Lviv Now’s Roman Tyshchenko-Lamansky dived into the atmosphere of Christmas in Krakow and talked to Ukrainians who come to Poland to celebrate it.
Snow is slowly falling on the main square of the city and glistening on the cobblestones. The square is surrounded on four sides by medieval townhouses with two or three windows on the facades, a majestic cathedral, and the town hall. On the square, there is a Christmas tree decorated with garlands and a lot of huts in a Christmas fair, where you can buy souvenirs, delicacies, books, and medium-sized copies of ancient weapons. This is Krakow.
Just as Lviv is a Ukrainian tourist capital, Krakow is considered one of the tourist centers of Poland and Europe. A wide variety of audiences come here for the Christmas holidays. On the streets of the city, you can hear a range of languages, except Polish: from English to Chinese. Ukrainian also makes its sound heard. According to the Ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Poland Andrii Deshchytsia, more than 1.5 million Ukrainians currently work and study in the country.
Read also: The debate: to celebrate Christmas 25 December or 7 January?
To get to the central square of Krakow, I flew here from Lviv. I walk the snow-covered streets, flooded with garland lights, music and laughter. On Christmas Eve, 25 December, I went to the old center of Krakow. In front of me, a spectacle opens from the crowded square in front of the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. There is a stage where Christian rock and carols are played. I recognize the analogues of Ukrainian carols by the refrain «Glory to God in the Highest» and the motif «Heaven and earth are triumphing today.»
In terms of rhythm and power, one would think that the songs are performed by bearded rockers, but no. Shaved Franciscan fathers happily jump on the stage in a festive combination of black habit and sweaters with a Christmas tree. In front of the stage, there are a variety of listeners: nuns, parents with children, young companies.
There is a shop next to the stage, where actors dressed in the clothes of the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph are photographed with the audience. A huge queue near the shopka, or nativity scene. I saw such queues just before the entrance to the Prado National Museum in Madrid, because it is free until a certain time. Here, parents and children are photographed, and want to see the sculpture of the Newborn Christ. Some people don’t even know where this queue stands, but they still become curious to find out where it leads.
I go to the church of St. Francis, which is adjacent to the square. It is an elegant Baroque basilica of the XIII century, decorated with paintings of the starry sky, with magnificent stained glass windows, and sculptures of saints. In one of the naves, there is also a shopka, where parents with children get photographs. The carol «Silent Night» in Polish is heard in the church. I remember a lecture by Yaroslav Hrytsak at Ukrainian Catholic University, who said that it was a German carol that came to Ukraine together with Roman Catholicism. Further east than Ukraine, for example, Christian carols are almost non-existent.
Inside the church, I almost immediately meet a couple who was guided by a Google navigator in Russian. This is Valerii and Marina with two children. They are Ukrainians from the Luhansk region who have been living in Krakow for two years. Valerii works on construction, and Marina works part-time. Marina’s city is located on the territory of temporarily occupied Donbas, Valerii’s home is in Kyiv. They are very happy to hear and speak Ukrainian and sincerely talk about how they celebrate Christmas in Krakow. According to Valerii and Marina, they try to join all the celebrations.
«When such actions take place in the city, not even necessarily in the main square, Rynek Główny, – we try to visit them. Recently, there was a night of museums, when you could get to any of them for one zloty. We also maintain relations with Ukrainians in the city, organize joint meetings and visit each other. Covid-19 has made adjustments to the number of tourists, but according to our observations, the number of travelers from Ukraine is now increasing,» Valerii and Marina say.
I leave the church and go straight to the center. On one of these medieval streets, I hear Ukrainian from a man and a woman throwing up their son in the air. I approach them and get acquainted. These are Yurii and Vira from Lviv with their young son, Tadei, who came here for the third day especially for the holidays. They traveled and were first in London, and for Christmas and the son’s birthday, they decided to fly to Krakow:
«We are from Lviv, and its spirit is very much felt here. It was as if we had left home, but actually had flown home. The architecture is very similar to Lviv, the atmosphere is identical to Lviv. We came here to celebrate our son’s birthday because he was born on Christmas. He was two years old, and we waited for him for 12 years. We are just full of emotions, our hometown is so sacred and close to us,» Yurii and Vira say.
It takes at least a week to rest in Krakow to fully explore the city and feel the spirit of the holiday, Vira adds:
«Today, we were on the service in the central cathedral, St. Mary’s Basilica, and walked, now we are returning from the Wawel Castle. You probably need to stay here for at least a week to get around the whole city and fall in love with it even more. It is definitely worth going to Krakow for Christmas. You are filled with such joy here, you will not believe it, but today at work, I cried with happiness,» – the woman adds.
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They are Greek Catholics, but they want to celebrate Christmas with the rest of the world, Yurii and Vira say:
«In general, we are Greek Catholics, but Roman Catholic traditions are familiar to us. Although we will also celebrate Christmas 7 January. If the synod decided that 25 December is one date for everyone, we will agree. We purposefully filled out the questionnaires, and we believe that the celebration of 25 December would have taken root very well in our country as well,» the couple believes.
I walk further down the street. There is music from all sides, but all shops and restaurants are closed. There are only the huts at the fair and carts with street food. It’s quite cold. I stop at one of the working huts for a hot Belgian waffle and mulled wine. A Ukrainian-speaking family is just next to my table. I get acquainted with them.
It is obvious that they are happy to meet someone else from Ukraine. These are Kyiv residents Andrii and Olena, their daughter, Solomiya, and grandmother – Mrs. Sofiia. The couple has lived in Krakow for six years and works in IT. The grandmother came to them for the holidays. They say they support both Greek and Roman Catholic traditions.
«We also meet with family and friends at the holiday table. We exchange gifts for different holidays – both Ukrainian and Polish. Be sure to go for a walk and see the fair. We met with friends, but before, before Covid-19, we did it more often,» – Andriy and Olena said.
The couple moved after Andrii was offered a job by a Polish IT company. They are satisfied with Krakow and say that they feel almost no difference between Ukrainian and Polish culture.
«We moved by accident. I found opportunities to sign a new contract and the company from Krakow was the first to be offered it. I have never been to Poland before, and when the opportunity arose to move, I thought why not to try. The cultural difference between us is small, and after we passed the Polish language exam, the language difference disappeared,» – Andrii narrates.
Mrs. Sofia comes to visit Andrii and Olena every time. She says that as a teacher of Ukrainian language and literature, she just needs to communicate with Poles, because the language is similar to Ukrainian:
«We live near Kyiv, but I come here almost every winter to visit children. And although I don’t know Polish, I understand it very well, because I myself is a retired teacher. I can easily communicate with Poles in the market or in the store,» – she added.
I say goodbye to the family and go to the Main Square. Right in front of me are several rows of holiday houses with different goodies. Behind them is the Renaissance-style City Hall with a red brick tower. The towering Gothic St. Mary’s Church is located to the right, also made of red brick and richly lit. Every fifteen minutes the mechanical clock here still beats the bells. Also in the square, there are many carriages with horses, from which drivers are encouraging passersby in different languages to ride.
I hear laughter and the Ukrainian language near one of the houses. I approach to get acquainted. These are Andrew, Volodymyr, and Natalia. They are from Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Ternopil, and have been in Krakow for over five years. The company operates in one of the restaurants in Kraków, located on the Main Square. It is said that Krakow celebrates on a larger scale, but the traditions of the celebration are similar, because the only difference is the festive table:
« I’m from a small town, and I don’t have, for example, such a fair at home. In comparison, the fair in Chernivtsi and here – it’s heaven and earth. When there was Holy Evening, everyone gathered at home and celebrated in a family and friendly circle, we also gathered in particular. It is interesting that in our country, for example, kutia is an integral attribute of the holiday, and their main dish is borsch with «ears» – dumplings with cabbage and mushrooms,» Andrii says.
Natalia calls the fact that everyone has a day off, including service workers, a plus, because spending time with her family is more important to her than going to work.
«Everyone gathers in a family circle and closes all the shops. Even now, it is clear that all restaurants are closed, they will open on the second day after Christmas. It’s better than working, because a person spends time with his family,» – she added.
We can hardly find an open-air restaurant with free seats. This is not an institution of Polish cuisine, but American. However, we also order hot beer – honey, which is drunk everywhere in Poland, and eat a huge cheeseburger with it.
It will be recalled that in religious circles in Ukraine, discussions are underway on the transition to the Gregorian calendar, according to which Christmas is celebrated 25 December. You can read more about this in the Lviv Now article at the link. Or here you can read here a defense of keeping two dates for Christmas.
Roman Tyshchenko-Lamansky, Translated by Vitalii Holich
Photo: Daniel Tyurin
The material was created with the support of the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Lviv. Full or partial publication of the text without the written consent of the editors is prohibited and is considered copyright infringement.
You can read a Ukrainian language version of this story here.
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Lviv Now is an English-language website for Lviv, Ukraine’s «tech-friendly cultural hub.» It is produced by Tvoe Misto («Your City») media-hub, which also hosts regular problem-solving public forums to benefit the city and its people.
