page_title: Wigilia
section_title: Traditions and customs
hierarchical_section_title: Wigilia / Traditions and customs
caption_attribution_description: XMAS 2008 With ornaments
context_page_description: Wigilia is the traditional Christmas Eve vigil supper in Poland, held on December 24. The term is often applied to the whole of Christmas Eve, extending further to Pasterka - midnight Mass, held in Roman Catholic churches all over Poland and in Polish communities worldwide at or before midnight. The custom is sometimes referred to as "wieczerza" or "wieczerza wigilijna", in Old Polish meaning evening repast, linked to the late church service, Vespers from the Latin.
  The word Wigilia derives from the Latin vigil. The associated feasting follows a day of abstinence and traditionally begins once the First Star has been sighted. Christmas is also sometimes called "Gwiazdka", "little star".
context_section_description: Children usually decorate the Christmas tree. Sometimes a handful of hay is placed under the tablecloth of the dining table to symbolise Jesus's birth in a manger. One old tradition states that when children playfully remove a piece of straw from under the tablecloth, its colour has meaning: Green indicates wealth or possibly a marriage, while black augurs bad luck for the year.
  Another tradition, is to make an extra place-setting for the "unexpected guest", to celebrate hospitality. The feast begins with Grace and breaking of the "Christmas wafer" opłatek - to symbolise the gift of daily bread and wishing each other blessings for the coming year. In the country, it was customary to share a special (pink) wafer with livestock and dogs and cats as the animals of the household were to be treated with special reverence on that day, in honour of the animals in the Bethlehem stable. There was a belief that at midnight they were granted the power of human speech.
caption: Christmas tree in a Polish home
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