Christmas the Polish way – Wigilia and holiday traditions

Advent – a time of waiting

Adwent (Advent) is about four weeks of preparation for Christmas. Churches then hold roraty – Masses early in the morning or in the evening, which the faithful attend with lanterns. At home, people count down the days to Christmas, for example with an Advent calendar. 6 December is mikołajki – the day when St Nicholas leaves small presents.

Christmas – together with Easter – is one of the typical topics in the Karta Polaka interview. We describe the other holidays and customs in our overview of Polish traditions and holidays.

What Wigilia looks like – from the first star to Midnight Mass

Wigilia has a fixed order, which in many homes is repeated every year.

1. Preparations – during the day the house is cleaned, the choinka (Christmas tree) is decorated and the dishes are cooked.
2. The first star – supper begins when the first star appears in the sky, in memory of the Star of Bethlehem.
3. Laying the table – sianko (hay), a reminder of the manger, is placed under a white tablecloth. One extra place setting is left at the table for a lost traveller or an unexpected guest.
4. Prayer – in many homes someone reads the Gospel passage about the birth of Jesus.
5. Opłatek – everyone breaks a thin white wafer with each member of the family and offers them wishes.
6. Christmas Eve supper – traditionally without meat, of twelve dishes (the number varies depending on the home and region).
7. Presents and carols – after supper, presents are unwrapped from under the tree and carols are sung.
8. Pasterka – at midnight a solemn Mass is celebrated in churches.

Who brings the presents? It depends on the region: most often święty Mikołaj (St Nicholas), in Greater Poland and Pomerania Gwiazdor, in Silesia Dzieciątko (the Christ Child), and in parts of Lesser Poland Aniołek (the little angel).

Christmas Eve dishes

The Christmas Eve table traditionally has fasting dishes – made from fish, mushrooms, cabbage, poppy seeds and dried fruit. These are the ones worth being able to name:

Carols and nativity scenes

Kolędy are Polish Christmas carols – they are sung at home after supper and in church, traditionally until 2 February. The best known are ‘Wśród nocnej ciszy’, ‘Bóg się rodzi’ (words by Franciszek Karpiński), ‘Lulajże, Jezuniu’, ‘Przybieżeli do Betlejem’ and ‘Dzisiaj w Betlejem’.

During the holiday season, kolędnicy (carol singers) also go around – people in costume carrying a star, who sing carols outside homes. Churches set up szopki – nativity scenes. Kraków nativity scene making (szopkarstwo krakowskie) – colourful cribs in the shape of Kraków churches – was inscribed on the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2018.

The first and second days of Christmas

On 25 December, the first day of Christmas, families spend time together at home, and the dinner now includes meat. On 26 December, the second day of Christmas – St Stephen’s Day – people visit relatives and friends. The next holiday of the Christmas season is 6 January – Trzech Króli (Epiphany).

Christmas wishes – how to give them

When sharing the opłatek, it is not enough to say ‘Wesołych Świąt’ – you offer personal wishes to each person. After the verb życzyć (to wish) we use the genitive: życzę Ci zdrowia, not ‘zdrowie’.

• Wesołych Świąt! – the shortest wishes (‘Merry Christmas!’).
• Zdrowych, spokojnych i radosnych Świąt Bożego Narodzenia!
• Życzę Ci zdrowia, szczęścia i spełnienia marzeń.
• Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku! – often together with Christmas wishes (‘Happy New Year!’).

Christmas glossary

These words come up in almost every conversation about Christmas – it is worth learning them together with their gender and number.

Common mistakes when talking about Christmas

• ‘Święta’ is plural – we say święta były, not ‘święta było’, and w czasie świąt.
• Capital letters – in greetings we write Wesołych Świąt with capital letters, and the same goes for the names Wigilia and Boże Narodzenie.
• Declension of ‘Boże Narodzenie’ – both words change: przed Bożym Narodzeniem, Świąt Bożego Narodzenia.
• Not every Christmas song is a kolęda – kolędy are about the birth of Jesus; popular songs about winter and presents are piosenki świąteczne (Christmas songs).

Sample questions and answers for the interview

Questions about Christmas are among the typical topics in the Karta Polaka interview. Practise answers about what Christmas looks like in your home.

Watch the forms: w Wigilię (accusative), but po Wigilii (locative); na święta, but w czasie świąt. You will find more dialogues in our list of typical consul’s questions, and you can read about the other great holiday in the guide to Polish Easter. You can practise talking about the holidays with a teacher on the ‘Karta Polaka’ course – then it will be easier to speak freely in front of the consul.