Simple Living with Wanda Urbanska

Wanda's Diary Entries

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Continuing on the theme of our recent trip to Poland, with a foray into Estonia, today I am remembering our lovely celebration of Christmas in Poznan, Poland, with my first cousins, brother and sister, Grzegorz Urbanski and Hanka Kedron.

On the morning of December 24, Henry and I boarded an express train to Poznan from Warsaw Central Station. (Cousin Monika came to see us off, handing us a bag of snacks for the two-hour-and-forty-minute trip.) The train ride through the snowy Polish countryside was lovely and picturesque. After enjoying a cup of coffee and a chocolate croissant from the food cart, I set to work writing postcards to several of my dearest friends and relatives in the States.

Henry quickly became engrossed in reading “On the Banks of Plum Creek,” the fourth book in the Laura Ingalls Wilder “Little House” series. He had brought “Plum Creek” and “By the Shores of Silver Lake” for independent reading during our trip abroad. It struck me in hearing him read passages outloud—and reading outloud to him—that this series is not only engaging storytelling about an important period in American history, but it’s a lesson in morality. All of us, but most especially children, can learn how to live from Laura’s adventures growing up under the able guidance, wisdom and “tough love” of Pa and Ma.

(On the train, I was favorably impressed to notice the Polish habit of returning unused and unnecessary items, like extra creamers, sugar packs or undesired cookies, to the common cart—unlike many Americans who simply throw small “disposables” like these away.)

Cousin Grzegorz met us at the station, smiling and happy, and squired us back to his apartment where his wife Ewa, sister Hanka and daughter Kasia were busy preparing the evening’s feast. A Polish Christmas is a remarkable and beautiful celebration, and this was my second such celebration in Poland. (The first, also with Grzegorz and his family, took place in Poznan in 1987 when Frank and I traveled there.)

The “main event” of a Polish Christmas celebration takes place on Christmas Eve, at the Christmas supper celebration, which begins when the first star appears in the sky. At that time, Grzegorz read prayers in Polish, and then family members broke off pieces of the peace wafer, expressing the wish for peace and well-wishes in the coming year to all present.

At the dinner table, straw is placed under or atop the tablecloth, as a symbol of Jesus’s birth in the manger. A full dinner place at the table is set for the Holy Child, or an unexpected visitor. A lovely meal of barscz (beet soup), pierogis, carp, herring, potatoes and many more courses was served. For dessert, there was cheesecake, makowiec (poppyseed cake), and gingerbread cookies, homemade by my 20-year-old niece, Kasia. After the meal, gift opening begins, from the presents stacked under the Christmas tree. Ewa and Hanka went out of their way to buy presents to delight Henry and they did so. He was especially taken with a wooden block building game called Jenga. Blessedly, though, the overall impact of the celebration was light on gift exchange and strong on spiritual experience.

At midnight, traditionally Poles go out to Midnight Mass. Grzegorz and his family walk to a modern church near their suburban condominium high rise. However, Christmas Eve service has become so popular that their church added a 10 p.m. mass to accommodate everyone. That’s the one which we attended. Even with two services, the church was so crowded that we had to stand in the aisle the entire service. Altogether is was a lovely, moving service. And as we walked back to the Urbanski flat in the cold of the night, we wished everyone “Merry Christmas” (Wesolych Swiat), and anticipated the hot tea, sweets and warmth of the apartment waiting for us.