Celebrating Poland at Christmas will bring an international flare to your holiday table.
Polish Dinner
If you wish, you can certainly go all out with the traditional Wigilia (Christmas Eve dinner) featuring 12 Polish dishes. On the other hand, you can simplify with an easy, yet delicious, Polish Dinner recipe, accompanied by rye bread. After all, kielbasa and sauerkraut are Polish staples!
Celebrating Poland at Christmas with Pierniczki
What’s more, you can finish your meal with pierniczki (Polish gingerbread cookies). Stars and hearts are, undoubtedly, favorite cutter shapes for pierniczki. Or you can try this gingerbread cookie favorite from “Bronner’s Flavorful Favorites, Book 2.”
While a traditional pierniczki recipe calls for honey, gingerbread cookies tend to use molasses. However, if you prefer a darker cookie, you can add a little cocoa to the pierniczki recipe.
Now we can make our main dish for our Polish dinner!
Polish Dinner Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 strips bacon
- 1 tbsp flour
- 1 lb smoked kielbasa
- 26 oz canned sauerkraut
- 2 medium potatoes cubed
- 1 small apple cubed
- 1-1/2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- rye bread to serve
Instructions
- Cut bacon into small pieces and fry until crisp.
- Add the flour and stir until bubbly.
- Cut kielbasa into small pieces and add to the bacon mixture along with the remaining ingredients.
- Mix thoroughly and simmer for at least 1 hour. Serve with thick slices of rye bread.
Notes
Polish Christmas Traditions
After all, celebrating Poland at Christmas includes the opportunity to recreate the people’s traditions as you choose. Bronner’s Polish Christmas customs ornament shares those traditions:
“The Star of Bethlehem is the most popular Christmas symbol. Christmas is known as Gwiazda, or ‘Little Star.’ The first star in the Christmas Eve sky signals the end of a day-long fast of Wigilia, and celebrations begin. Before the Christmas Eve meal is served, the household head distributes an oplatki (peace wafer) symbolizing friendship and peace. A straw-sewn place setting is reserved for the humble Christ. Decorations include an elaborate crèche and choinka (Christmas tree) decorated with straw stars, fruit, nuts, cookies and intricately painted eggs. Often, young men carry a lighted star on a pole en route to Pasterka (Shepherd’s Mass) at midnight Christmas Eve.”
What’s more, you can celebrate the first star in the sky all Christmas season long with our silhouette star of Bethlehem.
In conclusion, if you love bringing international traditions to your Christmas celebrations, you should consider a candlelit Swedish Christmas!
