Polish Traditions on Christmas

Christmas for our family is quite different from how many people in America would celebrate it. I come from a polish heritage so a lot of our traditions come from polish traditions as well. For example, many polish people celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas day. We wouldn’t be able to open the presents unless everyone was done eating and since the presents didn’t really “appear” when we woke up in the morning, Santa Claus was not really as big of a thing as it is in American households.

 There is an old legend saying that when the first star appears, you can start eating the Christmas feast. There is also a very old tradition where you would spread out hay on a table and each person would pull out a strand and the person with the shortest strand was told to be the one who dies first. Our family finds that a bit morbid so we don’t do that.

One of the many traditions we do participate in however is the making of one of the most significant and delicious desserts on Christmas, Makowca. Makowca is a sweet bread/cake like dessert with poppy seeds inside of it. I would usually make the Makowca with my grandmother and then we would eat some of it before anyone else would get the chance to have any. 

When decorating the Christmas tree, it is a tradition to put candy on the tree instead of ornaments in Polish households. I know of many people who still uphold this tradition however me and my family go with the ornaments instead. There would be candy put on the tree because ornaments would be very expensive and so people on the poorer side would put candy on the trees instead. 

Another really fun tradition starts right at the beginning of Christmas which is called Mikolajki. On December 6th, it is said that Santa Claus comes and puts candy in your shoes. I personally don’t know why this tradition exists or where it even came from but it’s a funny addition to get you excited for the holidays.