Text: Juan David Latorre. photos: Piotr Larkowski.
A Christmas without the Christmas musical evening at the Polish Embassy is not the same. And it could be seen once again last Tuesday with the warm and affectionate welcome made by the manager of Business a.i. Polish, Monika Krzepkowska, to the guests at the appointment.
Folk carols, such as Night of Peace, Merry Christmas or The Drummer, along with other typical songs from Poland were sung in chorus by the attendees with great enthusiasm and joy.
The musicians and singers Dawid Małkowicz, Karolina Maria Jóźwiak, Agata Zuzanna Czaplicka, Joanna Barbara Wielec and Aleksandra Czajka succeeded with their voices and performance to convey the Christmas joy to the guests.
Also, and also every year, the Polish gastronomy was protagonist in the event, captained by the typical pierogi accompanied by salads and sauces and delicious pastries to finish. Without forgetting some (small) glasses of Polish vodka, which could not miss.
The Polish Business Manager a.i. Monika Krzepkowska invited the guests in her welcome speech “to reflect, remember our roots and share what we consider most valuable. Today we show a particularly significant aspect, not only from the religious point of view but also culturally of the Polish identity. Our Christmas table, with its traditions, twelve dishes, symbolizes prosperity and a sense of comfort, values deeply appreciated by all Poles”.
“In many Polish places, he continued, families gather to listen and sing Christmas carols that are part of our deepest affective memory. So I am very happy to share this tradition with you today, thanks to the concert that will follow my words.”
Monika Krzepkowska wanted to share an experience she had when she moved to Spain. “Here in December, he commented, everyone is amused by the Lottery. People keep their numbers as a state secret, queues for hours, and when the fat man arrives, Spain laughs, cries, hugs, and suddenly the winners discover that they have cousins everywhere. In Poland, our great December ritual exists. We don’t wait for the famous fatso, but we wait for someone who may never arrive. We always put an empty seat on the table in our living room. For a traveler, for someone who is alone or simply for the fate to bring someone strange. Some say the odds of that unexpected guest appearing are lower than winning the lottery. And yet, every year we put in and prepare a chair just in case. And maybe there is something deeply European about it. The ritual is different, the expectations are different, but the same desire to share, to welcome and to belong”.
The Business Manager concluded, a.i., noting that “the year ending has been especially intense for Poland. Our presidency of the Council of the European Union during the first half of the year was marked by a complex international context, conditioned above all by concerns arising from the war in Ukraine. Many of the challenges we have faced will continue to accompany us. We are therefore convinced that solidarity is not only a symbol of Christmas, but a real commitment to those who need our friendship”.
