The afternoon children have been learning about Christmas traditions in Poland from Sophie’s Mum who very kindly came in to Nursery to talk to us.
We learned about the twelve dishes at their meal, the empty place at the table for any passing stranger who has nowhere to celebrate Christmas and that they eat fish not turkey for their Christmas meal. Santa visits Poland too but when Sophie’s Mum was a little girl in Poland she could not open her parcels until they had had their meal and that did not happen until they had seen the Bethlehem star in the sky.
We were able to taste the nativity wafers that they have on Christmas Eve as Sophie’s family still send them from Poland. We loved the tradition that they break a wafer with someone and apologise for anything wrong they have done or said towards that person before wishing them a happy Christmas.
Thank you so much to Sophie’s Mum for helping us all to learn about Christmas in Poland. It was very interesting to find out what the similarities and differences are between a Polish and a Scottish Christmas.