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Milena Harez: Polish Traditions

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Milena Hareza is an eighteen-year-old girl who I met in high school when I was a freshman. She moved to America from Poland around six years ago when she was twelve years old. I met Milena the summer before I started high school at cross-country practice. When I asked Milena if she could help me with my culture project and be my partner to write about, she was more than willing to help me since we have been friends for years. Milena is Polish, and she is very connected with her Polish culture. Her family attends a Polish Church in Clifton every Sunday, and she only speaks in Polish with her family at home. The city in Poland where Milena is from is called Zakopane, which is located in the far south of Poland, at the base of the Tatras Mountains. …show more content…

According to the US Department of State website, 96 percent of people in Poland identify as Roman Catholic. However unlike in the United States, in Poland Christmas is celebrated more on Christmas Eve, December 24th. Milena told me all about the traditions that are involved with Christmas Eve celebrations in Polish families. One tradition is the sharing of the oplatek. The oplatek is a thin wafer that is made from flour and water, similar to the Eucharist. The Christmas oplatek wafer is shared before Wigilia, which is the name for the Christmas Eve supper. Wigilia usually consists of twelve meatless dishes. According to “The Twelve Dishes of Polish Christmas” article written by Magdelina Kasprzyk–Chevriaux, these dishes include meals such mushroom soup, a beatroot soup called red borsch, carp, herrings, sauerkraut, cabbage, and pierogis. The twelve meatless dishes represent the twelve apostles that Jesus had and also the twelve months of the year. Desert usually includes dried fruit compote and pastries. Milena also told me that when the women of the family are cooking supper, the children and the men of the family are usually decorating the Christmas tree. After supper, everyone gathers under the Christmas tree to exchange gifts and sing carols together. Later on that night, the whole family will ready to go to Midnight Mass. This Polish tradition of midnight mass is better known as Pasterka, or the Shepherds'

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