Our Wigilia

Wigilia is the traditional Christmas Eve vigil supper in Poland, held on December 24. We were ecstatic to have the Jacobsons and Chelsea join us in celebration as we attempted our very own Polish Wigilia!

The Opłatek
We began with the breaking of the opłatek. Before dinner, each of us greeted the others individually and offered a piece of our opłatek along with warm wishes for the season and year to come.

The Twelve Dishes
Twelve different dishes were served symbolizing the Twelve Apostles, many of which were traditional Polish Christmas recipes or other Polish favorites. A true Polish Wigilia is meatless aside from the fish; however we strayed a little from this rule.

1/ Barszcz czerwony z uszkami (Red borscht with dumplings)

2/ Zupa grzybowa (Mushroom soup)

3/ Kasza z grzybami (Buckwheat with mushrooms)

4/ Kapusta z fasolą (Sauerkraut with white beans)

5/ Green beans

6/ Pierogi (Polish dumplings)

7/ Gołąbki (Cabbage rolls with minced meat)

8/ Roasted duck

9/ Pan-fried carp

10/ Piernik (Chocolate and nut-covered gingerbread)

11/ Makowiec (Poppy seed rolled cake)

12/ Mixed Christmas cookies

The Carp

Carp is the main event at Wigilia. Bryan dutifully went out to the market early on Wednesday morning to fetch the fish, only to find that there were no fish filets anywhere. He passed tens of Poles clutching large plastic bags filled with water that had one or two large carp swimming in circles, and we learned that Poles generally keep the carp in the bathtub until meal preparation time, making sure to chop its head before the kids give it a name.

Emily and Chelsea had a heck of a time dealing with said fish, which Bryan mercifully brought back dead and headless. After chopping the tail, plucking scales, cutting it down the middle, and cleaning it out a bit, it was ready for the frypan. It was a ton of work but ended up being pretty delicious!

The Pasterka

Christmas Eve ended with Pasterka, the Midnight Mass. The tradition commemorates the arrival of the Three Wise Men to Bethlehem and their paying of respect and bearing witness to the new born Messiah. We traveled to our English-speaking parish to attend Mass and celebrate Christ's birth together with other ex-pats from across the city.

The only thing missing from our Wigilia was a nativity scene, which we had fruitlessly sought in the days leading up to our dinner. It was a point of sadness until at Pasterka Father Wiesław announced that he had purchased a small Christ-in-the-manger figurine for each person at the service! At the same time that we celebrated Christ coming into the world, Emily & Bryan had not one but two nativity Baby Jesuses come to their apartment. It was, in short, a Christmas miracle!

We hope that you and yours had a very Merry Christmas and enjoy the rest of the season! Joy to the World!

Preparing for Christmas: Our Polish Advent

We cannot believe tomorrow is Wigilia (Christmas Eve)! Chelsea is here in our living room from London, and the Jacobsons arrive tomorrow afternoon. Emily & Bryan have been preparing all Advent for a true Polish Christmas, for our visits of our family and friend, and, above all else, for the arrival of Christ our Salvation into the world!  It's been a wonderful Advent and it will only get better with the 12 joyful days of Christmas. We hope that Advent has been a blessing to your family, too!

Concerts & Shows

Konzerthaus, Berlin

We saw the Konzerthausorchester in Berlin play Bach's Mass in B Minor and it was wonderful! After intermission we snagged one of the programs so I could follow along with the parts of the Order of the Mass in Latin which made it spiritual, too. Loved it.

Also, our weekend trip to Stockholm coincided with the Feast of St. Lucia, which is a hugely popular celebration in Scandinavia. In the 4th century St. Lucia brought light to darkness on what used to be the longest and darkest day of the year; today, St. Lucia parades into concerts across the city with candles and sings carols.

St. Lucia at Skansen, Stockholm

Christmas Markets

Gendarmenmarkt Christmas Market, Berlin

In Berlin, every time we turned the corner we found popular and fun Christmas markets to explore. The most picturesque (and crowded) was in the brilliantly illuminated Gendarmenmarkt. We shared hot waffles and joined others at a long communal table under a tent to enjoy a Weissbier. We also bought a handmade ceramic Advent wreath painted with holly - our first couple Christmas decoration!

In Stockholm's Old Town we added to our collection a sprig of true mistletoe and Sven, the Swedish Christmas gnome.

Christmas Market in Gamla Stan, Stockholm

We also shared grzaniec (hot wine) and miód (hot mead) with friends at Warsaw's Christmas Market, in the shadow of the National Stadium (built for the Euro 2012 soccer competition).

Christmas Market at National Stadium, Warsaw

Pilgrimage

Entrance to Jasna Góra Monastery, Częstochowa

We made our first pilgrimage as a married couple on the Third Saturday of Advent. 

Jasna Góra Monastery is the home to the Black Madonna of Częstochowa, a famous image with great historical meaning for Poles. This small Polish town hosts 4-5 million visitors each year from more than 80 countries, making Jasna Góra one of the most popular pilgrimage sites in a country of many pilgrimage sites. It was inspiring to see the constant stream of faithful passing through the chapel and attending the frequent Mass services, and we joined them in the chapels and in Polish prayers.

Roraty

This seasonal Polish Mass was a new experience for us. Each weekday during Advent, Polish churches hold a Mass early in the morning as a vigil for the sunrise, reflecting our awaiting the arrival of Christ. People bring candles into the Mass, which begins in darkness. By the time Mass ends, the sun has risen and you exit into sunlight.

Roraty Sunrise Vigil Mass

We naively thought "Oh, Monday morning, 6:45am, we'll probably see a handful of people in the pews but that's it". How surprised we were when it was so crowded that we ended up standing in the back with twenty or so Poles who couldn't find space in the pews! This country is amazing (and the service was beautiful, too!).

And finally... we have a choinka! (Christmas tree). Bryan had to carry it home on the tram :)

Wesołych Swiąt (Merry Christmas) to all!

Love, Emily & Bryan

Fascinating Polish Politics (actually making international news!)

So if you've been paying attention to the news out of Europe over the past couple of months, you may have noticed more attention being given to the political climate in Poland, and for good reason. In September the Polish parliamentary elections resulted in a sweeping victory for Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (Law and Justice), colloquially known as PiS (pronounced like PEACE). PiS is Poland's national conservative party, and last held a majority from 2005-2007. It now holds the largest plurality in both houses of Parliament, as well as the position of Prime Minister and President.

Prime Minister Beata Szydło (PiS) and PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski

The victory of the national conservative PiS is largely the result of Poles tiring of the incumbent liberal democratic party, despite the fact that Poland's economy is doing very well (the only EU state not greatly affected by the 2008 recession) and the country has become much more important on the international stage in recent years, especially being so close to Russia.

The biggest news so far following the election has been the public demonstrations in Warsaw. Last Saturday, 50,000 Poles marched in demonstration against the policies of PiS, and on Sunday another 30,000 marched in favor of PiS. So what has caused all of this activity?

In political terms, PiS is pushing what many have called an illiberal democracy, similar to what has already happened in Hungary. This means that while democratic process is still the method of choosing the government, the elected party nevertheless pushes for a restriction of certain liberties, such as freedom of speech, press, religion, etc. For example, since being elected to a majority, PiS has started censoring certain artistic productions (claiming that a play was "pornographic") and threatened to limit the publication of certain newspapers. The biggest affront has been that PiS has (perhaps illegally) denied the appointment of liberal supreme court justices, and instead tried to replace them with conservative justices who would uphold PiS's policy changes. PiS's policies have also been seen as violently anti-refugee and somewhat xenophobic, causing backlash against both Muslims and Jews.

None of this is to say that Poland has become dangerous or violent or extreme or anything of the sort. Our daily lives and the daily lives of most have not changed a bit. And the demonstrations last weekend prove that the population is aware of these changes and is willing to stand up and fight for their liberal democracy. It should be noted that the last time PiS was in the majority (beginning in 2005), popular protest forced them to call early elections and they were subsequently ousted from the majority. So it will be very interesting to see how this situation unfolds, and whether Poland's relationships with the US or the EU change at all, and just what the Polish people will do about it.

We'll keep you posted, of course!

City of Lights - Iluminacja Świąteczna w Warszawie 2015

It's wintertime! And because Warsaw is located rather far north (in longitude it falls between Edmonton and Calgary in Canada, just south of Juneau, Alaska) the sun sets between 3:00 and 4:00PM each day in December. Truth be told, most nights we're tempted to crawl into bed around 7:00PM since it has been dark for so long at that point. But not so fast. "Two can play at that game," says Warsaw. From the streets and alleys to the top of the skyscrapers, this city has truly become a City of Lights. Walking around at night (or even at 4:30PM) feels a little bit like walking during the day and it is gorgeous. Bryan and I went for a stroll around this time on Saturday afternoon, hoping to catch sight of some of the fancy Christmas lights we've seen twisted around lightposts and over storefronts (but never lit) in the Old Town.

It wasn't long before we found ourselves in a medium-sized crowd of people, that, as we walked north on Warsaw's main shopping street (Nowy Świat) on its "Royal Route", grew to a large-sized crowd.

That then grew into an giant-sized crowd, with people from all walks of life (heavy on kids) walking calmly in the same direction. You can imagine how weird a sensation that was for us, some neck tingles and a lot of looking over our shoulders. We had our suspicions (and curiosity to boot!) so we continued on to Plac Zamkowy (Castle Square) with what felt like the rest of Warsaw's residential population.

Aside from the usual yellow glow from the streetlights, all was dark until we passed the Presidential Palace, glowing blue and purple, with a Polish red-and-white Christmas tree in the yard (very festive).

  

We finally congregated around a stage (everything's a production) and watched a few small acts, including elves and a choir, until after chanting (the kids again) for St. Nick ("Mikołaj! Mi-ko-łaj!), Santa strolled onto the scene. Then more music, until the show reached its peak and all the lights in the city were illuminated at once, to cheers and confetti in what was now a roaring crowd!

What a sight! We made our way over to the Rynek (Market Square) where a final surprise awaited us - another tree and lights draped over a skating rink. 

Warsaw's winter nights may be dark and cold, but there's magic and beauty to be found in the streets. As long as you know where (and when!) to look!

With love from our City of Lights!

-Emily & Bryan