Christmas Eve dishes on Polish tables. Second part.

Why is Christmas in Poland associated with citrus fruit? How did cabbage end up among Christmas Eve dishes? Where did pierogi come from? Welcome to the second part of the article on Polish Christmas traditions.

In the previous part, we checked where borscht comes from on Polish tables, why we serve carp on Christmas Eve, what does dried fruit compote and poppy seed sweets symbolise. You can find the whole article here: https://www.fitatu.com/blog/en/where-did-christmas-eve-dishes-on-polish-tables-come-from/

Be sure to also take a look at the comments, where you shared Christmas traditions that are cultivated in your homes. Thanks to Diamorphine, we found out that:

Traditional kutia originates from the indigenous faith and is made from grains of wheat, honey and poppy seeds. Kutia, with its sweetness and “splendour”, symbolised prosperity and happiness, and the ingredients themselves bear witness to this, since even the word “corn” etymologically means a gift from God, which testifies to the great importance that corn had for the Slavs.

In the event of a positive response to the first article, I promised you a second part, so today we are going to take citrus fruit, cabbage with peas and dumplings, among others, under the knife. Why do we associate exotic fruits with Christmas so much?

Citrus as a festive symbol in Poland

This tradition is quite young and dates back to the later communist era. The authorities, around Christmas, would throw goods onto the market that were not available on a daily basis. If you don’t remember those times (I don’t :)), be sure to ask your parents or grandparents about their associations with Christmas – oranges, luxurious at the time, are sure to be among the main ones.

As recalled by Dr Patryk Pleskot of the Warsaw branch of the Institute of National Remembrance in the programme “Polak potrafi:

…As I recall the news in Dziennik, it was maybe a month before the news that a ship with a cargo of citrus fruit was sailing from Cuba or other countries. Then there was information about the port it reached (…). If today, the Christmas campaign starts in November, then a few weeks before Christmas the fever started to rise and people started to say that “oranges are coming from brotherly Cuba”…

Nowadays, the economic situation on the Polish market looks completely different, but it is no coincidence that the popularity of mandarins and oranges increases even more during the autumn and winter months. It is in November that citrus trees produce their best and juiciest fruit, which flood local stalls and supermarket shelves by the ton.

The aroma of mandarins and oranges is not their only advantage. They are low in calories (one mandarin is only about 35 calories), rich in vitamins, have a positive effect on our immune system, help fight obesity and speed up the digestion process. Therefore, do not begrudge yourself either mandarins or oranges during the holidays.

And here, by way of trivia, a great piece of footage showing pre-Christmas shopping in 1984: https://www.fitatu.com/blog/en/where-did-christmas-eve-dishes-on-polish-tables-come-from/

Cabbage on the Christmas Eve table

Cabbage, in various forms, will probably appear in most Polish homes – in pierogi stuffing, with mushrooms, with peas or with just spices. No wonder, because due to the ease of cultivation, storage and rich harvest, it has been widely grown in Poland for centuries.

It was the staple food of the poorer section of the population, while the wealthier ate it with a variety of additives, such as lard or pork fat. A combination of cabbage and peas was very popular, and is said to have originated in the Krakow-Częstochowa Upland, for centuries famous for its cultivation of these plants.

Cabbage with peas was treated as a Lenten dish and with time it started to accompany wedding celebrations and some holidays, including…Easter. It is also served in this form in my house, with boiled peas (reminiscent of mashed potatoes) on one plate and sauerkraut with spices on another.

In the previous article you wrote about łazanki and pierogi with cabbage, so please let us know in the comments whether on your table, among 12 traditional dishes, there is room for cabbage, and if so in what form!

Where did dumplings come from?

Here we have a lot to choose from, because pierogi are one of the foundations of traditional Polish cuisine. From ravioli, through Russian, with the aforementioned cabbage and mushrooms, to meat, fish or sweet stuffed dumplings.

I found it hard to believe at first, but it wasn’t the Poles who first came up with the idea of stuffing pieces of dough with filling. Pierogi were supposed to have come to us, via Russia, from the Far East, from China to be precise. They have been known on Polish soil since the 13th century, although at first they were only prepared for special occasions.

Over the next few hundred years, baked and fried dumplings gradually conquered the lands of the Republic of Poland, and their popularisation was certainly fostered by the fact that they could be stuffed with practically anything that happened to be at hand. Interestingly, boiled dumplings gained popularity much later than baked and fried ones; in Wielkopolska, Pomerania and Podlasie, they were not to appear until the inter-war period.

Poland, as far and wide as the eye can see, is full of pierogi!
Each region has its own characteristic variants and flavour combinations which are not found anywhere else. In the borderlands alone, several thousand recipes are known, including Christmas dumplings stuffed with herring.

With time, Lenten dumplings with cottage cheese, cabbage and mushrooms became a permanent fixture on the Christmas menu. It is not hard to guess that, as in the case of poppy seeds and dried fruit, it was related to old Polish beliefs. White cheese was supposed to ward off evil forces Do you still make your Christmas dumplings or do you use the bought ones? If you prefer your own, be sure to let us know what kind of stuffing you use!

Other festive Polish traditions

Personally, I like the theme of Christmas Eve dishes very much, because it is very difficult to exhaust it. Herring, for example, used to be served only in the homes of Polish aristocracy, with such additions as caviar, apple or sea bream. Cheesecake, known as far back as in Ancient Greece, is believed to have appeared in Poland thanks to Jan III Sobieski, and mushroom soup is said to have been popularised by the people of the once very forested Mazovia.

The custom, obvious today, of serving twelve dishes to symbolise the months, wealth and the 12 apostles, has not always been part of Polish tradition either. Depending on their social status, our ancestors ate from five to nine dishes, and the aristocracy even thirteen.

If you want to know the nutritional value of Christmas Eve dishes, use the Fitatu application. You can find them in our database. You can also add your own recipe and find out about its nutritional values. More information about Fitatu can be found at: https://www.fitatu.com