Christmas And St Nicolas Days example essay topic

A Christmas Season in Poland In today's society, it is very important to have knowledge of the different cultures that surround us. Most individuals that are born and raised in America practice the beliefs and social life of Americans. Most Americans tend to forget there are other cultures that surround us in our everyday life. However being born and raised as Americans, it is easy to ignore our descendants and our ancestors' cultural background. In my case, my ancestors were Polish and have a very different cultural background than I do as an American. For instance, the Christmas season, which one would believe is celebrated the same way throughout the world, is in fact celebrated in various different ways.

In Poland, there is no Thanksgiving like in the USA. Therefore, there is not any special designated shopping day to start the Christmas season. The Polish Christmas season begins November 30th with a celebration called St. Andrew's Day. There is a long tradition of fortune telling especially for non-married girls on the November 30th in Poland. Since November 30th is under a patronage of St. Andrew the habit of fortune telling is called St. Andrew's Day. The main purpose of St. Andrew Day celebrations is to predict the future of unmarried girls, especially their prospects for a good marriage.

St. Andrew's Day is a night of magic for young girls (Urban-Klaehn, 2005). The next day of celebration during the Christmas season is St. Barbara's Day. One of the most celebrated days associated with workers group is St. Barbara's Day on December 4th. St. Barbara is a patron of coal miners.

Miners' profession was always considered dangerous, but prestigious, therefore, this day called 'Barb " or ka' or Barburka' was celebrated for centuries in a spectacular way. The name of the feast originates from St. Barbara as a patron (Pace, 1996). On St. Barbara's Day, miners are dressed in the special uniforms. The uniform consists of a black suit and hat with a feather. The color of the feather, white, red, or black, depends on the rank of the miner. Miners wear their decorative uniforms not only during Barborka, but also for weddings, funerals, and other important political or social ceremonies (Urban-Klaehn, 2005).

Christmas and St. Nicolas Days are not celebrated at the same time in Poland, but three weeks apart. St. Claus Day, known as St. Nicolas Day in America, is celebrated on December 6th. Many parties are organized mainly for kids (Pace, 1996). This is a day when St. Claus is visiting all kids. St. Claus will visit some children in person during the evening and others secretly during night. In some regions of Poland St. Claus will only bring gifts on the 6th day of December.

St. Claus Day originates from the orthodox religious tradition. Communistic (You mean communist Russia) Russia first replaced St. Nicolas with 'Grandfather Frost' in the attempt to erase any religious meaning. Polish communistic rulers also tried to obliterate any religious connotations of Christmas (Houston, 2004). However, almost all children in Poland receive one gift on St Claus Day. This is something not known in American tradition. It is a birch for beating and it is usually attached to a bag with candies.

This birch serves as a warning for all children that if they do not improve their behavior the only gift they will receive next year will be a bigger birch (Pace, 1996). Although, nobody takes it seriously, mischievous children as a rule usually receive bigger birches than the well-behaved children. This is very similar to American children that receive switches and ashes for Christmas (Houston, 2004). Christmas Eve in Poland is called "Wigilia". The Latin origins of the word Wigilia are the same as those of the English word 'vigil,' meaning keeping watch in expectation of something. Of course, what the Christian world awaits on this date is the birth of Jesus, the Christ Child.

The Catholic custom is that of attending midnight Mass or 'Paste rka,' a name that comes from 'paste rze' the Polish word for shepherds who, according to the evangelists, were the first to greet the New Born King. Christmas Eve is considered the most important point of Christmas together with the midnight mass (Houston, 2004). This celebration begins with the sharing of the ' Oplatek ', and by the Wigilia dinner. The Oplatek, frail, perishable, has for all Poles a mystical meaning, which cannot be explained logically. At Christmas time, it is sent to absent members and close friends in strange lands, who in their loneliness, partake of it, as of communion with loved ones at home (Houston, 2004). The Oplatek, of little monetary value, is the treasured link that brings warm memories of Poland to her children settled in different parts of the world.

Losing reality for the moment, they once again dream that they are seated with the family at the Wigilia table, enjoying the blessing, forgiveness, and warmth of those under the parental roof. The most cherished sentiments in the Oplatek ceremony are reconciliation and the coming together of all (Urban-Klaehn, 2005). After the Wigilia dinner, the attention could turn to the Christmas tree. If the tree were in a different room, its doors would be opened. It was the first sight of the wondrous tree decorated with glass apples, paper chains, beautiful straw and paper ornaments and candles. In addition, under the tree lay the packages from among which one could retrieve one's own and find out what marvelous and exciting things they contained (Pace, 1996).

The Christmas tree came to Poland just a hundred years ago and with it, the custom of giving gifts on Christmas Eve. German settlers who came to Poland in massive numbers during the period of the partitions from 1795 to 1918 when Poland was occupied by the Germans, Russians, and Austrians brought the Christmas tree to Poland (Pace, 1996). Various decorations, among them the 'forbidden fruit,' that is apples, were hanged on the tree's branches and paper chains, symbolizing the serpent were draped on the tree. The Christmas tree was thus a symbol of the Garden of Eden's tree of life (Urban-Klaehn, 2005).

The other important components of Christmas decorations were straw and hay under a white tablecloth. This evoked the Bethlehem manger, but the use of straw dates from even earlier Polish tradition, when it was thought of as the hair of Mother Earth, a symbol of fertility and plenty. Thus, sheaves of wheat were placed in the four corners of the room and, less frequently, a pleated straw cord would be made to girth the lower part of the holiday table. In urban settings, this custom was displacing with a handful of straw on a plate tied together with a ribbon (Houston, 2004). That Christmas Eve magic, that reunion in fact or thought with relatives and friends, present, distant, or deceased found particular immanence in the sharing of the. An unconsecrated bread wafer, frequently embossed with Christmas scenes, a thin flat bread that was traditionally baked before placing the loaves of bread dough in the oven, and scored before baking it would be broken and shared.

So too the, which is ceremoniously shared, each person holding some part of an in one hand and breaking a piece of one likewise being held in the hand of the other person. Then, before ingesting the newly broken off pieces, each participant in the ceremony wishes the other what ever the heart dictates. The ceremony is repeated with each member of the family, friends and whoever else are present. The ceremony is one of the most enduring and meaningful Christmas Eve traditions and leads the Poles into Christmas day (Houston, 2004). The Polish name for Christmas is Boze Narodzenie. The meaning of Boze Narodzenie is "from God's birth", and from a religious point of view Christmas is considered the second most important feast, with Easter being the first.

Christmas is definitively the biggest family gathering and reconciliation day during the year in Poland. Christmas officially was known as the Family Day, Winter Holiday, and the old name, Little Star Day. The word 'Jesus' or 'God' was avoided as much as possible by communistic propaganda. Preparations for Christmas begin many days before the actual ceremony (Pace, 1996). Christmas in Poland, of course, is a commercial heaven, but not to such degree as in America.

Even during communistic times when the shops were very poorly supplied on a daily basis, during Christmas stores were equipped with better products and nicely decorated. Farmer markets are crowded with people who want to buy rare components for Christmas food, Christmas trees, and decorations. Some food products can only be bought before Christmas, because some of the Christmas dishes are prepared only once a year. Certain types of groats or seeds are available only during this time of the year and only in the certain regions of Poland. For instance, carps are eaten only on this day during the year, such as turkey is eaten during the Thanksgiving holiday in the USA. A couple of days before Christmas Eve farmer markets are changed into fish markets with carps and other fish almost everywhere and available alive, fresh, and frozen.

Shops are crowded and streets of many cities are embellished with Christmas decorations, Christmas trees, and colorful lights (Urban-Klaehn, 2005). Timing also affects the food during the Christmas dinner. Because Christmas dinner takes place during the Advent one should not eat meat. Therefore, it is fish, usually carps that is a most important part of Christmas dinner. Advent is a time of fasting, prayer, reflection, mourning, and reconciliation. However there are few feasts during this season, which is in discord with the solemn atmosphere of Christmas, even the Church has to treat it with understanding.

In addition, because of Advent, Christmas Carols are not sung until Wigilia (Christmas Eve) (Pace, 1996). The Christmas season terminates in Poland on February 2, also known as Candlemas Day. It is a day of a feast of the Purification of Our Lady and people carry big candles to the church and have them blessed for use in their homes during storms, sickness, and death. The illuminated candle should be carried home to ensure that the blessing is carried on home also. This is also the last day Christmas carols are sang in the church. After February 2nd, Christmas is finally over.

Usually by this time, Christmas trees are already gone but the snow and winter in Poland can still reign almost to the Easter season (Urban-Klaehn, 2005). As you can see, the Polish Christmas season is very different from the American Christmas season. However some practices are close to the same, the actions and the beliefs of Poles vary tremendously from those of Americans. How can the same holiday be celebrated in so many different ways by so two different cultures?

Although my ancestors are Polish, being born and raised in America, I practice the beliefs and practices of the American people. Is this a good thing or is it a bad thing? I do not have the answer to that question, but I know that it has to be a good thing to for every individual to have knowledge of his or her ancestors and cultural background.

Bibliography

Houston, S. (2004).
Christmas in Poland - Christmas Eve (Wigilia). News and Observer, pp. E 1. Retrieved May 31, 2005, from Proquest database.
Urban-Klaehn, J. (2005).
Christmas in Poland; St. Nicolaus Day (Dec. 6). Retrieved May 31, 2005, from web J.
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