Janek Kmiec, a former student who has the kindness to keep in touch with me, passed along these Christmas traditions from his Polish heritage. Not surprisingly, a number of them a similar to those from the Ukraine, Poland's neighbor to the east.
Traditions:
- Universal: Buying and decorating the Christmas tree, of course :)
- Polish traditions
- Festivities happen on Christmas Eve, i.e. December 24th
- There is always an empty seat saved at the dinner table. I forget the exact story but basically it is saved for someone who may need a meal and could also use company at Christmas.
- Before eating dinner everyone is given what's called opłatek ("op-wa-tech"), or Christmas wafer. You go around to each person at the table and give each other good wishes.
- For dinner, 12 dishes are served, none of them containing meat. This includes barszcz (borsch), herring marinated in oil, and others.
- After dinner & dessert we open up the presents, which in Poland was a lot less than what is given in Canada (at least back in the day).
- We go to Christmas mass either at midnight or in the morning.
- Family
- We go to a friend's place for caroling, along with other family friends.
- A classic my parents always give are Terry's Chocolate Oranges. My parents explained how oranges were a rare treat when they lived in Poland under the Communist regime. Apparently. they were available very infrequently, e.g. once a year, and you would have to stand in a very long line to get a 1 kg bag. So oranges are a reminder of those times. It's incredible to think how many things we take for granted.
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