Is meat allowed on Christmas Eve or is it necessary to fast? And if you can eat meat on Christmas Eve, what kind of meat should you choose - poultry, beef, lamb? And what meat dishes can be on the Christmas Eve table? Many people ask themselves such questions during the pre-holiday shopping and holiday planning period. Therefore, it is worth knowing the answer to them.
Fasting on Christmas Eve?For many people it is obvious, because fasting - understood as abstaining from eating meat food - is to prepare both body and soul to live God with dignity Christmas.
According to the 1918 Canon Law of Catholics, strict fasting was in force on Christmas Eve - only in the evening of that day one could eat one fast (and therefore meatless) meal.
These rules, however, have been significantly relaxed, and today the Church does not require the faithful to refrain from eating meat also on Christmas Eve - the obligation to fast on this day was abolished already in 1983 with the introduction of the new Code of Law Canonical.
In the Catholic Church, strict fasting - in accordance with the Canon Law currently in force - is required of the faithful on Ash Wednesday and on the Friday before Easter, while on every Friday of the liturgical year, the so-called qualitative fasting.Therefore, on Christmas Eve you can eat meat without fear of committing a sin.
Despite this, many people still fast on Christmas Eve, although it is now primarily a Polish tradition. Moreover, the clergy encourage this practice. Polish bishops in a pastoral letter from 2003 (concerning church commandments) wrote:
"We encourage, in accordance with the resolution of the 2nd Polish Plenary Synod, to abstain from meat on Christmas Eve, due to the unique nature of this day in Poland. 14th year of life ".
In many homes, not eating meat during Christmas Eve dinner results from a long tradition.
And what dishes with meat can be prepared for Christmas Eve, if we do not want to deviate too much from tradition?The table on Christmas Eve traditionally includes 12 dishes - including cabbage with peas, Christmas soupMushroom or red borscht with dumplings, dumplings with cabbage and mushrooms, vegetable salad, or Christmas fish - usually carp in jelly or Greek-style fish.
The Christmas menu can be enriched with, for example, home-made poultry or meat pate, dumplings or meat patties, and instead of dumplings, instead of dumplings, serve croquettes with meat and mushrooms. An alternative to meatless Christmas Eve cabbage is bigos with the addition of smoked bacon and pork ham.
It is worth choosing dishes based on meats considered easy to digest - e.g. turkey or lamb.
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