Christmas in Poland

This is a family day and most important day of Christmas Eve Supper. People rarely go to work, but shops are closed. Everybody is preparing 12 dishes almost all day. When the first star appears on the sky, the supper starts. People share wafer each other and wish all the best., Christmas Eve is also widely celebrated. Oh, what a special time of the year! The snow outside, the smell of the Christmas tree permeating the house, the aromas of cooking, the happiness experienced like at no other time.
The impatience of children waiting for St. Nicholas visit, the joyful expectancy of Christmas by the adults. The feelings and sentiments of the season are probably much the same all over the Christian world - even if one is not religious. It is a time of family gatherings, of presents given and received, of good will truly present in people\'s hearts. The customs and traditions of Christmas are different, however, in different countries.
No Christmas decorations yet, no parties at work or for friends, no Christmas carols blaring in every store even though there is more bustle there with people shopping for the holiday. Only a few days before Christmas do the preparations begin, with mothers cooking and baking, cleaning the houses, and fathers and the children going out to buy the most beautiful tree. Hopefully it has snowed by now and the world outside has been transformed into a winter wonderland. But even without snow the unmistakable atmosphere of anticipation remains.
When Christmas Eve dawns, the children and the adults know the holidays have started. It is the day to decorate the Christmas tree and the day of the Christmas Eve Supper, a special supper eaten that night which is the most important meal in a Polish family in the year. Most people fast that day until dark.
The children will be looking out for the first star and when they see it, the family gathers around the Christmas Eve Supper table which has been beautifully set with the best china and an immaculately white tablecloth under which a handful of hay has been placed, commemorating the birth of Jesus in a manger. There is an additional place setting for \"a traveler\" if the family is complete for the holidays, or as a symbol of a missing member. The place setting will stay untouched through the evening, reminding everyone present that not everybody has the good fortune to be with their loved ones on this special night.
In a prominent place on the table the wafer - very thin white wafers - are waiting for the father to start the meal. Someone at the table will read from the Bible the account of the birth of Jesus; next, the father will pick up an wafer and go around the table, sharing it with everyone present and wishing them health and happiness. And then the feasting begins. The foods eaten on that night are very special. While there are regional differences of course, one thing is common. There will be no meat yet, until the following day.
Tradition demands 12 different kinds of food, possibly for the number of the apostles or the number of months in a year. The first course is mushroom soup or clear beet soup with ravioli-like pasta filled with forest mushrooms. The main course will be fish: fried, baked and marinated. The herring in oil or cream will be very popular. Mushrooms will figure prominently in the menu – dumpling with mushrooms, sauerkraut with mushrooms, fried, stewed or marinated mushrooms. The dessert will feature gingerbread cookies, sugar cookies and poppy seed cake . At midnight, the little ones are put to bed and the elders attend \"Pasterka\" .25th and 26th December
People rarely go to work, but shops are closed. There is no meal and the presents are not open. People go to the church for special mass. It’s good time to visit your family.