Volunteering for Wigilia

This afternoon my friend and I went to volunteer at the church to serve the Wigalia meal to homeless, elderly and lonely people in Bydgoszcz.

We got there at 1.30 and the hall underneath the church had already been set up beautifully with tables, chairs, table cloths, plants, napkins and cutlery and 150 bowls  with pierogi in  waiting for the borsht soup. 

The bishop came in leading the guests and after grace and a bible reading  wafers were passed around and everyone was breaking bits off each others' wafers and wishing each other Happy Christmas, it was very moving. bishop Christopher was in the thick of it  sharing wafers with all the guests.  The meal was a feat of organisation and precision timing with hot food arriving from restaurants around the city and 150L of borsht prepared in a gigantic pot. I could have hidden in it it was so big! Soon we had laded pre-warmed jugs with borsht and were filling bowls on the tables, which each had 2 pierogi in them, with delicious hot  home made borsht, and we kept serving, circulating with our jugs until everyone had had enough.

The second part of the meal was enormous pieces of fried fish, a large portion of flat square pasta with a mushroom sauce, a heaped ladle of pickled beetroot and a spoon of  a pickled salsa-type side dish. The meal was really generous, with people having as many dishes as they wanted, guests had also brought  flasks, pickle jars, and tupperware to fill and take away with them.  Although the guests came in at 2pm, by 3.30 pm the hall was empty, tables cleared and all the helpers ready to go home, the guests had also received a little container with chicken and vegetables in a jelly and a piece of cake to take with them. 

We really enjoyed being part of the occasion, we couldn't chat with the guests  but that didn't stop a couple of  them asking my friend her her number!!

 And on the way out we were given a bag of food and treats to celebrate the occasion as well. 

I didn't have time to take a photo of the hall before or during the meal but this was after it was all cleared away.

Wigalia is the big Polish celebration at Christmas. Talking to my students last week I asked them what I needed to know for my first Christmas in Bydgoszcz and they came up with their top 5:

 1. Wigalia is a meal of 12 dishes eaten on Christmas Eve. No meat is included but there are several fish dishes including carp, lots of pierogi, borsht and pasta with a mushroom sauce. 

2. An extra place is set for the "unexpected guest",  but its really a symbol of hospitality and in memory of relatives and loved ones that cant be there.

3. You cant start the meal until the first star has been seen, I asked what happened on cloudy nights but couldn't get a straight answer, I guess they estimate.

4. The feast begins with saying grace, breaking the opłatek Christmas wafer to symbolize the gift of daily bread, and wishing each other blessings for the coming year.

5. Sometimes hay is put under the tablecloth to remember Jesus being born in a stable. 

Also mentioned: children decorating the tree on this day, and cleaning the house, even inside the draws and books on the shelves.