• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Using a cherished family recipe handed down from ancestors from Poland, Catholic Review Managing Editor George Matysek Jr. and his wife, Treasa, spend the wee hours before Christmas making, kneading and rolling out dough and then dropping homemade potato-and-cheese filling into each carefully crafted circle. (George P. Matysek Jr./CR staff)

Pierogi factory: Catholic Review managing editor relishes Polish Christmas traditions

December 20, 2022
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Catholic Review
Filed Under: Christmas, Commentary, Feature, The Narthex

Before our five children hang stockings on the mantle or set out cookies and carrots for Santa and his reindeer on Christmas Eve, Treasa and I will transform our Rodgers Forge kitchen into a two-person pierogi factory.

Using a cherished family recipe handed down from my maternal ancestors from Poland, my wife and I will inevitably spend the wee hours before Christmas making, kneading and rolling out dough and then dropping homemade potato-and-cheese filling into each carefully crafted circle. We’ll press the dough together to form what are essentially large, semi-circular dumplings that we’ll boil and then, ultimately, fry and sprinkle with granulated sugar at our Christmas celebration.

Pierogi-making in the same week we also wrap presents, clean house and await the frenzy and wonder of Christmas morn isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s tedious, time-consuming and a bit exhausting. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Holding onto traditions even as we create new ones is an essential way to connect our Christmases to those who have gone before and to those yet to come.

When my family shares the oplatek on Christmas Eve – a thin, unleavened piece of bread embossed with images of the Nativity – we’re celebrating the Holy Family in a way that also lifts up families past and present. Our children are still too young to appreciate the power and beauty of this Polish tradition that goes back hundreds of years, but the idea is to express our love for each member of the family as we break and share pieces of the wafer. It’s also a time to ask for forgiveness for any wrongdoings, anticipating the start of the new year with a clean slate.

When we listen to kolendy, those beautiful Polish Christmas carols that often take the form of sweet lullabies, we’re hearing tunes and lyrics that retell the Christmas story across the ages.

And when we mark our doors with a special chalk blessing on the Epiphany, we’re honoring the same Christ made manifest to the Magi more than 2,000 years ago and asking him to bless all those who enter our house in the new year.

My Irish-American wife, who wasn’t familiar with any of these traditions before we married, has given me the greatest Christmas gift I could ever want by embracing them as her own and helping to pass them on to our children.

Maybe one day we’ll try the traditional 12-course Polish Christmas Eve meal known as Wigilia – but not until our little helpers are big enough to pitch in on the preparations.

Wesołych świąt!

Email George P. Matysek Jr. at gmatysek@CatholicReview.org

Read More Christmas

RADIO INTERVIEW: The Holy Family

Continue contemplating the mystery of Christmas, pope urges

Priest weathers Christmas blizzard on fireboat celebrating Mass for two

Parishioners at Ss. Philip and James weather cold snap with Christmas spirit

Ukrainian archbishop urges people to celebrate Christmas even amid war

Jesus’ birth is not ‘fairy tale,’ but call to live the Gospel, pope says

Copyright © 2022 Catholic Review Media

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

George P. Matysek Jr.

George Matysek, a member of the Catholic Review staff since 1997, has served as managing editor since September 2021. He previously served as a writer, senior correspondent, assistant managing editor and digital editor of the Catholic Review and the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

In his current role, he oversees news coverage of the Archdiocese of Baltimore and is a host of Catholic Review Radio.

George has won more than 100 national and regional journalism and broadcasting awards from the Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association, the Catholic Press Association, the Associated Church Press and National Right to Life. He has reported from Guyana, Guatemala, Italy, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.

A native Baltimorean, George is a proud graduate of Our Lady of Mount Carmel High School in Essex. He holds a bachelor's degree from Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore and a master's degree from UMBC.

George, his wife and five children live in Rodgers Forge. He is a parishioner of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland.

View all posts from this author

| Recent Commentary |

Question Corner: Jesus became man so I could become God?

The mental health crisis crosses all boundaries and ages

Hold the tuna casserole; pass the crab cake this Lent

Question Corner: Do we relax our Lenten fasts on Sunday?

Pope Francis: 10 titles for 10 years

| Recent Local News |

Sister Elizabeth Ellen Kane, O.S.F., dies at 81

RADIO INTERVIEW: Dining with the Saints

Archdiocese dispenses with meatless obligation for St. Patrick’s Day

Sister Mary Kathleen Marie Saffa dies at 86

Trainor to retire from post as Mount St. Mary’s president in 2024

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Legendary communist-era priest, Father Blachnicki, was murdered, Polish authorities confirm
  • Do not be afraid to be a witness to God’s love, pope says
  • Question Corner: Jesus became man so I could become God?
  • Papa: Acoger a migrantes y refugiados es el primer paso hacia la paz
  • Sister Elizabeth Ellen Kane, O.S.F., dies at 81
  • Welcoming migrants, refugees is first step toward peace, pope says
  • RADIO INTERVIEW: Dining with the Saints
  • Good politics brings people together, generates care for others, pope says
  • Wyoming becomes first state to ban abortion pills

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED