To this day, the Polish Christmas Eve is still characterized by an emotional anticipation of the feast of the Nativity and a unique family celebration. The miraculousness of the day and night of Christmas Eve was reflected in numerous beliefs, which have been preserved especially in folk tradition.
It used to be believed that on Christmas Eve night the earth opens up and reveals its treasures, that even the heaviest boulders move, that ferns bloom in the forest, grass and flowers come to life under the snow, and trees in orchards begin to bloom and immediately bear fruit. It was also believed that all forest animals and bees in beehives wake up from their winter torpor and leave their lairs to celebrate the Nativity together. According to these beliefs, on this unusual evening all animals communicated with each other in a human voice, and the cattle, which centuries ago were present at the birth of Christ, knelt at their mangers for a while at midnight. Water in wells turned into honey or wine, while in rivers and streams it turned into liquid gold or silver. According to legends and legends, all these miracles could only be experienced by people without the slightest blemish or sin, with righteous character and indomitable courage.
There was a belief that the souls of the dead on this special evening could leave the hereafter and visit the homes of their loved ones. It was necessary, therefore, to blow on the chairs before sitting on them and whisper apologies to the soul that may be resting on this very equipment at that time. In order not to injure or offend possible guests from the hereafter, on Christmas Eve it was forbidden to spit on the floor, spill dishwater, chop wood, use sharp tools, sew and spin. An extra place setting was prepared on the festive table for the departed souls, on which leftover dishes from the Christmas Eve supper and scraps of the wafer were left. A few drops of vodka were poured on the floor or a glass of alcohol was left on the window sill overnight.
In the past, the course of the day and night on Christmas Eve was believed to have a decisive influence on what the entire coming year would be like. Quarrels and complaints were therefore forbidden. All debts had to be settled and misunderstandings cleared up. The preserved scales of the Christmas Eve carp were supposed to ensure prosperity in the coming new year. Brides-to-be would pull stalks of hay from under the tablecloth - green - guaranteed a quick wedding, yellow - old age. They also listened to which side the dog was barking, because it was from this direction that their future husband was to come. On Christmas Eve morning, the first person to enter the house should be a man - it augurs good health. The entrance of a woman could bring illness to the family. Cloudy skies augured marriage for old maidens and the rich, and clear skies for the young and poor.
Christmas Eve day was mainly spent preparing for the evening dinner. During the first half of the day, all livestock and farm work had to be completed. The chambers were festively decorated, usually with sheaves of grain, straw and grains. Sometimes a butler and a scone were placed at the table, into which a piece of each cattle dish was set aside. All of this was to ensure an abundance of food, a good harvest and a healthy and numerous offspring of animals. For the sake of future abundance and fertility, the table was bound with thick ropes or chains "so that the bread would stick to the house," while sharp tools were placed under it so that moles and other pests "would not spoil the land."
Before the Christmas tree appeared in homes during the Christmas season (which became widespread in the Polish lands in the 19th century), the traditional Christmas decoration was a tree plant. It consisted of pine branches, the top of a fir or spruce tree, and sometimes a small Christmas tree, decorated with apples (a symbol of health, beauty and vitality), nuts (a symbol of strength, health and an effective aphrodisiac), cookies, colorful tissue paper and ribbons. Straw and grains used to sprinkle on the tree planters and make ornaments were meant to symbolize the fertility of plants and abundance of grain in the coming year, the paper chain was associated with enslavement by sin, and the Christmas tree lighting was meant to point to Christ, who came into the world as a "light to enlighten the Gentiles."
Very characteristic and typically Polish elements of Christmas decorations were wafer ornaments. They were characterized by a great variety of forms and designs. Particularly noteworthy are the spatial forms called worlds, appearing in the form of spheres, hemispheres, ellipses, cylinders or other fanciful and colorful solids. They were used to decorate ceiling beams, hung over festive tables or home altars. They were also the most important decoration of the Christmas tree planters and the first Christmas trees. The inspiration for these forms was presumably church art, sculptures and paintings in which Christ holds the "world" in his hand - a symbol of his power and dominion. The wafer ornaments were also characterized by a certain symbolism. This is because they were supposed to protect household members from disease and all evil, ensure prosperity, peace, love and harmony.
The most important moment of Christmas Eve day was the solemn family Lenten supper, which began with the appearance of the first star in the sky. It was preceded by the extremely moving and typically Polish custom of sharing a wafer - a symbol of bread, peace, reconciliation, forgiveness, love and fidelity. It was attributed with a variety of unusual properties. Its mere presence in the house was supposed to ensure prosperity, peace and God's blessing, protect the building from lightning strikes, fire and other misfortunes. It was also believed that if someone lost in the woods remembered with whom he had broken the wafer, he would quickly find the right path. A crumb of the wafer thrown into the well was supposed to purify the water, and provide health and strength to the people and animals who drank it.
The Christmas Eve menu, always fasting, consisted of a large, customary number of dishes and depended on the degree of affluence and regional and family traditions. Thus, for example, in many regions the supper consisted of 12 dishes, in honor of the 12 apostles and the 12 seasons. It was also common to prepare a dinner with an odd number of dishes, which was considered lucky. In the Borderlands, the table could not miss kutia made from wheat or groats with honey, poppy seeds and nuts, almond soup, borscht with ravioli, fish soup with pullets or mushroom soup with łazanka. Pike in gray sauce, perch or zander with eggs, fried carp, cold carp and oatmeal kisiel were also common. There was also poppy seed strucla and gingerbread. In the northern parts of Podlasie, the characteristic Christmas Eve dish was łamańce. Highlanders ate sour soup, borscht, cabbage with peas and noodles with poppy seeds on Christmas Eve, and in Pomerania beet borscht with mushroom dumplings or dumplings with mushroom filling. Some homes served dried fruit soup, fasting cabbage, herring in cream, fish or herring salad, stuffed carp, carp in butter, flounder in jelly, and for dessert, poppy seed cake, gingerbread and iced small gingerbread cookies. The Christmas Eve menu was subject to constant change. Some dishes specific to a particular region also appeared in other areas, carried over by people changing their place of residence. An example is kutia, a dish served in the Eastern Borderlands, which is now eaten in many other regions of our country. An old Polish Christmas Eve, remembered from the family home, was described by Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz: "Christmas Eve was a great celebration. From dawn the household servants went out to fish. (...) On that day, dinner was the same throughout Poland. Three soups, almond soup with raisins, borscht with ravioli, mushrooms and herring, cous cous for the servants, disks with horseradish, carp for topping, pike with saffron, pancakes with poppy seeds and honey, perch with chopped eggs and oil, and so on. The tablecloth necessarily had to be draped in hay; in the four corners of the dining room stood sheaves of some unthreshed grain. The first star was impatiently waited for; when it shone, the guests and children gathered, the parents went out with the wafer on the plate, and each of those present, taking the wafer, went around all those gathered, even the servants, and, breaking it, repeated the words: may we break it with each other for next year."
It was not only the Christmas Eve dishes that were special on this day. People's behavior during this festive communal meal was also unique. First of all, it was considered that an even number of people should sit at the table, otherwise it was possible that one of the household members would die during the coming year. Seats were taken according to seniority, in order to depart from this world in that order as well. Every dish had to be tasted at the very least to ensure an abundance of food in the coming year. Almost all over Poland, and especially in the countryside, dishes were eaten from a common dish, as a sign of unity and togetherness among household members, sometimes in complete silence, referring to the old All Souls' feasts. Over time, the custom was relaxed, but an effort was made to maintain peace and solemnity during the meal.
For the sake of health and abundance of food in the coming year, spoons were not to be placed on the table until the supper was over; if necessary, they were held in the teeth. It was also forbidden to get up from the table until everyone had finished eating, so that the chickens would not be lost, and there would be no shortage of food to preserve health and life. After finishing the meal, one had to visit the barn, stable, hen house and orchard. The table was not cleaned so that the leftover food could be eaten by the visiting souls of the dead.
After Christmas Eve supper, it was time to sing carols and give gifts. Children received apples, gingerbread, nuts and other humble treats from St. Nicholas, St. Joseph or the Infant Jesus. In the courts of the nobility or among the wealthy bourgeoisie, joint gift-giving was more common, and the gifts given were also more valuable.
In some regions of our country, mainly in western and northern Poland already on Christmas Eve evening, after supper the house was visited by disguised men. In Pomerania and Greater Poland these were the Star Makers, in Warmia the Shemiel came to the houses, and in Silesia the shepherds or Joseph with the Child.
Before going to the Midnight Mass, with which this extraordinary day ended, the customary ablutions were still performed, for health, well-being and beauty. For on Christmas Eve night, water was said to acquire miraculous power, so in the Foothills and Podhale young girls poured water from a well or stream over the legs of all household members, so that they could walk smoothly throughout the year. At midnight, everyone went to church for the Midnight Mass.
Text: Joanna Radziewicz
Photo: polona.pl - public domain
Sources:
1. Kamocki, J.: Polish ritual year. Kraków : "Universitas", 2008.
2. Ogrodowska, B.: Święta polskie : tradition and custom. 2nd ed. Warsaw : "Alfa", 2000.
3. Jackowski, A.: Polska sztuka ludowa . Warsaw : Wydaw.Nauk. PWN, 2007.
4. Ferenc, E.: Polish Christmas traditions. Poznan : Wydawnictwo Święty Wojciech, 2010.
