Wigilia Dishes

Wigilia is the Christmas Eve supper and it is the most fixed meal in the Polish year. It is traditionally meatless, begins when the first star is seen, opens with the sharing of oplatek - a thin wafer broken and exchanged with wishes around the table - and runs to twelve dishes, a number variously explained as the apostles or the months. The composition varies by region but the recurring dishes are barszcz with uszka, small mushroom dumplings; carp, fried or in jelly; herring in oil or cream; pierogi with cabbage and mushroom; kutia in the east, a wheat, poppy seed and honey dish; cabbage with peas or mushrooms; and dried fruit compote. A place is left empty at the table for an unexpected guest, and hay is put under the tablecloth. Restaurants and hotels serve versions in December, but the meal is domestic by nature and is not really a public one.

What you actually see

• Twelve meatless dishes - the fixed count, whatever the regional composition.
• Oplatek shared - a wafer broken and exchanged with wishes before eating.
• Barszcz, carp, herring, pierogi - the dishes that recur everywhere.
• An empty place - set for an unexpected guest, with hay under the cloth.

When to go

24 December. An evening.

Honest expectations

This is a family meal in homes - restaurant versions are approximations. Carp is divisive even among Poles. Almost everything in Poland closes on 24 December afternoon and on Christmas Day.

Nearby

Christmas markets in the cities run through December before it.