WIGILIA 2011 is history. Wigilia is the traditional Polish
Christmas Eve celebration that we have been observing forever.
My wife and I have put on the Wigilia celebration for the
last 30 years but with the family growing exponentially and us not getting any
younger, younger family members have taken up the task with my daughter having
it last year and my niece having it this year.
The traditional meal is meat-less and therefore somewhat of
a challenge to prepare but the younger people have decided to skip that
tradition and have added ham, smoked
kielbasa and fresh kielbasa to the menu which the kids really appreciate since
fish did not seem to be something they wanted to eat.
The one tradition that makes Wigilia so special is the
tradition of exchanging the “oplatek” which is basically a wafer similar to
what the communion wafer is made of. Each person, no matter what age, exchanges
pieces of the wafer with everyone in the family, exchanging best wishes for the
coming year. In our family, the youngest is one and a half and the oldest, my
mother, 90 in May.
The tradition will vary from year to year and person to
person but the gathering at this time of year to celebrate Wigilia on Christmas
Eve will hopefully go on long after we are gone.
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