#562 Wigilia, Pierogi & Opłatek: Polish Christmas Traditions Explained

0:00 Welcome to Learn Polish Podcast. You can find other episodes on learnpolishpodcast.com. Find everything about me. Scan the QR code. Go to icon.com. You'll find me six podcasts and I'm with all my business. So if you're looking for virtual assistants, go to va.world. If you want to get lessons from Ania in Polish or in Spanish, you'll find the links in the show notes both on the audio and the video. Cześć Ania. No cześć. Co tam u Ciebie? Everything is fine. My mom is at home, my son is at home and today my brother from Holland is from her wife and my daughter. Aha, so they all are coming to Christmas or just like that? Yes, but my brother has a hotel in the Seltham, so he will be here.

0:48 Yes, but it will be here, yes? Aha, check. Yes, you must buy it. You will be ready. How will you get ready? No, my index, maybe, I will have a and I will have a and I will have a and Brussels. I don't know if I can buy Brussels sprouts here, but it is traditional in Irlandia and a few things, right? Yes, yes. You started to say about Christmas, that you already prepared yourself for Christmas, because you said that family comes, you will have to cook.

1:28 And in sum, it's great to be done, because I just wanted to talk about it today. I wanted to talk about Christmas, but unfortunately not in Irlandia, but in Poland. I just wanted to ask you a few questions from your perspective. Because your perspective is always very interesting. You have a different perspective than I, a person who lives here all the time. And a person who is normal to you, for sure it's not normal. So, okay, tell me what do you know about Polish holidays? We know that we have three days, we have two days of Christmas, and the day before we eat, we celebrate our holiday, which is the day of Wigilia, which is 24th of January.

2:18 So then we are the best to prepare for the breakfast, the food, the food, and the food. What do you think about these holidays? Do you orientate yourself, what we eat, what we do, or rather nothing? No, it's good for me, because my son goes to my mother at 24, I don't know, at 14, and he comes back in the night, so my son goes to my dad, my dad, my dad, my mom, everything from Poland, and we have 25, so we have 24 from Nitzl, in the Netherlands, right?

3:02 Aha, so you have to say that you don't have the Wigilii 24th, right? Yeah, yeah. So, me, I give present in the morning, because present is on the hoine, right? The present is on the hoine, because on the hoine, it's on the hoine. Yes. And for dinner, because for me, I really like dinner, for me it's not good. And the gelato, the meat in the middle of the gelato, it's not good for me. So for me, for lunch, dinner is better.

3:43 So, you just started talking about cooking. So we have the first difference. You said that in England there is no such thing like the Christmas. No, it is. And on the day everyone is ready. What more, I'm sorry, I'm always in Poland, I'm always, when I remember, when I remember, when I remember, the day in Poland, the 24th of June, it was always normal, in a way, normal. It's a matter of fact, that people normally worked. The hours of work were not normal, because everyone finished work at 16pm, to be able to eat at the evening with the family and so on. So, the hours were shorter, but it was a work.

4:26 So, if someone had a job in the Wigilii, he worked at normal. In this year, now, The first one, the 24th of January, is completely free, like the Christmas. That means that we don't work. That's not what happened, so now everyone, even if not, does not work. So he has more time to prepare for this holiday. So, in your own way. And you started to use some kind of food, which we are here. No właśnie, bo zbliżamy się do tego 24, pomijając fakt, że zawsze sprzątamy, robimy zakupy, przygotowujemy się i tak dalej, i tak dalej, no to przede wszystkim dużo gotowania, dużo gotowania, dużo jedzenia.

5:17 No i Ty zacząłeś już tutaj wymieniać te potrawy, gdzieś padło słowo karp, czyli ta ryba, którą my tutaj jemy. Now I have a question for you. Do you know how traditional, because I'm saying that traditional is one thing, but practically it's another thing. How traditional do we eat? Ten wafer? A, no, but how many? In the sense, how many? 12. 12. Okay, exactly, 12. 12, obviously. No, I'm saying, this is a tradition, because, like. Real life, in normal homes here in Poland, where family is not big and, like, nobody comes to, nobody does 12.

6:02 I know, that's a tradition, but, usually, is it a half, 6, or 5. Because it's enough, this food is enough, and it's enough, because of course I don't have to eat it. So, the tradition is 12, but we have a little less in practice. These are the people who have 12 of course. Now, let's go to what are these potraves. Here are some examples. You said karp, of course, this is a fish. What else? The gel, yes. Yes, yes, yes. It's a very warm. Do you want to say it? It's called... It's called...

6:44 It's called... It's a warm-up. It's a warm-up. It's a warm-up. And it's often, it's a good thing. So, it's a warm-up. What are you doing? It's a warm-up. Okay. It's a warm-up. also has something. He is with us. Like? The red one is with us. Us. Those are like mini-pierogi, although they have another form. They are not in the form of the pierogs, but they have very similar form. They also have in the inside they have like a pepper and gris.

7:25 And we add to the red one is with us. Then we have the red one is with us. What else? Ciastro. Ciastko. Ciastko. No właśnie, nie ciastko. Ja bym powiedziała, że bardziej ciasto. Że bardziej ciasto, a nie ciastko. Tak, ale tutaj jeszcze te takie dania na słono może powiedzmy sobie. Czyli był karp, był barszcz czerwony. I jeszcze jemy zupę grzybową na przykład. Też. Zupa grzybowa jest. Jest zupa grzybowa. Na stole też makowiec. Tak? Makowiec. Jako ciasto właśnie. No, it's not a cake, but a cake, right? I don't know, Roy, if you... I don't know what it is. You ate it, you ate it? Yes, but it's not good.

8:13 I can say publicly here, that cake is my favorite cake. And cake is always so long, no? No właśnie, ja mogę zjeść całe takie, a nawet dwa. Tak, jest to bardzo dużo kalorii, ale cóż, no, święta są raz w roku. No, więc makowiec to jest mój słaby punkt, tak przyznaję to. Czyli makowiec jest, no, przede wszystkim, nie wiem dlaczego, nie powiedziałeś tego od razu, ale zabrakło pierogów, tak? Oczywiście pierogi. I pierogi z czym, wiesz, z czym? With, tak, z grzygami kapusta. Z grzybami i kapustą. Oczywiście, z grzybami i kapustą.

8:55 Co jeszcze, Roi, możesz tutaj wymienić? Może, nie wiem, ziemniaki. Nie no, ziemniaków nie jemy na stole, tak? Nie mamy na stole tych ziemniaków. No tak de facto tutaj jakieś takie, powiedzmy sobie, to były takie gwiazdy polskiej kuchni tutaj. Przede wszystkim barsz i tak dalej. Zaczęłaś mówić coś o opłatku wcześniej, tak? Kiedy ja powiedziałam o daniach. No, opłatek to nie jest danie, opłatek to jest w sumie element, no właśnie, no bo pomijając to, że w Irlandii, tak, że w Irlandii nie ma Wigilii, no to my oprócz tego, że mamy kolację tutaj, tak, tą uroczystą, to jeszcze, no właśnie, dzielimy się opłatkiem, tak, i większość właśnie tutaj ludzi dziwi się i pyta się, co to jest opłatek, no ty już wiesz, co to jest opłatek.

9:43 Yeah, because normal people do wishes, like, oh, you have good health. You have happiness, you have success in business, and so on, and so on. And in the moment, when we make our wishes, we make our wishes, we make our wishes, we make our wishes. Tell me Roy, when you were here in Poland, you were in a type of Polish Wigilii, maybe with Poles, or in a group MX, that was a Polish Wigilia, and that was a Polish Wigilia, and that was a Polish tradition?

10:25 And you have the chance to dziel you with the opal with someone else in Polish. Yes. So, you know how to work? You said you have to wish, to very good. You mentioned, what we can wish. What we can wish, what we can wish. What can we wish in this day, in the Wigilii, before the holiday. What can we wish each, each, every, every, every. What can we wish? Any examples of wish. It's like that you will be happy for year, you will be happy, you have a success in your business, when it's your business, you will work and you will be good, everything is good, everything is good, everything is good.

11:07 Święta. Tak, tak. Jest takie uniwersalne po prostu, po polsku, wesołych świąt. Nawet mamy tutaj to na ekranie, po prostu, tak? W skrócie, żeby one były wesołe. Wiadomo, że później można, że tak powiem, bardziej te życzenia złożyć, w sensie je rozbudować, ale wesołych świąt jest najbardziej uniwersalne i mówimy to do każdego. Wesołych świąt i czasami też dodajemy szczęśliwego nowego roku, tak? I razem... To jest Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Tak, dokładnie tak. I razem po polsku to Wesołych Świąt i Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku. O, i tak, no dobra, tutaj gdzieś wspomniałam o Nowym Roku.

11:49 No, Nowy Rok, ostatni dzień roku, tak, 31 grudnia, Roy, powiedz mi, czy ty masz jakieś plany na Nowy Rok? Wiesz, większość ludzi idzie na imprezę tego dnia i ostro imprezuje, tak? Dużo alkoholu, dużo muzyki, tak? Ostra impreza. A czy ty masz coś w domu? Ja zawsze jestem z moim synem. I jesteśmy w domu. Czasami patrz na fajerwerki. No właśnie, fajerwerki, tak. A powiedz mi, czy ty strzelasz fajerwerkami? Osobiście? Masz w domu? Nie, nie. Tylko w sobie wiesz. Tak, bo zwierząt to boli się.

12:30 I ja wiem, nie jest miło dla... Probably all the animals, not only fish, but the cat, the ptaki, everything will bite, right? So, here it comes to animals, so you just spend Christmas at home, right? Yes. I would like to turn here to the listeners, to read in the comments, what are you planning on the last day of the year? I personally don't have plans. Whenever I was, I've always had a plan when I was, because it was a day of impreation.

13:10 Now there are 8 days, 9 days, and I didn't even invite you to. So I'm just going to sleep. So that's okay. So, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so. A now I would not be myself if I would not ask this question, how do you think, if today's holidays are more commercialized than before? And also, the buying of presents is not too much, because it's hard to say, because sometimes, no, actually, these presents are already like when, Maybe not like when, but present is not important, but it may be something small, but it may be something else, but it is a fact. No właśnie.

14:12 I czy dzisiaj naprawdę dalej liczy się sam fakt? Czy faktycznie ludzie wolą coś, żeby, jak to się mówi po polsku, żeby się zwróciło? To znaczy, że jeśli ja wydaję dużo pieniędzy na jedzenie dla wszystkich, na kolację, na to wszystko, to chcę i oczekuję. To buy a huge present, because if I give them, I want the return. So, is it even more interesting today? Or, unfortunately, people are looking for money? I think that a lot of people have problems with money and you have to buy a lot of presents.

14:55 For me it's only for children. Well, you can buy something for the kids, but when you have to buy everything for the adult. When I look at something, I know that my brother will like it. But when you have to buy something for me, it's the worst thing. I don't like when you have to buy something, because it's the time. No, exactly. It is always the time. And what more, it is often also like, that the presents are very expensive, because if we buy a perfume, we buy very expensive perfume, but rather not expensive.

15:36 And that always is a pressure that must be something good, something good. A rather most people are like, when someone opens a present and sees there, I don't know, a lot of origami, and not some very drogues, they feel like, in Polish, this feeling is called, that person feels like a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit. Trochę tak, znaczy po prostu, że oczekiwała czegoś innego, oczekiwała czegoś fajnego, tak? I ona myślała cały czas o tym, ale fajnie, dostanę ten prezent, na pewno będzie super. I ona go otwiera, a tam kwiat z oligami i ona jest taka właśnie zawiedziona, czyli że to, czego oczekiwała, nie ma.

16:24 Ona chciała coś innego i teraz dostała coś gorszego i musi się z tym jakby pogodzić. No właśnie, czy uważasz, że w dzisiejszym świecie bardziej ludzie właśnie sÄ tacy nastawieni na te prezenty, czy raczej faktycznie ten czas z rodziną? Ja gdzieś widziałam jeszcze w internecie takie właśnie różnego rodzaju ankiety, badania itd., że właśnie zanika taka tradycja, bo chyba w Polsce właśnie zawsze była taka tradycja spotkań właśnie rodzinnych. Maybe Wigilia to Wigilia, because it is a lot of work, but on the 25th or 26th of January, because it's two days of Christmas, usually the family.

17:06 For example, for me, and I think that in most of the Polish families too, that very often the family trips to each other, they are in one house and people are in one house and people are in one house, They eat, they eat, they talk, they talk, they take hours and they take a time to call it. It's a traditional Polish tradition. I just met with this information, that today, in today's times, it's a lot of times. It's not even a tradition, it's not even a tradition. And in fact, it's like, especially young people, they have a lot of thinking, that okay, they are Christmas, but they often don't want to go to family.

17:56 And when it was a bit more, I think that's the tradition of the family. I don't know, Roy, how do you see it? And how it is in the world, because I'm talking about Poland here. But I think that's it. That's what I think. What do you think, Roy? It's better time together, because family and family are very rarely together. It's a normal slough or a funeral, right? A funeral. Yes, those people. So, this time for me is like, because I live here, my mom is Ireland, my brother is Holland.

18:42 This time we have time together. And it's a very beautiful time and a very important time. We also buy a present, of course, but for me it's like a time together. It's very important. And now, unfortunately, people have talked about perfume and everything is emotional, right? Because when they don't have a present, they can be sad. That's the time they have to be happy with their family, with their... Now, the question is, are people in today's times can still be happy with these non-material things? Because you say that there is a whole family and there are presents.

19:29 And then the person opens the present and has the fruit of the origami, as I said. And she is a happy person, even though she is in home with a whole family. Spend time, but she has a flower with origami and is not happy because she has this present. Now the question is, are people still can be happy with such non-material things? For example, to say, okay, this flower with origami can be fine, but the most important thing is that we are all healthy and we are at home. Do you remember today something like that? I think you have to think about the time with people who love you.

20:14 Mama, tata, maybe your family. I don't think about presents. When you receive presents and you love it, maybe you give it to the present in the next year to other people. And it will be good. When a person gives a present, you don't like it. and if she doesn't like it, it's a closed door. And unfortunately, it's a present to another person. Everything is fine. No, so, everything is fine. Okay, Roy, so in sum, in fact, we start the holiday, and it's time of rest, and of course.

21:00 Time of rest, and of course, time of rest with family. And so, I know you already your plans for Christmas. I would like to know the plans for people who are listening to, Of course, on Christmas and on New Year, which in Poland is also called Silvestre. I don't know if we know. The last day of January, 31th of January, in Poland is Silvestre. That is called, because then it is called Silvestre. And then it is called Silvestre. So often, instead of saying Nowy Year, we call it on Silvestre. because this is the last day of the year.

21:41 So I hope to know your plans for Christmas. What do you do in Christmas? No, and obviously, plans for Christmas. How will you spend it? Maybe some other questions related to Poland, because this time limit me. You can talk about it and talk about it. There is a lot of things to give you, but I will also read your comments in the comments. And so, I'll take you from the same time, for you, Roy, here, obviously I will not forget, for you, for all of us listening to you. And those who still haven't listened to us in the next year and may find the podcast, I would like to say that I'm very grateful, because in this year, which is 2025, I have the opportunity to start recording this podcast.

22:37 And now you can listen to me just as I say. And I'm very grateful for this. And I wanted to give you all the wishes, the universal, happy Christmas and happy new year. All good, but the best of health. All of the people who are listening to me, no matter in the country, no matter where they are and with whom they are, if you have a health, you have everything. And my wishes to you do this, the same, and that's all. And thank you all for all. And I think we'll probably hear you in the new year, in the new year, in the new year 2026.

23:20 And so, thank you very much and see you. with Zanya. Thank you very much, Zanya. And I concur with all the wishes that I needed. It's a thanks for all the listeners and all that because we're in the chats constantly and constantly improving, so we appreciate that. Thank you very much. Let's just go. You find everything about me, Scott? and the cure for it, go to Roycon.com and you get lessons from Anya in Polish or in Spanish. And as you can see, she's very positive and lots of energy, so it's easy to learn when you find the links in the show notes. Until next week, thank you very much. It's time to see you.