Wigilia () is the traditional

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...

vigil supper in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, held on December 24. The term is often applied to the whole of Christmas Eve, extending further to

Pasterka Pasterka is a Midnight Mass#Time of celebration of Mass, midnight mass celebrated by Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholics Christmas in Poland, during Christmas between December 24 and 25 Religion in Poland, across Poland. A close translation o ...

— midnight Mass, held in Roman Catholic churches all over

and in Polish communities worldwide at or before midnight. The custom is sometimes referred to as "wieczerza" or "wieczerza wigilijna", in

Old Polish The Old Polish language ( pl, język staropolski, staropolszczyzna) was a period in the history of the Polish language between the 10th and the 16th centuries. It was followed by the Middle Polish language. The sources for the study of the Old ...

meaning evening repast, linked to the late church service, ''

Vespers Vespers is a service of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic (both Latin liturgical rites, Latin and Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern), Lutheranism, Lutheran, and Anglican ...

'' from the ''Latin''. The word ''Wigilia'' derives from the Latin ''

vigil A vigil, from the Latin ''vigilia'' meaning ''wakefulness'' (Greek: ''pannychis'', or ''agrypnia'' ), is a period of purposeful sleeplessness, an occasion for devotional watching, or an observance. The Italian word ''vigilia'' has become genera ...

''. The associated feasting follows a day of abstinence and traditionally begins once the First Star has been sighted.

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

is also sometimes called "''Gwiazdka''", "little star".

Traditions and customs

Children usually decorate the

Christmas tree A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas. The custom was further developed in early modern ...

. Sometimes a handful of

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticated ...

is placed under the tablecloth of the dining table to symbolise

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

's birth in a manger. One old tradition states that when children playfully remove a piece of straw from under the tablecloth, its colour has meaning: Green indicates wealth or possibly a marriage, while black foretells bad luck for the year. Another tradition is to make an extra place-setting for the "unexpected guest", to celebrate hospitality. The feast begins with saying grace, breaking the ''

opłatek Christmas wafer ( pl, opłatek, plural ; lt, kalėdaitis, plural ; , plural ) is a Catholic Christmas tradition celebrated in Poland, Lithuania, and Slovakia. The custom is traditionally observed during '' Kūčios'' in Lithuania and ''Wigilia'' ...

'' Christmas wafer to symbolize the gift of daily bread, and wishing each other blessings for the coming year. In the country, it was customary to share a special (pink) wafer with livestock and dogs and cats as the animals of the household were to be treated with special reverence on that day, in honour of the animals in the Bethlehem stable. There was a belief that at midnight they were granted the power of human speech.

The Wigilia supper

A Christmas Eve dinner excludes meat, as

abstinence Abstinence is a self-enforced restraint from indulging in bodily activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure. Most frequently, the term refers to sexual abstinence, but it can also mean abstinence from alcohol, drugs, food, etc. ...

is required, and should comprise twelve distinct dishes in memory of the twelve Apostles. It begins with a soup, either borscht with

uszka Uszka or vushka (Polish: Uszka, Ukrainian: Вушка, Belarusian: Вушкі) (meaning "little ears") are small dumplings (a very small and twisted version of pierogi) usually filled with flavoursome wild forest mushrooms and/or minced meat. T ...

(tortellini), or wild mushroom consommé (grzybowa), followed by herring in different forms. Fish provides the main dish of the Christmas Eve feast across Poland. There are variations of

carp Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. While carp is consumed in many parts of the world, they are generally considered an invasive species in parts of ...

fillet, carp in aspic, gefilte fish (Jewish-style carp), sweet with onions, carrots, almonds and raisins. Accompaniments consist of cabbage, cooked red or

sauerkraut Sauerkraut (; , "sour cabbage") is finely cut raw cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria. It has a long shelf life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid formed when the bacteria ferme ...

with apple salad. The bread served at the meal is often challah, doubtless borrowed from Poland's centuries-long Jewish fellow countrymen. Then there is an array of desserts, including dried fruit compote, followed by cake:

poppy seed Poppy seed is an oilseed obtained from the opium poppy (''Papaver somniferum''). The tiny, kidney-shaped seeds have been harvested from dried seed pods by various civilizations for thousands of years. It is still widely used in many countries, ...

cakes, '' babka'', '' makowiec'', and other sweets including edible Christmas ornaments. Regional variants include ''

żurek In West Slavic countries, as well as in Belarus, fermented cereals, such as rye, wheat, or oatmeal, are used to make soups. In Poland and parts of Belarus, rye is traditional for making żur; a variant made with wheat flour instead of rye is know ...

'' sour rye soup, '' siemieniotka'' (in Silesia),

pierogi Pierogi are filled dumplings made by wrapping unleavened dough around a savory or sweet filling and cooking in boiling water. They are often pan-fried before serving. Pierogi or their varieties are associated with the cuisines of Central, Easter ...

filled with cheese and potatoes as well mushrooms and cabbage, stuffed cabbage with mushrooms and rice, '' gołąbki'' (cabbage rolls), ''

kluski Kluski (singular: ''klusek'' or ''kluska''; from German ''Klöße'') is a generic Polish name for all kinds of soft, mushy dumplings, usually without a filling. At times the word also refers to noodles and pasta as well, especially when they ar ...

'' with poppyseed, and ''makówki'' (in Silesia). There is in places a belief that whatever happens on Wigilia affects the incoming year; if a quarrel should arise, it foretells a quarrelsome and troublesome year.

The Shepherd's mass

Some families as well as individual worshippers attend the traditional midnight mass/Shepherd's Mass (''

pasterka Pasterka is a Midnight Mass#Time of celebration of Mass, midnight mass celebrated by Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholics Christmas in Poland, during Christmas between December 24 and 25 Religion in Poland, across Poland. A close translation o ...

''), where

Christmas carol A Christmas carol is a carol (a song or hymn) on the theme of Christmas, traditionally sung at Christmas itself or during the surrounding Christmas holiday season. The term noel has sometimes been used, especially for carols of French ori ...

s are also sung. A major part of the Wigilia festivities is the opening of gifts. After everyone has finished supper the children often open their gifts and hand out the gifts for the adults from under the tree. The gift-givers in Polish tradition are "Święty Mikołaj" (Saint Nicolas), " Aniołek", an angel, "Gwiazdka", a star – Saint Nicholas' feminine counterpart – or the Gwiazdor (masculine), which is either a pagan tradition or represents the little Star of Bethlehem.

Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra, ; la, Sanctus Nicolaus (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (; modern-da ...

traditionally used to bring gifts on December 6. This varies and in some families Saint Nicholas brings presents both on the 6th and at Christmas.

The Christmas breakfast

Christmas Day is a national holiday in Poland and most Poles spend the day with their family. After Wigilia there are two more days of celebrations. Christmas breakfast often consists of scrambled eggs, cold cuts served with horseradish sauce, smoked or fried salmon, marinated salads, and cakes, especially, pierniki Toruńskie (a

gingerbread Gingerbread refers to a broad category of baked goods, typically flavored with ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon and sweetened with honey, sugar, or molasses. Gingerbread foods vary, ranging from a moist loaf cake to forms nearly as crisp as ...

), cake, and decorated biscuits.

Gallery

04550 Christmas wafer, PL 2010.JPG, Christmas wafer ''

'' symbolizing bread Barszcz z uszkami1.jpg,

Barszcz Borscht () is a sour soup common in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. In English, the word "borscht" is most often associated with the soup's variant of Ukrainian origin, made with red beetroots as one of the main ingredients, which giv ...

'' with ''

'', one of the traditional Wigilia entrées 04452 Rollmops.jpg,

Rollmops Rollmops () are pickled herring fillets, rolled into a cylindrical shape, often around a savoury filling. Presentation The filling usually consists of onion, sliced pickled gherkin, or green olive with pimento. Rollmops are often skewered wit ...

, fish commonly served at Wigilia, important as a non-red-meat offering Stol wigilijny.JPG, Wigilia table setting around Kashubia region

References

External links

The 12 Dishes of Polish Christmas
on Culture.pl
Wigilia article from the Polish Museum of America
{{Christmas Christmas meals and feasts Polish traditions Christmas in Poland Dining events Slavic holidays pl:Wigilia Bożego Narodzenia