12 dishes to represent the 12 apostles
In the leadup to Christmas we take a look at how other cultures celebrate the festive season. Mary-Jo Tohill speaks with Alina Suchanski about her traditions.
New Zealand is home to a Polish community of up to 6000 people, many of whom have kept their strong cultural traditions. One of those people is Alina Suchanski, of Te Anau, who has lived in New Zealand 37 years, and never are those traditions stronger than at Christmas.
In Poland, Christmas Eve is the big day of Christmas. It starts with fasting and ends with feasting.
The Wigilia feast, the traditional Christmas Eve vigil supper in Poland, begins with the appearance of the first star. It’s called a ‘‘vigil’’ because they’re waiting for midnight, and the birth of Christ. That’s when the presents are opened and they go to midnight mass.
‘‘In Poland, it’s winter so that (Wigilia) would be about 4pm. In New Zealand, it’s about 10pm because it’s summer, but we don’t wait that long to eat.’’
She has kept up the tradition of starting the feast with a bread wafer ‘‘before digging in’’, a tradition unique to Poland and some parts of Lithuania. The wafers get sent from Poland.
‘‘They’re a bit like the Christmas cracker – that’s a Kiwi tradition that I really like. It feels like you’re sharing something.’’
In Poland, fish is traditionally served – herring and carp.
‘‘You can only purchase carp at Christmas and you buy it live. It lives in the bathtub, and then someone, usually the man of the house, bashes the poor things over the head on Christmas Eve for the feast.’’
In New Zealand, no fish die in Suchanski’s home at Christmas; she has substituted carp for salmon.
Traditionally, Polish people have 12 different dishes on the table to represent the 12 apostles.
Three must-haves at her table are beetroot soup (borscht), filled dumplings (pierogi) and a type of potato salad.
‘‘When we first arrived in New Zealand (in Christchurch) in August 1982, we just had a little tree on a table. Marek (her son) was just three months old. We didn’t know anyone. I wasn’t a great cook but those were the three dishes we had.’’
These days, she has a network of Polish friends and usually spends it with them, if she can’t be with family.
Laying hay under the tablecloth, to represent the hay in the baby Jesus’s manger, is a tradition she remembers from childhood. Presents are hidden in the hay.
‘‘You got one present. With all the presents that kids get these days they wouldn’t fit.’’
She likes to keep things simple, with handmade presents and decorations, and to bear in mind the reason for Christmas.
‘‘I’m not religious but I still like the traditional things about Christmas and to remember what it is about.’’
She likes the barbecues of the Kiwi Christmas, but dislikes the commercialism, and the hype that
‘‘I’m not religious but I still like the traditional things about Christmas and to remember what it is about.’’
creates ‘‘wild-eyed children’’.
‘‘They remind me of the adults on the day before Christmas. They get that same look in their eye.’’
Suchanski is from Szczecin near the German border.
In the Communist era, the idea of Santa Claus or Saint Nicholas was outlawed and attempts were made to introduce a non-religious Russian version, known as Father Frost. He never really took off.
‘‘Polish people stuck to Saint Nicholas.’’