Christmas dishes, traditions and customs
The guests were welcomed by the University of Lodz Vice-Rector for Internationalisation of Science and Education, dr hab. Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek, Associate Professor at the University of Lodz.
December is a special time – full of meetings, joy, good food, making relations, getting to know each other. I hope we will be doing just that right now! It’s wonderful to see your faces, so many young and energetic people from different cultures. What can be better than being together, being friendly, loving and full of joy?! Enjoy the meeting and thank you so much for coming
– said Prof. Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek.
The atmosphere of Polish Christmas was introduced to the students by employees of the International Relations Office of the University of Lodz, who talked about the traditions and customs accompanying Christmas Eve and the following festive days. The guests could compare Polish customs with those prevailing in their countries. This part ended with a quiz for the participants, testing their knowledge of Polish Christmas customs, and then there was time for blissful consumption of traditional Christmas Eve dishes. Students from other European countries, as well as from Asia, Africa and America could try herring, carp in jelly, mushroom and cabbage dumplings and other dishes. Of course, there were also wishes and the traditional sharing of the "opłatek" [thin wafer similar in consistency to a communion host generally stamped with an elaborate Christmas scene].
2600 international students of the University of Lodz
We usually invite first-year students to take part in the Christmas dinners. For many of them, this is the first opportunity to meet in such a large group with colleagues from other countries, as well as with representatives of the university authorities. There are almost 2,600 students from about 90 countries at the University of Lodz today. For years, Christmas dinners, allowing them to learn about Polish traditions, have enjoyed such great popularity among them that they are organised in two rounds.
Photo report of the Christmas meetings
Source: Communications and PR Centre, University of Lodz
Photos: Maciej Andrzejewski (Communications and PR Centre, University of Lodz)