Christmas in Poland

In Poland, Advent is an important season in which special church services known as 'Rororaty' are held every morning at 6 am. The four Sundays of the holy month of Advent symbolize 4000 years of waiting for Christ. In Christmas Eve, there is a Polish superstition that if bees wax is poured on water, emerging shapes and forms can predict your future. People bake special Christmas honey cake as a custom known as Piernik. Pierniki can be made in variety of shapes and forms such as hearts, animals and St. Nicholas figures. Polish people also love to make handmade Christmas decorations during Advent that include Pajaki or spiders, stars and decorated eggshells.

Christmas trees are decorated with shiny apples, gifts, walnuts, wrapped chocolates in different shapes, homemade decorations and candles and are kept outside homes and churches. At the top of the tree, is a sparkling Christmas ornament, usually a star. Sparklers are hung on the branches of the tree to make it look heavenly. Sometimes, Christmas trees stand as late as 2nd of February, the feast day of St Mary of the Candle of Lightning. Gwiadorze or star carriers go from door to door during the Advent season until Epiphany. They sing carols, recite verses, perform puppet shows known as Szopi and put up Nativity scenes known as Herody. The customs of Szopi and Herody evolved from traditional manger scenes and Jaselka or crib.

The highlight of Christmas celebrations in Poland is the Christmas Eve known as Wagilia. The traditional Christmas dish in Poland is 'Oplatek', a piece of bread pressed with a holy picture on the surface. People carry it from house to house and share it with their family members, friends and immediate neighbors and wish them a Merry Christmas. Each person who shares the bread is supposed to forgive everything that may have hurt them in the past year, befriend the person once again and wish the person all the happiness in the coming year.