How I spend Christmas Eve

I’m assuming that for lots of British families, Christmas Eve is a day for final preparations before the big day itself; making sure that everything for Christmas dinner is ready, ensuring all the gifts are wrapped (maybe even buying some last minute), putting up decorations, and potentially beginning the festive drinking.

Of course, Christmas Eve telly is also a wonderful way to spend the night before having to interact with countless family members that you see once, maybe twice a year. However, for me I am privileged enough to have, for the past few years, celebrated Wigilia, the Polish celebration of Christmas Eve.

Wigilia is a traditional Christmas Eve vigil supper in Poland. The term refers to the day of Christmas Eve, however, extends further to Pasterka (midnight mass), held in Roman Catholic Churches all over Poland and in Polish communities worldwide.

In my home, Wigilia mostly centres around the meal. The dinner always excludes meat and is instead extremely fish-heavy; personally, not my favourite food group, however I can appreciate it every now and then. The fish of choice is traditionally Carp, an extremely bony and chicken-like fish – of all the fish, Carp is an acceptable option for my tastebuds.

Prior to the fish however, I must battle through the task of eating a bowl of borscht. Essentially, Borscht is red beetroot soup, served with bread. Again, not my favourite. Following the beetroot soup and serving of Carp, my favourite part of the meal is served. Dessert. This varies from year to year, with my personal favourite being poppy seed cake, Babka.

To be honest, Wigilia is not my favourite day of the year because the food is simply not to my taste, however celebrating a Polish holiday with my Polish family is very joyful, and we get to open one present on Christmas Eve. To answer the question of; is it just as important as the day itself? I’d say yes, it is equally as important, but for me Christmas Day will always be more joyful (and tastier).