Wigilia: The Polish Christmas Eve

Wigilia is the Polish Christmas Eve, and above all its supper on the evening of December 24. It begins when the first star appears, opens with the sharing of a thin wafer and a wish for everyone at the table, and ends, for many families, at Midnight Mass. In 2025 Poland added its Christmas Eve customs to the national list of intangible cultural heritage. Here is the evening step by step, what each custom means, and how families far from Poland keep it.

What the word means

Wigilia comes from the Latin vigilia, a vigil or watch. In Polish it can mean the eve of any feast, but on its own it means one day: December 24, and the solemn supper, the wieczerza wigilijna, at its center. For many Poles it is the most important evening of the year, kept by believers and non-believers alike. An old saying holds that the year will go the way Christmas Eve goes, jaka Wigilia, taki cały rok, so families try to keep the day calm and kind, without a cross word.

Waiting for the first star

When: Dusk on December 24.

What people do: The whole day goes into preparation: the house is cleaned, the tree decorated, the dishes cooked and everyone dressed for the evening. Nobody sits down to eat until the first star, the pierwsza gwiazdka, is seen in the sky. Children are usually given the job of watching for it at the window.

Where it comes from: The star stands for the Star of Bethlehem, which in the Gospel led the Magi to the infant Jesus. Seeing it is the sign that Christmas has begun.

Hay under the tablecloth

What people do: The table is laid with a white tablecloth, and under it goes a little hay, sianko. In some regions, during the meal, everyone pulls a stalk from under the cloth: a long one promises a long and happy life, a short or broken one, a harder year. In older farmhouses, sheaves of the four grains (rye, wheat, barley and oats) were also stood in the corners of the room.

Where it comes from: The hay recalls the manger in Bethlehem, where Jesus was laid among the animals’ feed. The sheaves and the straws are older country customs, wishes for a good harvest in the coming year.

Sharing the opłatek

When: Before the meal, after a short prayer and often a reading of the Christmas story from St. Luke’s Gospel.

What people do: The opłatek is a thin, white wafer of flour and water, usually pressed with a Nativity scene. The head of the family traditionally begins. Each person takes a wafer and goes round the table, breaking off a piece of the other person’s wafer and offering their own, with a wish for the year ahead: health, happiness, success at school or at work. It is also the moment to forgive old grievances. In the countryside, a colored wafer was sometimes kept for the animals.

Where it comes from: Its exact origin is not known, and sources differ. Some historians trace it to the sharing of blessed bread among early Christians in southern Europe, replaced over time by the wafer; others note older rites of sharing bread. One ethnographer interviewed by Polskie Radio dates the Polish custom to the 18th century, first in noble houses, then everywhere; the broadcaster RMF FM places its first appearance in Central Europe in the late Middle Ages. Decorated wafer molds survive from the 17th century. What everyone agrees on is that the custom is now kept most strongly in Poland, and is known elsewhere mostly in Lithuania, Belarus and wherever Polish families live.

The extra place

What people do: One more place is laid than there are people at the table: the dodatkowe nakrycie, an extra setting for an unexpected guest. If someone knocks, a traveler or a neighbor alone at Christmas, they are welcome. Many families make a point of inviting anyone they know who would otherwise spend the evening alone.

Where it comes from: Today the empty plate stands for hospitality: nobody should be alone on Christmas Eve. The ethnographer Małgorzata Jaszczołt explains that it has older roots, in the belief that the souls of the family’s dead came home on that night, and the spare place was kept for them.

Twelve meatless dishes

What people do: Tradition calls for twelve dishes, for the twelve apostles or the twelve months, and everyone should taste each one. They are meatless. What you’ll find depends on the region and the family, but among the most common:

• barszcz czerwony z uszkami, clear beet soup with tiny dumplings, or a mushroom soup;
• pierogi with cabbage and mushrooms;
• karp, carp, and herring prepared several ways;
• cabbage with peas or mushrooms;
• noodles with poppy seed, sugar and honey, or kutia, wheat with poppy seed and honey, from the eastern borderlands;
• makowiec, poppy seed cake;
• a compote of dried fruit.

Where it comes from: The meatless meal comes from the old fast before Christmas. The Church in Poland no longer requires abstinence from meat on Christmas Eve, but the bishops encourage it, and many families keep the custom.

After the supper

Then come the presents, often found under the tree, and carols, kolędy, sung at the table. Near midnight, many families walk to church for Pasterka, the Shepherds’ Mass. Our guide to the rest of the Polish Christmas season covers the carols, the carolers and the days that follow.

A heritage shared beyond Poland

In January 2025, “Christmas Eve traditions in Poland” were added to Poland’s national list of intangible cultural heritage. The entry covers the whole day, not just the meal, and its regional differences. UNESCO lists a joint nomination, “Christmas Eve celebration in Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine”, as in progress.

Keeping Wigilia far from home

Wigilia may be the Polish custom that travels best, because it needs only a table and the people around it. If you live far from Poland:

• Find the opłatek. Polish parishes abroad usually have wafers at Christmas, almost all of them made in Poland. Polish families have long sent a piece of opłatek by post to loved ones who can’t be at the table, so you can share it across the miles: break your piece at the same time, on a video call.
• Watch for the star with the children. Even under city lights, someone will spot one.
• Keep the extra place. It’s the easiest custom to explain to friends who aren’t Polish, and the one they remember. Invite someone who would otherwise be alone.
• Don’t worry about twelve dishes. Barszcz, pierogi and a fish will feel like Wigilia.
• Write your wishes down. If you can’t break the wafer with your parents this year, a card with the wish you would have spoken carries the same meaning.

The greeting for the evening

The Christmas greeting in Polish is Wesołych Świąt. During the wafer, the wishes are personal and spoken face to face; on a card, a simple Zdrowych, spokojnych Świąt, “healthy, peaceful holidays”, says much the same. Our guide to writing your Christmas greeting in Polish has examples to copy, including how to write to Babcia and Dziadek.

Cards for Wigilia

Our cards from Poland carry Wesołych Świąt as their greeting, with every accent set sharp, and leave room for the wish you would have made over the wafer. One of them is painted for this very evening: a wooden cottage under deep snow, two candles lit on the table in the window, and the first star shining over the church. The other, below, is a wooden house in the mountains with a horse and sleigh at the fence. Schedule yours to arrive on December 24.