Carp in the bath, hay on the table and Home Alone: the most unusual Polish Christmas traditions

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

By Agata Pyka and Richard Greenhill

Although Poland shares some of its Christmas traditions – such as decorating the tree and singing carols – with other Christian countries, a number of its festive practices might seem somewhat peculiar to those without Polish family or friends.

Those more unusual traditions are usually connected with Christmas Eve, which is known as Wigilia in Polish and is the main day of celebrations in Poland. We have picked out seven of the most interesting, from talking animals to a certain festive blockbuster starring Macauley Culkin.

Carp in the bath

Owing to the practice of abstinence during Advent, the twelve-dish Wigilia dinner features an abundance of fish dishes in place of meat. Herring, trout, cod and salmon are all served in various forms, but carp – usually breaded and fried – is without a doubt the centrepiece of the night.

Traditionally, carp was bought live and stored at home before being killed and prepared for the Christmas Eve dinner, leading to the phenomenon of Polish families keeping the fish in the bath during the festive season.

Carp first became a popular choice on the Christmas table after the Second World War due to its availability and affordability for the impoverished population. Its consumption at Wigilia flourished during the communist era and continues to this day, with 90% of domestic carp sold around Christmas.

“A few decades ago, fridges were not at all common in Poland. Hence the idea of buying live fish and killing them just before Christmas Eve,” Cezary Wyszyński from the Viva! animal rights organisation told broadcaster Polskie Radio.

Allegedly, this at-home storage method also ensured that the fish tasted better. It is claimed that when distressed, the carp’s meat can turn bitter – although one might question how happy a river fish can really be when stored in a bathtub.

However, recent years have seen a shift away from the practice, with the Supreme Court in 2016 banning the sale of live fish in plastic bags or boxes without water. Thanks to the efforts of the aforementioned Viva!, seven large supermarkets have withdrawn from selling live carp.

Although the sale of live carp has not yet been completely banned, a 2024 poll by the Compassion in World Farming foundation found that almost 70% of people in Poland support outlawing the sale of live fish, suggesting that this rather inhumane tradition is dying out.

There is, however, a more positive Polish Christmas tradition associated with carp. If a guest finds one of the fish’s scales at the dinner table and keeps it in their wallet, it is believed they will have good luck across the coming year.

A seat for the stray wanderer

Regardless of how many guests will be present for Christmas Eve dinner, the host traditionally sets an extra place at the table and leaves one chair empty throughout the whole evening.

That is for the so-called stray wanderer (zbłąkany wędrowiec in Polish) who may come to the house in need at any moment and should be welcomed with food and drinks just like the other guests at the table.

The symbolic empty seat is in part connected with the biblical story of Mary and Joseph, who were not able to find refuge at the inn after making the long journey to Bethlehem while the pregnant Mary carried their child, Jesus. In this respect, it is a reminder of the importance of helping strangers.

But the origins of the tradition date back to pre-Christian times when pagan Slavs reserved an empty seat for their deceased ancestors, who they believed visited their families during the night of the winter solstice.

That night marked the beginning of Koliada, a Slavic festive period that celebrated the upcoming new year and the symbolic victory of light over darkness, owing to the days becoming longer after the winter solstice.

The practice continues to be popular today, with a 2023 poll from state research agency CBOS indicating that 83% of Poles still leave a seat for the stray wanderer at the Wigilia dinner table.

Hay under the tablecloth

When laying the table for dinner, it is also traditional to place some hay under the tablecloth.

Poles often connect this practice with Jesus’s birth in a hay-filled stable. Hay at the dining table on Christmas Eve reminds guests both of the occasion being celebrated and the modest conditions in which Jesus was born.

However, anthropological studies indicate that the presence of hay at the winter solstice was important for Slavic pagans, as it is a by-product of harvesting grain. It thus symbolised fertility, abundance and prosperity – all of which come with a good harvest – in the approaching year.

Although its meaning has changed, the tradition still retains part of its pagan origin in the modern practice of drawing hay stalks from under the tablecloth. According to superstition, a long, healthy blade will bring good fortune in the coming year, whereas a broken blade can be a portent of ill health.

Spotting the first star

Much of Wigilia is spent preparing dinner, but before guests can begin eating there are two important traditions to observe. The first of these dictates that everyone must wait for the first star, known in Polish as Gwiazdka, the “little star”, to appear in the night sky before sitting down to dinner.

Children are often given the task of looking for the star, perhaps to occupy them while their parents make some last-minute preparations at the dining table, or place presents under the Christmas tree.

The tradition is connected with the biblical story of the nativity, in which it is claimed that the star of Bethlehem led the three wise men to Jesus’s birthplace. On Wigilia, the first star represents Jesus’s birth and so reminds guests of one of the reasons for coming together to celebrate Christmas.

Sharing wishes over a wafer

After the first star has been spotted, it is time for the second pre-dinner tradition.

Each family member takes a thin, flavourless wafer called an opłatek and shares a piece with everyone around the table. While sharing it, they exchange wishes for the coming year and might even ask to be forgiven for their behaviour over the past year.

The sharing of a wafer, which is blessed by a priest and embossed with a religious Christmas scene, most likely originates in the Christian tradition of breaking bread, which can be observed, for example, during the Eucharist.

Although it is not known when Poles first began to share the opłatek, it has likely been practised since at least the 16th century, as it is still observed today in former countries of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, such as Lithuania, Slovakia and parts of the Czech Republic.

In the darker chapters of Poland’s history – when the partitions and World War Two may have meant that relatives lived in exile – the opłatek served as a symbol of nationhood and togetherness. It was mentioned in carols sung by Polish soldiers in the First World War trenches and in the diary of an officer held captive by the Soviets in Katyń forest.

According to the 2023 CBOS survey, 97% of Poles share the opłatek on Wigilia, making it one of the country’s most popular Christmas traditions alongside wishing each other well (98%), eating traditional dishes (98%) and decorating the Christmas tree (96%).

Its enduring popularity perhaps lies not only in its optimistic spirit, but also in its practical simplicity. The opłatek is made from flour, water and oil, and is slim enough to fit inside a Christmas card. That means it could be easily made in times of hardship, while in modern Poland it can be posted to relatives living abroad.

Poland’s favourite Christmas blockbuster

With everyone feeling stuffed after Wigilia dinner and, hopefully, happy with their Christmas presents, the time comes to gather around the television and watch…Home Alone.

The 1992 comedy starring Macauley Culkin as Kevin McCallister – an eight-year-old boy who defends his family’s house from two burglars after accidentally being left alone at home by his parents during the festive period – is a Christmas classic around the world.

But among Poles, it is so popular that it is not uncommon to hear that “a Christmas without Kevin isn’t Christmas”.

Annual data shared by Polsat – the broadcaster that has shown Home Alone in Poland for more than 20 years – indicates that the blockbuster is regularly watched by around 4 million people during the festive period.

That amounts to an impressive 10% of the population and makes it the country’s most popular choice for Christmas viewing. Last year, it had more viewers than Jungle Cruise and The Lion King combined, which were the next most watched movies on Wigilia, according to Nielsen Audience Measurement data obtained by Wirtualne Media.

Although Home Alone premiered in 1992 at Polish cinemas, it was first screened on Polish television at Christmas in 1995. It was shown again at the same time of year in 1997 and 1999, before becoming an annual festive fixture.

In December 2000, 8.9 million people – almost a quarter of the country’s population – watched the movie. When Polsat announced that they would not broadcast it in 2010, a number of Facebook groups sprung up in protest, leading to a reversal of the decision.

The film’s remarkable popularity possibly arose from Polish viewers first encountering it during the country’s transition from communism to capitalism.

The amusing plot, colourful scenes and flashy wealth of Christmas-time America may have provided a welcome escape from the realities of a country that was still struggling with unemployment and poverty.

Talking animals

On Wigilia, conversations are not only shared between humans. It is the one time of the year when it is also possible to speak with animals, who according to tradition will adopt human speech, usually around the stroke of midnight.

This belief might be connected with the birth of Jesus in a stable. According to some accounts, the newborn baby was surrounded by animals who were granted the power of speech so that they could spread the good news of his birth.

However, this tradition is also claimed to have originated among pagan Slavs, who believed that on special occasions, such as the winter solstice, their deceased ancestors could communicate through living animals. It was nevertheless forbidden to eavesdrop on the creatures’ conversations, as it could result in them revealing the date of one’s death.

Midnight is also believed to be an hour when extraordinary or mysterious events can happen. In some folk traditions it is the “witching hour”, a period of heightened supernatural experiences. For Christians, it is the hour of Jesus’s birth and thus a time of miracles.

Today, the tradition has lost its morbid associations. In fact, interaction with speaking animals is encouraged in some families, perhaps by offering one’s pets an opłatek wafer to eat.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Agata Pyka is an assistant editor at Notes from Poland. She is a journalist and a political communication student at the University of Amsterdam. She specialises in Polish and European politics as well as investigative journalism and has previously written for Euractiv and The European Correspondent.

Richard Greenhill is commissioning editor at Notes from Poland. He is an editor, proofreader and writer, who works with arts and culture organisations and publications based in Poland. He previously worked with Przekrój.

Main image credit: Alan Light/Flickr (under CC BY 2.0). Collage created by Agata Pyka