Pasterka

The Pasterka is the most important Roman Catholic Christmas Mass in Poland, usually at midnight between the 24th and 25th of December celebrating the birth of Christ. During the Pasterka traditional carols are sung - including the Polish Christmas hymn " Bóg się rodzi ". Participation in the Pasterka part of many Christians in Poland firmly at Christmas to. Many believers visit twice this Christmas fair and will anmimiert also by the priests at the moment.

A translation would be closer to the meaning of the word probably " Exhibition of the Shepherds" and " Christmas Mass " because the word " Pasterka " in Polish shepherd or shepherd means - in memory of those shepherds who once celebrated the birth of Jesus after them on Christmas Eve by an angel the birth of Christ was announced.

The celebration

Although the Pasterka is associated with a specific time in the Christian liturgy in compound Pasterka must not take place at a specific hour that night. Rather, the Pasterka defined by fixed set prayers and Biblical texts. You can by the respective priest of a church in order to be celebrated more than once on December 24 - at several locations such as inside a church and a nearby chapel. Pasterki are therefore often celebrated in succession: an early Pasterka for families with children, then 21 and 22 clock for adults and adolescents and then the last Pasterka at midnight for adults. So there on Christmas Eve often two and sometimes even three Pasterki.

Participation in the Christmas worship belongs to all practicing Catholics of Poland to the Christmas celebrations this. They can attend one of the evening Metten or at more than one. The exact hour of the birth of Christ does not appear in the Gospels, why the municipalities can select the most ideal time for Pasterka itself. The priests sometimes denote all these fairs as Pasterka, even if these fairs actually formally correct hot Wigilia in contrast to the large exhibition - the Pasterka - at midnight.

On Christmas Eve the 24th of December and on Christmas Day (25 December) the fairs can be celebrated with three different liturgical texts - each suitable for a particular sacrament of the Eucharist. Earlier in the day of December 24, the faithful took part in trade fairs, but not replace attendance at the Pasterka.

There are no trade shows in the early afternoon of December 24, as this is the time for the Wigilia, the traditional Christmas dinner with the family. The first evening Mass on Christmas Eve (after the Wigilia ) is celebrated later in the afternoon by 16 clock or - but it was 20 clock. Later a Mass followed by 22 clock hour and then the midnight mass ( Pasterka ) that starts at midnight. The music for the Pasterka the gates for the midnight mass by 23 clock starts as soon be opened. The blessing of the Christmas manger can already happened before or after the sermon, when the Priest opens the Nativity scene at the main altar. Traditionally includes the church with an apostolic blessing. The following day the fairs begin in the early morning. This is followed by further fairs during the day. These fairs are not as strictly defined as the Pasterka.