How Christmas is in Poland

Ola gathered some facts for us about how Christmas is celebrated in Poland, where snow is not an exception but normal in this season.

All the family is united on Christmas Eve, and there are many strong traditions linked to Christmas in Poland. 
It starts with my favourite part of all this time, we're dividing a wafer, a reminder that Christmas is about sharing and friendship. The wafer is really delicious and combined with the meaning, it's even more heart-warming and I'm always a tiny little bit sad when this part of Christmas is over.

But, I don't have much time for being sad, since there are twelve different dishes waiting for me at dinner. They include borsch, fishes of different kinds ("killing the carp" is also very traditional - when the familiy "chief" is killing the alive-buyed carp before preparing it for dinner), dried fruit compote and also amazingly delicious - pasta with poppy seeds.
Desserts are uncommon, as you can imagine, we're rather full after this huge serving! But they're saved for the next days and we can indulge in Christmas food for the next days, too.
What you might have noticed - we don't eat meat during this dinner! Because Christmas is about peace, it would be cruel to kill animals for food, says tradition (well, questinable about the fish - but still!).

Some non-food traditions include setting a spare plate at dinner for an unexpected guest and putting grass or hay under the tablecloth to bring good luck to the family.