Wigilia: Why Poland celebrates Christmas Eve with 12 dishes

In Poland, people eat 12 courses for Christmas Eve! The Wigilia menu is not only very rich and elaborate in culinary terms, but also culturally. Many of the customs surrounding the dinner revolve around the birth and life of Jesus. No wonder, as more than 70% of the population in Poland are Catholic. We show you what is behind what is probably the most elaborate Christmas dinner in Europe.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
00:26 12 dishes and no meat
01:54 Wigilia traditions
02:34 Poppy seeds in Polish cuisine
03:09 The menu
03:43 Restaurant or home-cooked
04:23 Outro

CREDITS
Report: Rahel Zahlmann
Camera: Tomasz Drzewiecki
Edit: Carolin Haberland
Supervising editor: Ruben Kalus

Thumbnail:
© picture alliance / Zoonar / Darius Dzinnik
© DW

#dweuromaxx #poland #christmas
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[SilurusDominus]

Those polish dishes looked amazing! Greatings from Hungary! 😉

[kisutis]

Same in Lithuania - not less than 12 dishes are compulsory on Christmas Eve and no meat.

[IamMaria]

Yeah, very scrumptious and hearty course ❤
In my home country, we have a feast at midnight similar in New Year’s Eve

[saramar]

Christmas in Poland is all in all very magical. I love it so much!❤️

[santostv.]

In Portugal we eat for fish codfish or octopus next day roasted turkey, chicken, lamb, goatling, piglet preferences varies a bit by region.

[sylviavanacker]

For a desert apart from kutia (which grew in populararity in the eastern parts of Poland) there’s delicious types of cakes as well. There’s also a soft drink prepared from dried fruit and similar spices used for mulled wine. Bon appetite!

[MyNativeCook]

I really like your videos!! Thank you for inspiring me to cook food for my family!

[Garfield]

Kocham Polskie tradycje. Kocham Polsce nawet z daleka

[MegaMoflis]

the best food in Poland is made at home

[Ms.rana]

as am nepali girl living in poland with polish partner .. he force me to watch this video 😊

[ichi_san]

thanks for this. I love learning more about Polish food so I appreciate this a lot.
wait were all 12 meals introduced?

[sazarkanas]

A twelve-dish Christmas Eve supper is traditionally prepared to commemorate Jesus' twelve disciples in Central, Northern and Eastern European cultures, especially those that were formerly part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and neighbouring countries.

[MegaPierzak]

Twelve dishes, and they vary depending on region.

[Carole-es]

Italian Americans serve " the feast ofthe seven fishes".

[LorraineOkie]

I love it my mother did it all . She would start after. Thanksgiving

What about pink beet soup borscht is this Russian

[gloriastone]

The Ukrainians do this as well. Twelve meatless dishes - a lot are the same like the perogies and beet soup with dumplings - a few are different. All of them delicious!

[nika-vviy]

Jesus loves you, Jesus loves me, Jesus loves everyone!!

[TheKam]

You won't be able to eat wigilia in restaurant. I don't think that is a restaurant that stays open past 1pm on Christmas Eve.

[denkoxh]

These look like some great dishes. Well done Poland for holding onto your traditions and faith. At a time when the rest of Europe lose theirs and have no idea what anything means anymore

[TheVirtualny]

those 12 dishes are not entirely true. There must be an odd number i.e. 3, 5, 7, 11, etc. The number 12 is the only even number allowed.