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Did you know before we started celebrating  Christmas Eve and Christmas, and Christianity became the professed religion,  our ancestors celebrated on December 21-22, called Szczodre Gody  also the celebration of the Winter Sun ?  It was  holiday  special,  because it symbolized  a new beginning and rebirth of nature. This is the time when the day grows longer and finally, with the advent of spring,  plants  could bear fruit. And the brightness -  sun and a longer day -   wins  with darkness -  at night.

Each of the  12  evenings, starting with  evening with  25 on  26  December, a  ending with  including z  5 on  On January 6, he was considered to be  "holy". These  twelve  the days corresponded  twelve  months  in year. On  the weather every day -  because every day in  Godach meant  another month  -  read what the weather will be like  every month in  year. At that time, no manual work was performed, apart from supervising and  feeding livestock. Everything had to be prepared and  cooked in advance. They met in  homes, people visited each other, songs were sung, sumptuous meals were eaten, and gifts were given. The ancient Slavs called this time of the winter solstice the Mating Festival or the Generous Mornings. Together with  development of Christianity began to be identified with  The birth of Jesus.

However, on December 25 in Ryma, not Christmas was celebrated, but Sole Invictus (Latin Invincible Sun), which should not be surprising as it is the time  winter solstice and  lengthening  myself  day, and shorten the night. Really  light begins to reign over darkness, limiting the duration of dark nights. 

Exactly that  Christianity  their rites, but also their dates  matched pagan beliefs. And yes:  

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• 12 dishes on the table  it symbolized the 12 months of the year.

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• An additional place was placed on the table for relatives who had died. Souls were invited that evening  the dead  down  table  putting  for  them  additional  covering.

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• Carol singers used to appear  in front of the houses  in animal masks,   they sang or  they recited  wishes and blessings  that the coming year  was abundant in  crops, and cattle i  the game was kept well and healthy. These magic dances and  chants  were to guarantee prosperity and fertility in  the coming year, for this reason, the carol singers were awarded  treats and small money. The star carried at the head of the march alluded to Dawn (associated with dawn  and aurora  in the morning  ) which is the morning star shown on  the horizon just before sunrise-  announcing  his  advent.  Star  yeah  indirectly  symbolized   dissuasive  out the sun. Carol singers wearing masks were to ensure the harvest, as well as   the snapping jaws of the turquoise (bull) symbolized fertility, which it symbolically passed on to the hosts  striking the householders with horns.

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• Christmas tree.  This is a fairly new tradition that came to us from Germany. Our ancestors  instead of whole conifers, they kept at home  only their tips or branches that were suspended  down  alone  the ceiling.  Decorations  this  type  were called  as  bedside table  or  Sub-carriers .  Other  it was the custom of our ancestors to place the first sheaf of oats, wheat or un thawed rye cut off last year in the corner of the room during the holidays.  diducha, necessarily with ears up. It was being decorated  dried fruit  and nuts, and carefully stored after the holidays until spring. It was from the seeds coming from the ears of that sheaf that should have started next year's sowing. Diduch (meaning "grandfather"  that is, ancestor)  had  symbolize the presence of ancestors  during festive activities,  deter  evil powers, and was also an omen of abundance in the coming year. It is also worth mentioning here   about one of the traditional Christmas Eve dishes called kutii ( 1. ) . She was too  formerly associated with the spirits of ancestors, during Dziady and Slavic funeral ceremonies called tryna .  At the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, tradition  of decorating the rye sheaf with nuts, apples, wooden birds and figurines made of dough almost completely remained  replaced with the custom of decorating the Christmas tree. This custom came from Germany and eventually the Christmas tree became  symbol of another holiday which is Christian Christmas.

• Kutia.  An important dish was kutia (poppy seed, along with grain  cereals  and honey).  In Slavic mythology  the winter solstice was associated with one of the four feasts of the dead each year. That is why it is so important  he was a symbol of life on the banquet table  - wheat grains that will sprout in the spring.  Whereas  poppy,   it symbolized already in antiquity  death. It was a flower that grew on the banks of the Lethe River - separating the world of the dead from the world of the living.  Probably for this reason Christians said that the poppy bloomed on Calvary, where the blood of Christ had dripped. It is for symbolic reasons that poppy seeds and dishes containing its grain appeared at pagan and Christian feasts and all-soul festivals.  However, the poppy was also believed in beneficial effects as a link between death and life, and was attributed with powers that made it a symbol of fertility. It was believed that planting seeds and seeds helps protect them from visits from the afterlife. A handful of kutia was tossed upwards towards the sky to bring the power of rebirth in the spring as it fell to the ground and provided  rich harvest.

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• Hay under the tablecloth .  In pagan times, hay was placed under the tablecloth to win the favor of the gods responsible for the vegetation of plants - Weles, Mokosz and Świętowit. Interestingly, our ancestors were much more generous than us in this matter, because they also spread hay for their gods under the table and around.  In the same places, grains were also scattered, the symbolism of which for the Slavs living from agriculture was obvious. For a long time after the advent of Christianity, the aforementioned hay was also used for traditional Christmas fortune-telling  -  pulling out a green stalk heralded health; one with ears of grain  -  abundance, and dry  -  upcoming problems.

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• Decorations. Today we decorate houses  cocolonry, glass  baubles, lights and garlands. In the past, houses were decorated with straw ornaments, which were given a shape  the sun.  

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• IN  On Christmas Eve , the animals speak with a human voice . Former  Slavic  believed that animals could be intermediaries in transmitting words from the soul of a deceased ancestor, therefore on the evening they remembered the dead, they believed that their  ancestor  can give them a message  by animals.  

Meals  prepared  with the Slavs on  the period of Generous Mating, just like today  Christmas Eve, it was getting ready  from the produce of the earth, such as: poppy seeds, fish, cabbage, peas and honey  that is  dishes from everything that is born in the field, forest and meadow. Whereas  trying each of the dishes had  provide us  abundance, vitality and happiness for the next year, skipping even one dish meant that we would miss some  a pleasure for the next year.

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What is important about these holidays, whether you are celebrating a pagan Generous Wedding or a Christian Christmas, is joy, forgiveness and love. Born  new time, new year, and most of us would agree that 2020 was a difficult and exhausting time.

Merriment and abundance of joyful events.  

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Sources:

1. Barbara Ogrodowska "Polish annual rituals and customs." Warsaw: Muza SA, 2004

2. Maria Ziółkowka, "Szczodry Evening, Szczodry Dzień - rituals, customs, games", People's Cooperative Publishing House, Warsaw 1989

3. https://ethnomuseum.pl/blog/kutia/

4. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bz47mbgVHSgrZmFZWDRlUXB2WTA/edit

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