Polish Christmas Cookbook

Polish Christmas Cookbook: Recipes for the Holiday Season

 Christmas Eve is called Wigilia in Poland, held on December 24th. It encompasses the entire day, includes Christmas Eve feast and then extends to the midnight mass held at the Roman Catholic Church. This Christmas Eve feast is often called wieczerza or wieczerza wigilijna which means “dinner” or “large supper.” Around dusk of Christmas Eve, children will look for the first star in the sky. The feasting traditionally begins once the First Star has been sighted by children in the sky at dusk (around 5 p.m.) Therefore, Christmas is called "Gwiazdka" which means the little star, referring to the Star of Bethlehem. Originally, people fasted the entire day before the feast, but that tradition has been abandoned. The feast includes foods from the four corners of the earth and originally did not include meat. Today, meat and fish are a big part of the festivities. This cookbook contains some of the best loved recipes for the Christmas Eve and Christmas holiday season in Poland.