Polish Art Center - Treasured Polish Christmas Customs and Traditions

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Treasured Polish Christmas Customs and Traditions

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edited by J. Cantoski
Drawn from all corners of what was once the vast Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and from the various people who dwelled therein, Polish Christmas traditions are among the richest and most colorful in the world. Yet despite this, and despite the fact that Poles have played so significant a part in the development of our country, these traditions are still little known in the United States.
It was largely to correct this situation and to enable their fellow Americans to share in the beauty and warmth of a Polish Christmas that the remarkable group of women known as the Polanie Club undertook to prepare and to publish this work. It was a difficult task. How to choose that which is specifically Polish when so much of the enchantment of Eastern Europe is shared by many people?
How to choose that which is specifically Polish when the traditions of every province and often of every village have a distinctiveness all their own? Difficult, indeed. Yet the authors succeeded in capturing the essence of a Polish Christmas.
In the pages which follow one will find not merely a description of Polish Christmas traditions but also a guide for a do-it-yourself Polish Christmas: recipes for Christmas meals, the words and music for some of the more representative Polish carols, and even detailed directions for making typically Polish Christmas decorations. Followed, this guide will bring happiness and enrichment to many at Christmastide. Hopefully, it will encourage some to dig more deeply into the traditions of a remarkable people and to expand upon this first significant attempt to bring the story of a Polish Christmas to the attention of the American public.
Eugene Kusielewicz 1971

This book tells the story of the Polish people in the Polish countryside of long ago. It is a collection of religious and folk customs and traditions together with some of the early superstitions. It describes in detail the pleasurable times and tasks of the Przadki, the baked goose on St Martin's, the excited children on St Nicolas Day (December 6) and the countless preparations for the Christmas holiday season with its joyous events and celebrations.