MINI-GLOSSARY OF POLISH CHRISTMAS TERMS

We have asked our friends and students to tell us what they associate Christmas with. And we have received many answers: family, fireplace, gifts, snow, Christmas tree, gourmet food. There are various associations and experiences, and we have already written about Christmas (check here) and about Christmas Eve traditions (check here). This year we have compiled a small (and subjective) glossary of Christmas terms so that you can show you knowledge in your Polish classes or at your family gatherings.

CHOINKA,
a Christmas tree, which should traditionally be decorated on Christmas Eve morning, i.e. 24th December. However, these days the tradition is hardly ever maintained and we can enjoy the sparkling lights and beautiful decorations as early as 2 weeks before Christmas. Choinka can be kept in the house until 2nd January, which foreigners usually find surprising.

                                         check here for more interesting facts about Polish

OPŁATEK,
Christmas wafer, which is thin, white flatbread made without any yeast, symbolises friendship, love and forgiveness. We start the Christmas Eve supper by sharing it and wishing each other all the best.

SIANKO,
hay, a bundle of which is symbolically put under the tablecloth on the table on Christmas Eve to commemorate the birth of Jesus in the stable of Bethlehem.

TALERZ,
a plate, not an ordinary one but an empty one, symbolically awaiting an unexpected guest. This custom refers to the fact that Mary and Joseph were looking for shelter the night Jesus was born.

ŚLEDŹ,
herring, the fish that simply has to be served during the Christmas Eve supper. It may be savory or sweet, served in wine or spices, with sour cream or simply with oil. It’s always delicious and healthy

.                                                       to make (robić ) Christmas herring

KUTIA,
or kutya, a Christmas Eve culinary masterpiece, popular in Eastern Poland, Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania. It’s a sweet dessert made with wheat (or pęczak, a type of pearl barely), honey, poppy seed, walnuts, raisins and almonds. It’s goes very well with strong black tea.

KOMPOT Z SUSZU,
dried fruit compote, has smoky flavour and is good for your digestion. It is served at the end of the Christmas Eve supper and is very nutritious, it is also an excellent alternative to fresh seasonal fruit, the lack of which we feel at this time of year. It is made with dried fruit, such as prunes, apples, apricots, pears, figs and raisins. And it tastes even better when we add some cinnamon, cloves, lemon zest, ginger and nutmeg to it. Delicious!

                                    to make (robić), to prepare (przygotować )dried fruit compote


PASTERKA,
starting at midnight between 24th and 25th December,  is a special mass commemorating the time when the shepherds waited for Jesus to be born. It is also one of the first ocassions to kolędowanie, i.e. singing Christmas carols. And then? Then we slowly walk back home with snow crunching under our feet... If there is snow, of course...

With or without snow; spent in Poland or abroad; with herring and kutia, or without these traditional Christmas Eve dishes, we wish you all Merry Christmas!

                                          WESOŁYCH ŚWIĄT!

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

CHRISTMAS IN TRADITIONAL POLISH STYLE

POLISH CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION 

Christmas is a time everyone always looks forward to and anticipates. And Christmas celebrated in „Polish style“ is shrouded in myth and legend among foreigners. There are stories of tables groaning with food, multi-generational family reunions and beautiful Polish Christmas carols sung by whole families. It is not surprising, since Polish Christmas celebration traditions are not only rich, but also simply beautiful.

SPARE PLATE ON POLISH TABLE

In Poland the celebration begins with the Christmas Eve supper (kolacja wigilijna). It’s a time of joyful anticipation. Everything must be very well prepared and, as the Polish nicely put it, „zapięte na ostatni guzik“ (buttoned up).
First, we decorate the Christmas tree, then we lay the table. We often put a bundle of hay under the white tablecoth, which is a reminder of a manger where Jesus was born. There is always one place-setting more than there are guests who will be sitting at the table. The spare plate is meant for a „weary wanderer“, a traveller who might knock on the door on that night. The Polish tradition refers to the search for a place to spend the night by Mary and Joseph and says that on the Christmas Eve night everyone should let in an unexpected guest if one stands at their door.

                                                    What do you call a Christmas tree in Polish?

                                                         Other riddles refering to the Polish language you can find here

TWELVE DISHES FOR THE CHIRSTMAS EVE SUPPER

Nowadays, you can find twelve dishes (the number refers to twelve apostles and twelve months), but it wasn’t always like that. In the old days nine dishes were served at mansions of nobility and eleven at mansions of magnates. The odd number was believed to bring prosperity and abundance to the household in the upcoming year. The dishes served on Christmas Eve vary from region to region, however, they should always contain all the fruits of the earth, coming from the fields, woods, gardens and water. Therefore, traditional dishes are made with poppy seeds, grains of cereals, cabbage, mushrooms, honey, fruit and fish. Poppy seeds and cereals would provide wealth and offspring, fish would provide health, cabbage would give people strengh and vitality, mushrooms – prosperity and good fortune, honey – well-being and long life, and fruit – love and harmony. If you have a lesson on Christmas in your Polish class, you’ll find out that there’s no Christmas without barszcz z uszkami (beetroot soup with ravioli), pierogi z kapustą i grzybami (dumplings filled with cabbage and cooked dried mushrooms), śledź (herring), karp (carp), or kompot z suszonych owoców (dried fruit compote). There must be makowiec (poppy seed cake), piernik (gingerbread), babka drożdżowa (yeast cake) and kutia (sweet grain pudding).
The Christmas Eve supper doesn’t begin until the appearance of the first star in the sky. Before we sit at the table and start feasting we share opłatek (wafer) and wish each other good fortune and happiness, since Christmas is a time of forgiving and reconciling.

WHO BRINGS POLISH CHILDREN GIFTS?

After the supper many Poles sing Christmas carols. That is also a moment when Święty Mikołaj (Saint Nicolas), Gwiazdor (in Wielkopolska, Kujawy, Kaszuby and Western Pomerania), Aniołek (in Małopolska), or Dzieciątko Jezus (Child Jesus, as they call him in Upper Silesia) bring gifts.
At midnight whole families attend Pasterka, the Midnight Mass at the local church, which takes its name after pasterze (shepherds), who were the first ones to welcome the newly born Jesus. That is the night when everyone enjoys the beginning of Christmas.

                      You’ll learn in our courses of Polish for foreigners how to wish someone a Merry Christmas