My family’s
06
Polonian-American
Christmas
O
ver the years
I have written
about Christmas
celebrations in
Poland and Polonia,
but one reader asked:
“Why don’t you ever
write about how your
Polish/Polonian Affairs Writer
Polish-American
family celebrated
Christmas?” He had
a point, so for what
it’s worth, today
I’m gathering some
memories from years ago when I was growing up in
the Detroit-Hamtramck area.
Robert Strybell,
Like most Pol-Am families of that period, we celebrated a
traditional Wigilia or Christmas Eve supper, and that was what
set Polonians apart from those of other nationalities. The typical
All-American families mainly highlighted “that big turkey dinner
with all the trimmings” on Christmas Day.
In many families that caused problems, because both sides of
the family would want their kids and grandkids over on “that
big day.” To keep both sides happy, after a few hours at one
place, many a harried dad would bundle his gang into the car
and head for the other side of the family- for more food, drink,
presents and commotion. If the husband’s and wife’s families
lived some distance apart, that meant a day of hassle, dressing
the kids, loading the car, driving across the metropolitan area,
unloading the car, undressing the kids, etc., etc.
Fire Place: Bigstock.com/ LisaTuray.
Fortunately, my family experienced no such problems: Wigilia
was always at the home of my paternal grandparents –
Kazimiera and Zdzisław Strybel, and Christmas dinner the next
day was always hosted by my mother’s folks – Katarzyna and
Jan Kupczyński.
Babcia Kazia, as I always called her, was a real Polish
traditionalist who attached great importance to all the Polish
rituals, symbols and foods. Things always began with the
breaking and sharing of opłatek. Then came the Wigilia
delicacies – clear mushroom noodle soup, herring in sour
cream, fried walleye, sauerkraut and mushrooms, pierogi, dried fruit
compote and noodles and poppyseeds. No deli item was in sight, as
everything was made from scratch.
After supper, kolędy were played on 78 rpm records, and gifts from
under the Christmas tree were passed out. As the eldest grandson, I
usually got to play Santa Claus but without the beard and costume.
Eventually we left for Pasterka, Midnight Mass, and my favorite was
that celebrated at the imposing cathedral-like Church of St Florian
in nearby Hamtramck, then a Polish suburb. The kolędy sung by the
seminarians of Father Henry Waraksa’s Schola Cantorum from the
Polish Seminary at Orchard Lake provided great spiritual uplift.
On Christmas Day, we went to dinner prepared by Babcia
Kupczyńska, so things fell into place nicely and there was no
pressure to visit both sides of the family on the same day. One
reason for that was that Babcia Kupczyńska never prepared an
elaborate Wigilia of the kind the Strybel grandparents did. The
reason: she had to tend her little beer, wine and candy store until
late in the evening, and made do with an abbreviated version of
the celebration for just herself, Dziadek and their two, and later one
still-at-home daughter. Naturally there was opłatek, herring and
sauerkraut and Lima beans, maybe some fried fish. Dziadek was
known to spread honey on his opłatek.
At the Kupczyńskis, the main event was Christmas Day when the
little store was closed. Twenty-five people often showed up for the
event. There was the run-of-the-mill turkey with cranberry sauce and
mashed potatoes and gravy, but the main attraction was Babcia’s
homemade baked kiełbasa. For the past several days after coming
home from her store at night, she would laboriously cut pork butt
with a knife into tiny bits with which the casings would be stuffed.
Everyone raved over that unforgettable taste, texture and aroma of
her kiełbasa.
All in all, things were not all that spectacular. In many ways similar
low-key celebrations were taking place all over Polish America. And
probably in many of those families things took a downturn after the
grandparents’ generation went on to their reward. After that, things
were never quite the same. But through the vehicle of imagination
we can relive the sights, sounds and smells of those bygone times
as well as picture the smiling or at times frowning faces of long
deceased loved ones. Memories are one thing no one can rob us of!