Christmas Eve - Wigilia

Experience the Magic... of a thousand-year-old Polish Christmas tradition that has been preserved in the homes of Polish Americans & descendants of Poles around the world. In Christmas Eve Wigilia, you will learn how to * hold the special Christmas Eve dinner, * share the Oplatek wafer, * prepare special recipes, * enjoy favorite carols & songs & * conduct your own Wigilia celebration & begin to enjoy the magical memories that it will create. Some of the Poles' most cherished traditions resolve around the sacred celebration of Christmas. And even today, at the beginning of the 21st century those cherished Christmas traditions have survived. Even though they have been modified to meet modern practices & the Polish language is spoken less in what's left of the original ethnic neighborhoods, customs continue. On Christmas Eve, families of Polish descent still gather--in country farmhouses & in suburban split levels & in contemporary condominiums & city rowhouses--to break bread (oplatek), forget past problems, remember their ancestors & look forward to the promise of the coming new year. This book hopes to present & preserve the best of these Christmas traditions. It is not a bible for how to follow the practices exactly. Instead, it is a guide to what others have done. Hopefully, the content of these pages will be used by those who come later--to continue this beautiful tradition &, in turn, pass it only so those not yet born will enjoy its essence & create their own Christmas memories.Smolka, Joseph C. is the author of 'Christmas Eve - Wigilia', published 2000 under ISBN 9780970664709 and ISBN 0970664702.