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!