Christmas Eve Dinner

My Mother's family came from Poland and I grew up with a lot of Polish holiday and food customs.
I only recall having a full out Polish Christmas Eve dinner a couple of times growing up but it seemed magical to me and even as a young girl I appreciated that sense of a deep connection with ancient times and a rich sense of the Holy Night we were celebrating.

When our children were little Bob and I decided to have as much of a Polish traditional Christmas Eve dinner as we could arrange and we celebrated a morning breakfast with my father in Swedish fashion to honor his heritage. Christmas dinner was celebrated at Bob's parents on alternate years.

Christmas Eve dinner 2017

Polish Christmas Eve dinner is an elaborate affair called Wigilia. We really could not do a true, traditional celebration so we used a lot of creativity to make it our own. The dinner itself consists of 12 separate dishes, one for each month of the year but my Grandmother taught me that is was one dish for each of the Apostles. The dishes are supposed to be meat free but fish is allowed. The fish part is a problem for our family with seafood and fish allergies so we just ignore the main fish course and the herring and make it be any 12 meat free courses we can work out.

The evening meal starts with the children watching for the appearance of the first star of the sky. The star of Bethlehem guiding the wise men to Jesus. We then share the greeting Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia! We listen carefully because the ancient story is that the animals are able to talk on this night of the year as a reward for being there to welcome the baby Jesus at his birth. There should be straw or wheat at the table to make us remember the manger that Jesus was laid in. It was a very ancient belief that the grains needed to me brought in for the celebration of the winter solstice and that those grains would be the promise that the grain would grow again in the spring and the days would once again grow longer. Another important belief was that there should be an empty chair at the table. There is a saying that a guest in the home is God in the home. Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me" (Matthew 25:40, 45) We leave a welcoming spot for a stranger or someone in need.  We also leave that spot to welcome the spirit of our deceased loved ones to be with us and in our minds and our hearts.

wheat berry, poppy seed and honey first course.

The meal itself has many meaningful elements to it.  The first dish is a kind of grain pudding called Kutia which has wheat grains to sustain us, honey to bring us sweetness of life and the poppy seed to bring us spice into our life. Next we serve Borscht which is a beet soup made with a vegetable broth and vegetables.  We have pierogis which we make with several fillings, cheese, sauerkraut and a fruit kind. We have a sauce made of mushrooms and onions we use on the perogies but really it could be a little thicker and served as a second soup or a little thicker as a mushroom stew.We have cheeses, pickles, breads, pickled beets, fried sauerkraut and sometimes a poppy seed cake.

There are songs to sing and gifts to open.   I try to head to Christmas Eve Mass which is called the Shepard's Mass. Midnight Mass is another option but sometimes it is better to get a good sleep and go to church in the morning. When I was a child we would have the big meatless dinner with my Polish uncle and aunt and other relatives and then I could open a package which was always pajamas. We went to Midnight Mass and then Jesus was born and it was Christmas Day! People would come back to our house even though it was one in the morning and my Mother would start all over again with putting out a meal. There was cold meat, breads, cabbage rolls and much more. The adults toasted the day and wished blessings and joy for the New Year. ... and even though I could now open the rest of my presents...  I usually fell asleep.

Wesołych Świąt i szczęśliwego Nowego Roku!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Lot of room for presents!