Polish Christmas Eve Abroad

Posted by: Anna Ikeda

So, have been naughty or nice? Did Święty Mikołaj bring you anything exciting? What? Don’t tell me that you forgot about Mikołajki (6 grudnia – December 6th).

I wrote about Mikołajki last year, and I’m sure you remember that I think it’s a totally unnecessary tradition. I would much rather hold off for a bigger and better present on Christmas.

And how is your writing of Christmas cards (pisanie kartek świątecznych) coming along? I’m very proud to say that I only have a couple left to send out. And after that’s done, I’ll finally have enough time to sit and ponder how I’m going to throw a traditional Polish Wigilia (Christmas Eve dinner) in this foreign land.

And actually, I have a question for those of you with Polish spouses: how do you celebrate Christmas? Do you do it the Polish way? Or the “foreign” way? Or a combination of both, perhaps?

Do you do the whole Wigilia bit with 12 different dishes and hay under the tablecloth? With opłatek and gifts on the 24th?

Barszcz – one of the traditional Christmas Eve dishes.

I am asking because this year I was drafted to prepare tradycyjne polskie święta – a traditional Polish Christmas. And frankly, I’m worried. Very worried. My utter lack of culinary skills combined with the utter lack of Polish products here is a very bad combination. So your suggestions regarding how I can solve this problem will be much appreciated.

And descriptions of your traditional polskie święta na obczyźnie (Polish Christmas in foreign lands) will be very helpful as well.

So please, don’t be shy and do share! I’m sure we all can learn something new and interesting from each other.

Post from: Polish Blog

Posted by: Anna Ikeda

Tags: Christmas, christmas eve, culture, wigilia