- Title: POLAND: Polish Orthodox celebrate Christmas
- Date: 9th January 2012
- Summary: VARIOUS PRIEST LEADING MASS BOYS
- Embargoed: 24th January 2012 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Poland, Poland
- Country: Poland
- Topics: People,Religion,Religion
- Reuters ID: LVA8ZY342WX22UURQC4XY0J11836
- Story Text: Poland's Orthodox Christian minority marked Christmas Eve on Friday (January 6) in the countries culturally and religiously diverse eastern regions.
Many gathered in homes for a 12 course Christmas dinner which begins with the arrival of the first star in the sky.
Traditional dishes, which cannot be missed on the Christmas table are Kutia, which is a mixture of wheat, poppy seeds and honey, fish and dried fruit compote, or fruit stew. Adhering to the old customs, bread represents food, garlic is a symbol of health, salt is intended to ensure an abundance, and honey - success.
"Christmas is a fasting day for us. We prepare by attending liturgy and accepting holy sacraments. For our family this means being closer to God, a possibility for this and a spiritual joy. But in order to feel the spiritual joy, we need to overcome some hardships, and fasting such a hardship," says Iwona Iwaniuk, who spends Christmas dinner with her family.
Orthodox tradition demands worshippers start celebrating Christmas at the night Mass with the liturgy lasting several hours till early morning.
Midnight Mass concludes a four-week fast during which Christians confess their sins and receive communion.
Orthodox Christmas is celebrated exactly 13 days after Western Christmas, because in the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian Orthodox Church decided to stay with the old Julian calendar, which lags almost two weeks behind the new Gregorian calendar of most other Christians.
The Russian, Georgian Orthodox, Serbian and Jerusalem churches, Athos monasteries, some Protestants and some Catholics celebrate Christmas on January 7 according to the Julian calendar.
"Despite the difference in calendars, these holidays bond the Orthodox and Catholics. We invite each other, we respect each other and we celebrate together - us in Catholic homes or Catholics in Orthodox homes. Because the families are mixed, and the differences from the past, which may be still alive with the older generations, are gone in the younger generations," said priest, Michal Wasilczyk, referring to historical feuds over ethnicity and religion in the ethnically diverse region.
There are about 600,000 Orthodox believers gathered around 250 parishes in the Poland's eastern districts, and main cities Bialystok and Lublin. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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