Polish Christmas traditions include decorating the home with a Christmas tree, wreaths, and a nativity scene. On Christmas Eve (Wigilia), families have a special meal of 12 dishes without meat, including fish, dumplings, and borscht. They look for the first star before eating and go to a midnight church service. Children receive presents on Christmas day if they were good, or sticks if they were naughty. Schools celebrate with Christmas meals and nativity plays.

1. Christmas in Poland
Get to know some information about
Christmas traditions in Poland

2. PreperationWe decorate a Christmas tree
with baubles, sweets,
Christmas chains and coloured
lights. At the top of the
Christmas tree there is a big
star.
We decorate the house with
Christmas wreaths and
candles.
We put the navity scene
under the Christmas tree.
Navity scene

3. PreperationWe put the Christmas tree at
our homes on 24th December
(Christmas Eve)
Christmas tree

4. Christmas Eve (Wigilia)
We celebrate
Christmas Eve on
24th December.
We have twelve
dishes on the
Christmas table.
We put hay under
the tablecloth.

hayhay

5. Christmas Eve
We don’t eat meat.
We eat:
Fish. The most popular fish is a carp.
Dumplings
Borsch
We leave one empty
plate on the table for
an unexpected guest.

a carp

6. Christmas Eve
We look for the first star in the sky
and then we start eating.
We sing carols at the table. We
share wafer with each other and
wish all the best.
Animals start speaking a human
language at midnight.
We go to the church and watch
the Navity play at 12 p.m.


The first star

7. Christmas
At school we sing carols at the
table. We share wafer with each
other and wish all the best.
Animals start speaking a
human language at midnight.
We go to the church and watch
the Navity play at 12 p.m.
We visit our family and friends
on 25th and 26th December.


Singing Christmas carols

8. Presents
Nice children get presents.
Presents are under the
Christmas tree. Santa Claus
bring presents.
Presents are often wrapped in
beautiful paper.
Children open presents.
Naughty children don’t get
presents. They get sticks.

9. Christmas at school
Before the holiday break we
celebrate Christmas at school.
In the classroom we have a
Christmas dinner tobether with
our head teacher every year.
We bring Christmas food and
eat together. We sing carols
and wish all the best.
At school, teachers prepare
the Navity play. We act in the
play and sing carols.

10. THE END
WE WISH YOU A MERRY
CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY
NEW YEAR!
Greetings from Poland.
