It's Christmas Time!
Today I will not write about architecture, because it’s Christmas and why bother with things like this now? In this post, I will tell you how we, Silesians, celebrate Christmas, since we have some different traditions from those in other parts of Poland.
Katowice's Main Square during Christmas
What do we eat?
I will start with the dessert that I have been waiting
for the whole year, and of course only my grandmother is the world champion in
its preparation. I am talking about makówki (not to be confused with the
Greater Poland’s makiełki - it's COMPLETELY different!). It is a type of
sweet made from ground poppy seeds, honey and milk. It is put into a large dish
in layers, alternating it as you like: with sweet bread or rusks. Everything is
sprinkled with dried fruits and coconut. It sounds simple, but it's amazing.
Actually, it’s one of the flavours of my childhood and perhaps that’s a reason
why I like it so much. The picture below ⮟
Other dishes that are typically in Silesia are moczka
and siemieniotka. The first one is a very dense soup prepared on the
basis of gingerbread with almonds and a thousand different dried fruits such as
plums, pears, apricots and anything else that can be dried and tossed there.
Everything is poured with dark beer, or more traditional- with broth! A real slush
delicacy only for the brave! Siemieniotka, is also interesting, because it is a
soup cooked with milk and hemp seeds.
In addition, also panczkraut appears on our table, which is popular not only during holidays, because it’s considered one of the basic nutritional ingredients in Silesia, and it’s just cabbage mixed with mashed potatoes. We also traditionally eat carp, mushroom soup or borscht (beetroot soup) and many other goodies!
The Silesian Museum in holiday's illumination
OK, but who brings the gifts?
Poland, although it has quite deeply rooted traditions, in this respect seems to be quite diverse, which sometimes creates many divisions. It's about who brings the presents during the holidays. Some people think that it is done by Santa Claus [Mikołaj] (for the second time in December?), others that Little Angel [Aniołek] (hopefully not the fallen one), or Grandpa Frost [Dziadek Mróz] (I won't comment this), others that it's a Star-Man [Gwiazdor] (a celebrity, really? Maybe Ryan Gosling with Scarlet Johansson?). Well, Silesians (attention, cause I will be immodest) probably have the most sensible hypothesis that the gifts are brought by the Child Jesus [Dzieciątko]. Well, who comes into the world then to give love (and presents) to all people? It makes sense.
If you haven't found all this strange yet, I would like to add, that during Christmas we put a carp shell in our wallets, which is to bring us abundance and a lot of money, and to be more sure we put a 100PLN banknote under the tablecloth on the Christmas Eve table (although my mother went with the times so she puts a credit card there).
Every year in Silesia we have such fun during Christmas and always we spend it amazingly. Let this time be the same for you. Here I leave you my favourite X-mas vine:
All the best!🎄
