Wigilia

I'm spending Christmas in Krakow this year with my parents who arrived last Thursday (after 24 hours of travel, and one missed flight). In preparation for my first Yuletide outside of Canada, I've been quizzing my colleagues about their traditions for the last few months, and am hoping to experience as many of the Polish Christmas events as possible.

Today, December 24th, is the day that Poles celebrate Wigilia, the traditional Christmas Eve supper. Wigilia is a meatless meal (yippee, although it does include fish, which I don't eat), and typically includes twelve dishes. Since I can barely cook one Polish dish, I decided that it would be best if my parents and I went out for dinner. So tonight we are off to a hotel that promises to serve a traditional Polish Wigilia meal.

According to tradition, we should be starting to eat when we see the first star in the sky, which would be about 4:30 pm here. Apparently that's when all my colleagues will be eating, but I didn't know this until after I made reservations for 7:30 pm.

After dinner we plan to visit several of the churches (there are literally dozens within walking distance of my apartment) to see the nativity scenes, including one with live donkeys and sheep.

Then, if the oldsters can stay awake, we plan to attend midnight mass. Since we aren't Catholic, and my parents don't understand any Polish, I've opted for mass at the Dominican church, as several sources have stated that " the Dominicans put on a good service."

I'll fill you in on the details sometime in the next few days.

Wishing you all a very peaceful and happy Christmas wherever in the world you may be today.