Boże Narodzenie w dawnej Polsce = Christmas in old-time Poland

* * *

For Poles, Christmas Eve is a time of family gathering and reconciliation. It's also a night of magic: animals are said to talk in a human voice and people have the power to tell the future. The belief was born with our ancestors who claimed that Dec. 24 was a day to mark the beginning of a new era. It was bolstered by sayings such as, "As goes Christmas Eve, goes the year." Hoping for a good 12 months, everyone was polite and generous to one another and forgave past grievances.

From the small hours on Dec. 24, women were found cleaning and sweeping the entire house. An ancient belief had it that forces of evil would dwell in all things left dirty on that day. If the first person to enter a house on Christmas Eve was a woman, it was a bad omen, meaning that only heifers would be born in the farm in the coming year. It was a good sign when a man was the first to cross the threshold of the house.

* * *

At the Christmas Eve supper, each dish had to be sampled, and a traditional meal would consist of 12 dishes. The more you ate, the more pleasure would await you in the future. The more daring diners would pull out blades of straw from underneath the table cloth. A green one foretold marriage; a withered one-waiting; a yellow one-spinsterhood; a very short one-an early grave.

In pre-electricity times, after the last supper dish (which was kutia, a mix of soaked wheat, raisins, nuts, honey and spices) candles were blown out and the direction of the smoke was observed. If it moved toward the window-the harvest would be good, toward the door-a family member would die, toward the stove-a marriage.

after: http://www.polishworld.com/christmas/

* * *

Christmas time is approaching and the Polish teamwants to wish all our partners from all our partner schools, their teachers, students and parents

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

* * *

Also, we would like to present you with the calendar we have prepared thanks to your work and some decorations for the Christmas tree that were sent to Romania for the expo. The calendar can be downloaded from facebook “Ethno Treasure Hunt” group.