"Christmas is a time when you get homesick - even when you're home". Carol Nelson
I find this quote adequate to this blog but not because I am Pole spending Christmas in Finland.
I noticed, that Christmas brings to my mind thoughts about Christmas of my childhood, so no mater where I spend Christmas nowadays I would miss Christmases from the old times.
It was a magical time and the whole world seemed to be envolved into a celebration.
On the Polish Christmas Eve supper all the family members gather togehter to fulfill tradition of breaking off and exchanging parts of the opłatek (wafer baked from pure wheat flour and water).
It is symbol of exchanging blessings and good wishes.
Christmas Eve in Poland is a day of fasting. At
the appearance of the first star starts the Christmas Eve supper but
there is any meat on the table. The main dish is fried carp and beetroot soup - while in Finland a main dish on a Christmas Eve supper is joulukinkku (Christmas ham:-)
There is also Midnight Mass celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.
My father used to buy a real Christmas tree to our home, and I remember each of over hundred of baubles and other decorations.
We used to visit different churches to admire the Nativity scenes and the Christmas trees and lights. The Christmas carols in Poland are numerous, beautiful and very popular not only in churches.
Im sure that every Pole of my age remembers 'Christmas oranges', cause during communist time oranges and lemons were available in Poland only around Christmas time.
Santa Claus used to visit Polish children on 6th of December. (Finland's Independence Day:-)
Tradition of exchanging gifts during Christmas came later from abroad. It appeared in our family when I was already teenager.
I will finish with another quote: "There's nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child". Erma Bombeck
Merry Christmas!
Hyvää Joulua!
Radosnych Świąt Bożego Narodzenia!
No comments:
Post a Comment