Christmas in Krakow?

Christmas in Krakow? Why not it’s the most beautiful time to visit Poland. Of course it comes with a price – you need to be ready to make your peace with snow, hopefully lots of snow. Wouldn’t hurt to be able to accept that you need to wear a hat and warm clothes. But – on the plus side, Krakow is beautiful. The Market Square offers unique gifts and mulled wine. And – last but not the least – polish people tend to get even more friendly on Christmas. But let’s start from the beginning.

Winter and Christmas time is specially significant for the Poles. In the old times whole families would spend this time together. On the 6th of December adults would give gifts to children – this custom is called Gwiazdka (a star). You would also expect to find a second batch of gifts under the Tree (pl. Choinka) on the Christmas Day. Usually families would eat very official dinner when the first star came to the sky. Then continue celebrating and they would sing Christmas carols. Those are especially beautiful in polish. People would go to a midnight mass called Pasterka.

The Christmas day and the next day are usually off work and most people would celebrate it with their families, relatives and friends. Nowadays when you spent more time with friends rather than with family it still remained that Christmas time is when you are supposed to actually get together with your family. It is a it different to how western European Christmas tradition has evolved. Nevertheless you can still expect all the culture places and going out places to be open. So – go to Kazimierz, go to Krakow’s old town – plenty to do and lots of excitements are awaiting you.

Enjoy and Merry Christmas.

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