Christmas Eve Polish style Wigilia

Christmas Eve Polish style Wigilia

(Polish pronunciation: [viˈɡilja])

Here I go again. It will be about Poland. As Christmas is coming my thoughts go back to Poland more often than normally. It all links to old days which left their stamp on me. I like best my memories related to Wigilia.

For Poles, wherever they are, the most beloved and beautiful of all traditional festivities is that of Christmas Eve. It is then that the Wigilia, or Christmas Eve Dinner is served. It is a solemnly celebrated occasion and arouses deep feelings of kinship among family members.

For days in advance, Poles prepare the traditional foods and everyone anxiously awaits the moment when the first star, known as the Gwiazdka, appears in the eastern sky. For that is when the feast to commemorate the birth of the Christ Child begins.

There is always a thin layer of hay under the white tablecloth in memory of the Godchild in the manger (no idea where I could find hay in Sydney, now that I missed my lawn mowing opportunity). Before sitting down at the table, everyone breaks the traditional wafer (Oplatek) and exchanges good wishes for health, wealth and happiness in the New Year. This is such a deeply moving moment that often tears of love and joy are evoked from the family members who are breaking this symbolic bread. The Oplatek is a thin, unleavened wafer similar to the altar bread in the Roman Catholic Church. It is stamped with the figures of the Godchild, the blessed Mary, and the holy angels. The wafer is known as the bread of love and is often sent by mail to the absent members of the family. This is a beautiful form of symbolic sharing.

The dinner itself differs from other evening meals in that the number of courses is fixed at seven, nine or twelve. According to myth, in no case must there be an odd number of people at the table, otherwise it is said that some of the feasters would not live to see another Christmas. A lit candles placed in the windows symbolise the hope that the Godchild, in the form of a stranger, may come to share the Wigilia and an extra place is set at the table for the unexpected guest. This belief stems from the ancient Polish adage, "A guest at home is God at home."

The Wigilia is a meatless meal, no doubt the result of a long-time Church mandate that a strict fast and abstinence be observed on this day before Christmas. Although the Church laws have been revised and permit meat to be eaten on this day, my Wigilia  meal remains meatless. Items that would normally be included in a traditional Wigilia menu include mushroom soup or borscht, boiled potatoes, pickled herring (sledzie), fried fish, pierogi, beans and sauerkraut, a dried fruit compote, assorted pastries, nuts and candies.

After the meal the members of the family sing Polish Christmas Carols called koledy while the children wait impatiently around the Christmas tree (choinka) for the gifts to be exchanged.

Christmas tree in a Polish home

My last year’s Wigilia was very traditional and prepared jointly with my Australian friends. There are various opinions how many dishes should be served at Wigilia.   I adopted the versions of 12 apostles, 12 months in the year so there were 12 dishes. It was definitely an indecent  way of overeating.

Cold dishes

1.      Herring with onion in oil – Vodka – Żubrówka

2.      White fish in aspic

3.     Vegetable and potatoes  salad

Warm dishes

4.      Borscht

5.      Pierogi (Polish ravioli) with sauerkraut and mushrooms

6.      Sauerkraut with split pea and mushrooms

7.      Poached Salmon

8.      Baked Potatoes

9.      Vegetables with Polish dressing of bread crumbs and butter

Deserts

10.  Piernik – Spice/Ginger cake

11.  Makowiec - Poppy seed cake

12.  Dry fruit and spices compote