The most beautiful celebration in our Christian and national tradition is CHRISTMAS, beginning with Christmas Eve on December 24. Before everyone sits down at the Christmas Eve table, however, preparations must be made for this celebration. Christmas Eve (Wigilia, or wilia) means the day preceding the feast, or more precisely, a night spent keeping vigil in prayer and singing carols until the Midnight Mass, that is, the service celebrated in church at midnight.
On this day, we prepare not only a clean room but also its decorations. We obligatorily change the bed linen and bathe so that we can sit down at the table dressed festively and kindly disposed toward everyone. On this day, one must not quarrel or be at odds with anyone, because, as the folk saying goes: as Christmas Eve is, so the whole year will be; therefore, our souls and bodies must be clean.
We obligatorily cover the Christmas Eve table with a white tablecloth, placing hay underneath it in memory of the manger in which Saint Mary laid the newborn Jesus. A Polish custom is to place the Christmas wafer in a prominent spot among the Christmas Eve dishes. The beautifully decorated Christmas tree is equally important.
In many homes, the rule is observed that the number of people at the table should be even, while the number of dishes should be odd. An empty place and setting are left for a guest. People sit down at the table according to seniority, so that they will die in that order as they grow older. After a prayer said together while standing, the oldest man distributes the Christmas wafers. Mutual greetings begin, accompanied by breaking and eating the wafers.
Before that, however, people fast throughout the entire day of Christmas Eve, and the dishes eaten during the Christmas Eve supper should also be fasting dishes. The most common foods are beetroot soup with mushrooms (uszka dumplings), cabbage with peas, poppy-seed łamańce pastries, fish (carp), groats with honey, compote made from dried plums, and others. The Christmas Eve supper begins—provided the sky is sufficiently clear—from the moment the first star appears in the sky.
After dinner, people begin singing beautiful Polish carols (in recent times—unfortunately—listening to them more often). Some homes also have fortune-telling traditions. People also look for presents under the Christmas tree. There is also a custom that anyone looking for a wife or husband pulls a blade of grass from the hay under the tablecloth: if it is green, it means a wedding soon; if it is yellow or brown, one will have to wait. Unmarried women and men listen for a dog barking: the person closest to their heart will come from that direction.
The host should feed the animals with whatever remains from the supper, for on this day, “at midnight they speak with a human voice.” (In Bolesławiec and the surrounding area, there are many families who came from different regions—I wonder what traditions they have preserved in their homes. It would be good if they wrote about them).
The first day of Christmas is most often spent at home, enjoying the prepared dishes and delicacies and a little alcohol. The second day is devoted to visiting one another, especially among family members. On this day, carol singers with a nativity scene, a Nativity play or a star, and greetings used to visit us. Kolęda also means a visit from a priest accompanied by altar servers.
The Christmas season marks the beginning of carnival, joyful festivities and sleigh rides, followed later by New Year’s Eve and welcoming the New Year.
For me, however, CHRISTMAS EVE will always remain the family-centered, most beautiful Polish and Christian day of the year. Happy Holidays!