Wigilia

This bowl of soup is no ordinary bowl of soup.
No.

This is a bowl of divinity.
Served only on Christmas Eve.
It is a Polish tradition.

My family is Polish American.
We have celebrated Christmas Eve the exact same way every single year of my life.
And before me, my parents have celebrated this exactly the same way every year of their lives, and so did my grandparents.

Our Christmas celebration is called Wigilia and here is what I found written about it:

"Among Poles, the most beloved and beautiful of all traditional festivities is that of Christmas Eve. It is called Wigilia, and it is when Christmas Eve Dinner is served. It is a solemnly celebrated occasion and arouses deep feelings of kinship among family members. For days in advance, Poles prepare the traditional foods and everyone anxiously awaits the moment when the first star, known as the Gwiazdka, appears in the eastern sky. For that is when the feast to commemorate the birth of the Christ Child begins.

Before sitting down at the table, everyone breaks the traditional wafer, or Oplatek and exchanges good wishes for health, wealth and happiness in the New Year. This is such a deeply moving moment that often tears of love and joy are evoked from the family members who are breaking this symbolic bread. The Oplatek is a thin, unleavened wafer similar to the altar bread in the Roman Catholic Church. The wafer is known as the bread of love and is often sent by mail to the absent members of the family.

Traditional Polish Christmas Eve dinner must consist of Lenten fare – no meat, except for fish, can be served on that day. Wigilia should consist of 12 dishes. One should try at least a little bit of each of them.
Although the dishes vary in different regions of Poland, there are some more popular ones. The most typical soup that is served in Polish families on that evening is a mushroom soup with mushroom dumplings (called ‘uszka’ – small ears). Haddock, one of the other most important parts of Christmas Eve dinner, is usually fried. Other popular dishes are cabbage with peas or mushrooms, pierogi (dumplings) with cabbage, cheese or sauerkraut, noodles with poppy, or golabki (stuffed cabbage). "

It is remarkable how closely my families tradition follows the description above!

The photo of the bowl of soup was taken by my niece this year. If you look carefully you can see the uszka...big mushroom stuffed noodles!
This soup is without a doubt a soup that holds magic for all of us.
For years we have all participated in the making of the uszka - gathering in someone's kitchen up to our elbows in flour! I have so many childhood memories of rolling out dough, and stuffing the little noodles, and shaping them into what looks like a little crown. The uszka are somewhat like tortellini stuffed with minced onion and mushroom, but they are nothing like tortellini in any other way.
They are simply incredible. The soup is also filled with lots of chopped mushrooms, dried mushrooms and uski noodles.
We also make our own pierogi; cheese and sauerkraut. The ritual behind the preparation is pretty remarkable and one that I miss now that my family lives so far away from my parents. But I so appreciate my siblings and parents for their fabulous work to prepare this meal.

One of the other more amazing parts to the evening is the sharing of wishes for the new year. This is the most intimate gesture by all family members between all family members and it is unbelievably moving. Each one of us gets a piece of oplatek (a thin wafer) and one by one, we each speak to each other from the heart, wishing for each other what we most think the other would cherish. After speaking your wish the other person then breaks a piece off of your oplatek and eats it, symbolizing the taking in of the wish. And then you reverse rolls....receiving a wish and breaking and eating a piece of their wafer.
It is deeply moving and intimate and such a beautiful expression of love.
This year, Anders was completely able to take part in this exchange - and his wishes were real and beautiful and simple. I was struck by his ability to connect so intimately with all of his cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents, and by how grown up he is getting!
For me, this moment- the sharing between family - is probably the most powerful and meaningful out of the entire year. We are all so busy and live so far away that this kind of connection doesn't happen very often. Looking into the eyes of each family member and in a way giving them a blessing for the year is indescribable.
Being one who thrives on intimacy and connection, you can see how this fills a deep need in my own soul.

So Happy New Year to all, and may your year be filled with health, happiness and a deep sense of love.