Everything You ever wanted to know about Poland (part 1)







Everything You ever wanted to know about Poland - (part 7)  Christmas
DID YOU KNOW THAT ... ?
By  Robert Strybel,   Warsaw Correspondent



 




 

 
















*    The high point of Christmas for culturally aware Polish-Americans is not Christmas Day,
but Wigilia (Christmas Eve), when oplatek is shared, traditional meatless delicacies are enjoyed, koledy are sung, and the Pasterka (Shepherds' Mass) is the
crowning touch of the evening. Unlike Anglos and other non-Polonians, Pol-Am kids get to open their presents on the evening of December 24th without having to
wait till the following morning.

* The best and most complete book in English on Wigilia is Father Czeslaw Krysa's 'A Polish Christmas Eve'. Jam-packed with historical glimpses, nostalgic
recollections and Christmas lore as well as customs, recipes, home-made ornaments and much more, it is available at: PAJ Bookstore, 1275 Harlem Road, Buffalo, NY
14206; Internet: http://www.polamjournal.com


* In the olden days Advent, like Lent, lasted 40 days and started in mid-November. St. Martin's Day (Nov. 11) was celebrated as the last outburst of revelry.
Today that period of spiritual preparation is two weeks shorter, and St Andrew's Eve (Nov. 30) is the final fling of pre-Advent merriment.

* The first star to appear in the sky on Christmas Eve is the signal for the festivities to commence. This is good example of how legend and practicality have
long intermingled in Polish tradition: sighting the first star was a job given to the youngest child who stood transfixed at the window and kept out of the way as
last-minute preparations were under way.

* Hungarian-born Saint Queen Jadwiga (Hedwig), canonized by Pope John Paul II during his June 1999 visit to Poland, first introduced Poles to Roraty
(early-morning Advent Mass) and jase3ka (nativity play) which have been an integral part of Polish Christmas celebrations ever since.

* If you need information on Polish Christmas traditions or any other holidays and customs, please phone: the Polish Department of St. Mary's College, Orchard
Lake, Mich. at 1-900-370-POLE (7653).


* In the old American Polonia (late 19th/early 20th centuries), the December gift-giver was referred to more
often as Gwiazdor (Christmas Man) than Swiety Miko3aj. That was because the earliest Polish immigrants came from Prussian-occupied Poland, where a secularized
Weihnachstmann (bearded, robed but unbishop like Christmas gift-giver) was strongly promoted to offset the Polish-style St. Nick.

* To this day, the Christmas season in Poland lasts not only until January 6th (Feast of the Three Kings), but all the way to February 2nd (Candlemas or Feast of
the Purification of the BVM), when the last koledy are sung at church.

* A slice of ordinary rye bread sprinkled with sugar was once a rare Christmas treat to youngsters in the poorest parts of Poland, especially the hard-scrabble
mountain regions of the south.

* The word 'oplatek' (Christmas wafer) is believed to have come from the Latin term 'oblata' which meant an offering or gift. It was also used to denote the
consecrated Host. The two wafers are similar because when we break op3atek we enter into spiritual communion with those we share it with.

* On the forthcoming Feast of the Three Kings, also known as the Epiphany (January 6th), Poles and Polish Americans not ashamed of their heritage will inscribe
the formula K+M+B 2000 over the doorways of their homes with chalk blessed in church. Those are the initials of the Three Kings or Wisemen (in Polish: Kacper,
Melchior and Baltazar) and the current year.

* The basic Christmas vocabulary every Pol-Am should know includes: Boze Narodzenie (Christmas), Gwiazdka (another name for Christmas), Wigilia (Christmas Eve),
oplatek (Christmas wafer), siano (hay), choinka (Christmas tree), koleda (carol), kolednicy (carolers), zlobek (Christmas crib), jaselka (nativity play) and
Herody (humorous skit about the evil King Herod).

* A small, inexpensive but fairly comprehensive book on the traditions of Polish Yuletide is 'Christmas the Polish Way.' It is available for $6 a copy post-paid
from: Youth & Education Department, Polish Union of America, 1004 Pittston Avenue, Scranton, PA 18505.

* Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia (Happy Christmas Holidays), often shortened simply to Wesolych Swiat (Happy Holidays), is the Polish way of saying Merry
Christmas. Often added are the New Year's wishes: ...i szczesliwego Nowego Roku.

* Christmas Eve lore usually has to do with the marital prospects of eligible girls. A ripe, golden blade of hay pulled from under the table-cloth was said to
mean a girl would marry before Ash Wednesday; a green one meant another year of maidenhood, and a withered blade foretold the life of an old maid.

* Apart from herring, the two main Wigilia fish are the szczupak (pike) and karp (carp). The pike's head, if expertly taken apart, contains bones foretelling
Christ's Crucifixion: a cross, ladder, hammer, spear and nails. A scale from the Christmas carp in one's wallet was said to attract money all year long.

* When sending a Christmas card to someone special you won't see in person over Christmas, add a piece of op3atek, from which you have broken off and eaten a
small piece. That way you will have shared op3atek with that person over the miles. If you find it difficult getting oplatek in your area, contact: Christmas
Wafers Bakery, PO Box 99, Lewiston, NY 14092


 

*    In Polish tradition, Christmas is less about presents and more about family togetherness,
forgiving past wrongs and reminiscing about family members that have gone on to their reward; it combines the things most Poles cherish the most: God, country and
family.

* Poles will be cheated out of two free days this year, because Christmas Day falls on a Saturday and the Second Day of Christmas on a Sunday. Both the 25th and
26th are public holidays when they fall during the week. Poles get half a day off on Christmas Eve.

* The melody of that beloved, sweet and gentle lullaby-carol 'Lulajze, Jezuniu' was incorporated by Poland's world-renowned 19th-century composer, Frédéric
Chopin, into one of his scherzos.

* Before the Christmas tree was introduced from Germany, Poles decorated their homes with an evergreen bough (known as sad, pod3aYnik or pod3aYniczka); it was
suspended from the rafters and decorated with nuts, gingerbread, almond confections and fruits as well as home-made ornaments fashioned from paper, straw,
egg-shells and op3atek.
 
* It is traditional to have an additional place-setting at the Wigilia table. It is usually in memory of a
departed family member but may be offered to a wayward traveler, lonely stranger or anyone who would otherwise have to spend the evening in solitude.

* Today it is still common to scatter a handful of hay on the table-top before covering it with a pure-white table-cloth for Wigilia supper. Some families only
place a small ribbon-tied bunch of hay on the plate with the op3atek. In the olden days, peasants used to scatter straw on the floor, tie the table legs with
straw and stand sheaves of unthreshed grain in all four corners of the room.

* If you have drifted away from yours Polish heritage, perhaps this is the year to enrich your family's holiday celebrations with the real thing. For information
on how to go about it, ask around in your Pol-Am club, parish or neighborhood. Or read up on your Christmas heritage (see following entry).

* A leading source of Polish Christmas-related books, recordings, crafts, decorations, gift items and delicacies is the following mail-order firm: The Polish Art
Center, 9539 Joseph Campau Avenue, Hamtramck, MI 48212; phone: [phone]; fax: [phone]; Internet: http://www.polartcenter.com

* Polish-style caroling involves masqueraders, with an Angel, Devil, Grim Reaper and King Herod regarded as the core group. A large pole-mounted star and/or a
Christmas crib (sometimes in the form of a puppet stage) were carried by the revelers. Other characters include the Three Kings, a soldier, Gypsy, Jewish merchant
and, in the Krakow area, also a Lajkonik (Tartar horseman).

* Another form of Christmas house-to-house masquerading is the customs known as Stare Jozefy (Old Josephs). Usually farm hands attach beards made of hemp, don
sheepskin jackets fleece-side-out and travel through the village supported by long staffs. In a manner somewhat reminiscent of St. Nicholas, they ask kids if they
have been behaving, but mostly they enjoy frightening youngsters and ask the head of the household for treats.

* In the olden days, kutia or kucja, a Christmas Eve wheat-grain dessert flavored with honey, nuts and poppyseeds, had a ritual significance. Spoonfuls of the
sticky pudding were flung at the ceiling. The more that stuck, the better luck and prosperity the household was believed to enjoy the following year. That is the
name given to the priest's house-to-house pastoral visits which begin after the Feast of the Three Kings. The priest visits parishioners, prays with the family,
blesses the home, updates the parish records and receives a koleda (free-will offering) from the family.

* Krakow in early December is the scene of a unique creche-making contest. The Krakow Creche (szopka krakowska) resembles a magnificent cathedral and is fashioned
from cardboard and/or plywood and decorated with shimmering multi-colored foil. Chicago's Polish Museum of America has done much to popularize the szopka
krakowska which may range from several inches to more than 10 feet in size.

* St. Stephen's Day, or the Second day of Christmas (Dec. 26), is also a legal holiday in Poland. In churches parishioners bring oats to church to be blessed and
threw them at the priest and one another to commemorate the stoning of St. Stephen the martyr.

* To Poles, Wigilia (Christmas Eve) is not only the single most important day of the Christmas season but of the entire year. Emergency workers (policemen,
firemen, medical staff, etc.), who have to work over Christmas, gladly work on December 25th, if only to be with their loved ones on the 24th.

* The Polish Christmas season stretches all the way from the start of Advent (late November/early December) to Candlemas (Matki Boskiej Gromniczna) celebrated on
February 2nd. The gromnica (lightning-bolt candle) is a tall beeswax candle that was lighted during thunderstorms as well as at the bedside of the seriously ill
and dying. In Polish folk culture, the Blessed Mother's candle was also believed to ward off wolves as seen in the accompanying drawing.

part 8 






















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