas Eve supper. The name Wigilia is derived from the Latin word vigilia, which means keeping vigil at night, standing guard. During this day it is important to show kindness to each other, since, according to the Polish tradition, it will guarantee us a good ambience throughout the next year.

POLISH RECIPE FOR PROSPERITY
It is considered a good idea to put one scale from the Christmas Eve carp into your wallet. This will bring you prosperity and secure abundance.
Beautifully decorated Christmas tree - choinka -  (do you know that Poland is one of the largest manufacturers of glass Christmas ornaments?) symbolises the tree of life and placing gifts under it is in Polish tradition a sign of goodness and sharing the joy. Following Polish custom, we begin the Christmas Eve supper with the appearance of the first star in the sky. In this way we make a reference to the Star of Bethlehem, which showed the way to newborn Christ to the three Magi of the East.

                     You can find information about Christmas customs also on our FB profile.

COLOURED [COMMUNION] WAFERS
Before we sit down at the table, in Poland we share wafers with each other (it’s baked from white flour and water without any yeast). The breaking of this wafer signifies a sacrifice for others. This simple gesture brings people closer together and means that we want to share what we have with our loved ones. In the countryside, farmers share, additionally, a coloured wafer. A long time ago each animal species was given a wafer in a specific colour: there was red for horses, which would protect from evil and malediction, yellow for cows (with the addition of the rue plant), to prevent the milk from going bad, and the one with pepper added for dogs so that they would become yet better guardians of the household. Nowadays farmers usually share a green wafer with plant eating animals and the orange one with carnivore farm animals. As a rule, it takes place on Christmas Eve, but in some regions of Poland on Christmas Day or even Boxing Day.

SYMBOLS ON A CHRISTMAS EVE TABLE
To remind us about the place in which Christ was born, but also to ensure prosperity, we place a handful of hay on the Christmas Eve table. We cover the table with a white tablecloth (the symbol of purity) and on top of it we set a candle (the symbol of Christ himself) and one spare set of dinnerware. This set is meant for an unannounced guest and it is also a token of remembrance about our loved ones that are far way or those that passed away forever. And of course, the 12 dishes, about which you can read here.

CHRISTMAS CAROLLING IN POLISH
At Christmas we cannot miss singing carols together. Polish Christmas carols are regarded the most beautiful in the world. Ask your teacher for help and learn at least one verse of a Polish carol for this Christmas:

                                                 Bóg się rodzi, moc truchleje,
                                              God is born, the power shakens,
                                                 Pan niebiosów obnażony!
                                             The Lord of Heavens lies naked!
                                                Ogień krzepnie, blask ciemnieje,
                                                    Fire stalls, light darkens,
                                                  Ma granice Nieskończony.
                                                  The Eternity has now limits.
                                                  Wzgardzony, okryty chwałą,
                                                 Scorned, showered with praise,
                                                Śmiertelny Król nad wiekami!
                                                   Mortal King over the ages!
                                                   A Słowo Ciałem się stało
                                                  The Word was made Flesh
                                                   I mieszkało między nami.
                                             And made his dwelling among us.

                               Franciszek Karpiński: Bóg się rodzi/God is Being Born

ĆWICZYĆ, UPRAWIAĆ I PRAKTYKOWAĆ OR ON SPORT IN THE POLISH LANGUAGE

ĆWICZENIA Z JĘZYKA POLSKIEGO (POLISH LANGUAGE EXERCISES)
Sport is one of the most popular topics among the participants of our Polish language courses. Within its context, however, several verbs appear, which often causes confusion. The students are already familiar with the verb ćwiczyć (to exercise/work out) and they know that one can ćwiczyć at a gym or a fitness club, but this word may also be used with regard to the issues related to the work of the brain. Therefore, we can ćwiczyć mówienie po polsku (practise speaking Polish), ćwiczyć gramatykę
robiąc ćwiczenia gramatyczne (practise grammar through doing grammar exercises) lub ćwiczyć rozwiązywanie zadań matematycznych (practise solving mathematical problems, e.g. before an exam). However, when we talk about specific sport disciplines (sailing, basketball, volleyball, skating etc.) we need another verb.

JAKI SPORT UPRAWIASZ? WHAT CAN YOU UPRAWIAĆ IN POLISH?
First of all, in Polish we never do sports (nie robimy sportu), but we cultivate / practise it (uprawiamy go). We use the same form when referring to specific disciplines when we want to emphasise that they are present in our lives on a regular basis. Obviously, you can say that you play basketball (gramy w koszykówkę) but if you spend half of your spare time on a basketball court, saying uprawiam koszykówkę (I practise / cultivate basketball) is more adequate (gram w siatkówkę - uprawiam siatkówkę; pływam - uprawiam pływanie; jeżdżę na nartach - uprawiam narciarstwo, żegluję - uprawiam żeglarstwo etc.). In the Polish language you can also uprawiać jogę, pilates, body balance, lekkoatletykę, but also...seks. You can check here for the other contexts in which you can use this verb and for its inflection.

VERBS PRAKTYKOWAĆ AND TRENOWAĆ IN A POLISH LESSON
When talking about sport, foreigners learning Polish ask about the verbs trenować (to train) and praktykować (to practise). Both of these forms are very easy to memorise, they have similarly-sounding equivalents in other languages, and as a consequence, they are particularly commonly used by the foreigners. Well … here is where a problem comes in, since in the Polish language these verbs can be used only in strictly defined contexts. We can trenować do triathlonu, maratonu, trenować boks lub karate – that is intensively practise (ćwiczyć), because the specificity of the sport or the fact that we are (semi) professionals requires it.
In the Polish language we practise (praktykujemy) yoga, Zen, Buddhism or any other religion – this verb thus relates to activities staying rather within the spiritual sphere, it indicates exercise but at the mental level (by saying ćwiczę jogę we concentrate on the aspect of performing physical exercise and not on the spiritual sphere).

                                                 practise your Polish on our FB profile.

In summary, to have a good command of the Polish language it is necessary to dużo ćwiczyć (practise a lot) and here uprawianie sportu (doing / cultivating sports) in a group with Polish colleagues can turn out really helpful. Furthermore, sportowe treningi (sports trainings) should be supported by praktyka medytacji (meditation practice) so that our brains will be ready to absorb a greater amount of knowledge during the Polish language courses.