- From towering Christmas trees full of thousands of twinkling little lights overlooking historic market squares, to tiny little gingerbread cookies iced so delicately.

Today, we're taking you across Poland to get curious about Polish Christmas traditions and Polish Christmas markets.

(presenter speaks in Polish) (bright lively music) (bright lively music continues) "Curious Traveler" is made possible by the following.

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(gentle music) (inspiring music) (bright festive music) - It all started as humble farmer's markets, typically in a town's market square.

But then at the holidays, once a Christmas tree was placed in those market squares, the idea and the tradition of the European Christmas market was born.

That tradition grew and grew over the centuries into this, a light-filled Winter Wonderland.

And today, we are taking you to see some of Poland's best.

(hooves beating) European Christmas markets have been around since the Middle Ages.

But here in Poland, the markets and the Christmas traditions are unique.

Like the szopki, the Wigilia, and looking for the Gwiazdka or Little Star.

And of course, Poland is home to some of the most stunning churches in the world.

So here's what I'm curious about across Poland's Christmas markets and traditions.

Who turned the traditional nativity scene into these shimmering works of art?

What is the symbolism behind the 12 dishes at a traditional Polish Christmas Eve dinner?

Where can you find hundreds of Santa's little helpers, and what do they have to do with the end of communism?

Why does a man in a top hat light 100 lamps every night?

When did a crossroads of trade become this beautiful Christmas market?

And how did an ancient discovery lead to this precious Polish form of pottery?

Who, what, where, why, when, and how?

So much to be curious about across Poland's Christmas markets and traditions.

To discover these Christmas customs, we are visiting three Polish cities.

We start off in Krakow, then we go to Wroclaw, with our last stop in Gdansk.

(hooves beating) We begin our curious journey into Poland's Christmas traditions at beautiful Krakow, in its market square, designed in the 13th century and considered the largest town square in all of Europe.

With the Royal Wawel Castle in the distance and overlooked by St.

Mary's Basilica and the historic Cloth Hall, the market square sparkles at Christmas time with its bustling Christmas market, the oldest in Poland.

There are dozens of stalls here with all manner of Christmas delights, like these delicate little hand-blown Christmas ornaments, traditional Polish folk costumes with those beautiful embroider details, authentic and tasty chimney cakes, old fashioned wooden toys.

And in this chalet, there is a Christmas gift, which is extra special with handmade ornaments that are a cultural symbol of Poland.

What we have here are the most delicate, most beautiful little Christmas ornaments.

I know it has a really, really long history.

- Yeah, it is a Polish pottery from Boleslawiec.

It dates on the seventh century.

- That far back, wow.

- On this time, they discovered clay on this area of Poland.

So ceramics and potteries, they start to do like the art pieces of ceramic, yeah?

- And then once it started being used, these artists developed these teeny tiny techniques.

- Yes.

- Are these stamps or hand painted, or how do they do it?

- It's stamps.

The first technique of Polish pottery from Boleslawiec, it's a stamp.

So I will show you just a little.

- Yeah.

- [Katarzyna] So they put it on the round table.

This table it moved, yeah?

- Yeah.

- They cannot touch it.

And they have a lot of small stamps.

You can see how many stamps they need to use on this small piece, yeah?

- Yeah.

- So they need to take exactly this amount of pigment to do with stamp.

- And even the green, which is meant to be sort of the wreath or the garland, its tiny.

- It's full of touching, exactly, full of touching.

- Boleslawiec Pottery is a Polish-protected heritage product.

And a hallmark of this art form is the use of that deep cobalt blue with repeating floral patterns.

And these little treasures are especially special at Christmas time with these tiny little trees to hold candles to tiny little gnomes, who are probably up to no good and these delicate little angels, all lovingly hand-painted in that Polish tradition.

Do you have a favorite piece?

- One second.

I will show you a very beautiful Santa.

- It's so tiny.

It's so tiny.

- It's tiny, it's beautiful, and very, very nice.

- And a piece of Poland, you can take it with you.

- And a piece of Poland.

A piece of Poland.

(both speak in foreign language) - Perfect.

- Thank you very much.

- Thank you.

(people chattering) - Next, from delicate little Christmas ornaments to delicate little corn-on-the-cob, foam cylinders, what in the curious world do we have here at this stall?

When we first got to the market, hopefully, I'm not the only first time visitor that saw these, and I said, "Are these wooden toys for children?

Are they corn-on-the-cob?

Are they potatoes?"

What in the world are these beautiful things?

- Yeah, you're not the first one because people think it's potato, it's bread.

- Yeah.

- But they are shocked when we say it's cheese.

- It's cheese.

These are the traditional Oscypek smoked cheeses, specifically from the Tatra Mountain region of Poland.

These little geometric patterns are created by pressing cheese curds into wooden cylinder molds before the cheese is smoked.

Can you grab one of these, so we can see the sign?

- Yeah, of course.

- So does somebody take this and just chomp into it?

Or is the idea you take it home and you slice it?

- We usually slice it in Poland, but I saw a lot of foreigners that just ate them like, I don't know, like it's a sausage.

- That's a surefire way to show that you're a tourist if you grab one and just go like this, go like this.

This clearly is a corn cob.

- Yeah, it is.

- Yeah, it is?

Is it really?

And it's just shaped like a corn cob?

- It's just a shape, it's just a shape.

- Ah, but don't eat it like this.

- No.

- No, big trouble, big trouble.

These look like noodles.

- Yeah.

- Are those actually strings of cheese?

- They are called korbacz.

We call it that way.

- Oh, my gosh.

- And it looks like noodles, but it's not noodles.

- Yeah.

- Kids like it very much because you just rip it off and eat it.

It's very easy to eat, yeah.

- And go.

These smaller disc-shaped cheeses, which look more like a pierogi than a piece of cheese, are called redykolka, and they're sometimes given as a gift during holiday gatherings.

No matter which cheese you choose, they are traditionally served warm over a special Polish grill.

And this is where you warm your hands.

- Yes.

- This is beautiful.

- This is our most famous option of selling cheese.

It's warm.

- Okay.

- You have also with cranberry, with honey.

- You have me at warm.

Perfect, that's perfect.

(gentle festive music) Next, overlooking the Christmas market is a 17th century palace, which today, houses the Krakow History Museum.

And inside, you'll find beautifully bright castles, some with moving parts.

These are the treasured szopki of Krakow.

But what do they have to do with Christmas?

Well, if you look closely, you will see that these are actually nativity scenes.

And if you look even more closely, you'll start to recognize that each castle has elements of the city's landmarks, like the stained glass of the Basilica of St.

Francis of Assisi, and the towers of Wawel Castle.

- In Krakow, we have the oldest figurines for the szopki from 14th century.

- That's amazing.

- But this shape of szopki, this type, Ceacovian szopki, szopki krakowskie, it's about 200 years old.

Authorities of the city, City of Krakow, decided in 1937 to introduce competition.

Competition for most beautiful nativity scene of Krakow.

- So when we think of a nativity scene, we might think of a manger.

- Yes.

= And you know, Joseph and Mary and the Baby Jesus.

We don't think of something super sized like this with these bright colors in the foil.

How did the bright kind of metallic foil and materials come about?

- The szopki makers used the special material, is aluminum foil, like from candy wrappers, chocolates.

They have to eat many of the candies before.

- Hey, sign me up.

That sounds like a tough job, but somebody has to do it.

- Very tasty job.

- So from old candy wrappers to these magnificent creations, which can take thousands of hours or even a whole year to create, these colorful Christmas castles are occupied by not just Mary, Joseph, and the Baby Jesus, but a few more curious characters, who are unique to Krakow.

It isn't just the architecture that's combined and included, but also some very important mythological figures as well.

- Very important is a characters from Cracovian legends.

Dragon- - Living under the castle, breathing fire.

- Yes, yes.

And Lajkonik is the other tradition of Krakow, man in Tatar uniform in hobby-horse.

- Yeah.

- With the mace.

- And the hat.

- Yes, the hat, and the mace within the hand.

And in some szopki, you can see the moon.

- Yeah.

- With some guy.

This is Mr.

Twardowsky, the famous sorcerer from Krakow legend.

- So with those traditional figures that are incorporated into the work of art, there were anything that's just really unusual that stuck out over the years?

- For example, the director of our museum is also the popular figure in the same szopki.

- They do that so that they get a better chance of winning.

I'm onto them, I'm onto them.

(airy festive music) Next, we visit the city of Wroclaw.

The Wroclaw Christmas market has a towering tree at 80 feet high with easily a bajillion twinkling lights, cute little Santa boot-shaped mugs for those steaming sips of mold wine, and oodles upon oodles of chalets filled with traditional blown glass ornaments, gingerbread cookies that are almost too pretty to eat, almost.

To tell us about the history is a local guide, who is equally enthusiastic about Christmas as he is about his beloved hometown of Wroclaw.

So Ark, we have the beautiful giant Christmas tree here, and oh my goodness, we have old town hall.

We have new town hall.

We are in the center of the city.

- That's right.

- The center of the Christmas market.

How long has the Christmas market been in this spot?

- Yeah, exactly here in Wroclaw, we started this tradition in the 14th century.

Since Central Europe, it was very popular to organize Christmas markets.

In Germany, in Austria, Czechia, Poland, it was really very popular.

Our Christmas market, it is one of the oldest, but still exists.

That's fascinating.

Wroclaw was really very important city in medieval Europe because it was led on the crossroad of the two of the most important medieval routes.

- Okay.

- The first one was called Amber Route.

- Yeah.

- Started in Baltic Sea and we have Wroclaw went to Italy.

The second was called Via Regia, Salt Route, started in Kiev in Ukraine, and via Wroclaw, went to Western Europe.

Here was the crossing.

So you can guess it had to be powerful city.

And this market square is a proof that in 15th century, 16th century, it was one of the biggest cities in Central and Eastern Europe.

- From the history of Wroclaw and the Christmas market, to the history of gingerbread, did you know that the gingerbread cookie originated in Poland?

And here at the Wroclaw market is a chalet, which specializes in Polish gingerbread called pierniki.

People think gingerbread.

Oh, well that just goes with Christmas.

It's traditional.

Maybe it was European came to the United States.

It is specifically not just Polish, but also specific to this region.

- Yeah, as a matter of fact, the first signs of gingerbread history was down in this region in Wroclaw.

So that's like connecting history and tradition all together.

- And over the centuries, of course, many different shapes, sizes, and decorations developed.

From Santas to the iconic gingerbread man, to a certain design that is very special to Wroclaw.

We have some magical little dwarves here.

- Yes.

- Which have a great connection to the city.

- [Olga] Yeah, we have those around the city.

There is like hundreds of them right now.

- Yeah.

- And every one, there is like whole map, you can look for them.

- Hundreds of Santa's little helpers hidden throughout the city?

We must investigate.

But first, we have to taste the wonderful pierniki gingerbread.

It would be rude not to.

- I believe so.

It's very rich in natural flavors.

What do you feel, what do you feel?

- It's gonna sound silly.

This is more gingery than what we have.

You can taste more of the ginger kind of spicy.

- Very possibly.

- Yeah.

- Very possibly.

The thing that I even did not know, there is even black pepper in the spices.

You can feel it the very end.

At the end you feel ginger, and after that, you feel like a little bit of the spiciness is the black pepper.

- And you need a little bit of that spice and heat because it is very cold here at Christmas.

- It is.

- It is very beautiful here, but it's very cold here this Christmas.

- It is, it's true.

- Thank you.

Thank you so much.

How do I say Merry Christmas in Polish?

- You can say.

- Oh, here's my cheat sheet.

(Olga speaks in Polish) (presenter speaks in Polish) - But if you say Merry Christmas, everyone will know, too.

- Everyone knows.

Either one is acceptable here at your shop, excellent.

Olga, thank you so much.

- Thank you, it was really nice.

- Appreciate it.

Thank you.

- Thanks.

- I won't talk with my mouth full.

Next, let's step away from the hustle and bustle of the Christmas market, and cross a pedestrian-only bridge to enter the oldest part of the city, which happens to be an island and feels like a sparkly, magical world miles away.

This is Cathedral Island, where the city began back in the 10th century with a small military stronghold.

But the island gets its name from this cathedral, the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist.

Well, in fact, there's actually another church there and there and there.

Six churches all on one island, which is why the locals like to call Cathedral Island, their own little Polish Vatican City.

So here on the island, between the beautiful churches, the stunning statues like this one here, and the quaint little cobblestone streets, it is absolutely a must for any visitor to the city.

And I have to tell you, there's something that makes it even more magical.

There's a wonderful tradition that happens every morning at dawn and also every evening at dusk for a very curious reason.

Cathedral Island is one of the few places left in Europe, where the streetlights are all still lit by hand.

Yes, this top hatted fellow is the lamplighter, and he strolls the quiet cobblestone streets of Cathedral Island each and every night to light the nearly 100 gas lamps across the island, just as it was done in the 19th century.

Adding to the magic is the fact that most areas are pedestrian only.

So you can stroll about in peace and feel like you've traveled back in time to Christmases long, long ago.

Next, remember how Olga, the gingerbread maker, told us about the special gnomes of Wroclaw?

Well, let's go find some, because Christmas wouldn't be complete without Santa's little helpers.

We've got one right here.

And he is holding a heart.

Except here in Wroclaw, the elves live here year round, in sneaky little spots throughout the city.

There are around 1,000 little gnomes, including Casper the printer.

This one with a guitar, this one with a wedding ring, sitting on the corner of a jewelry shop, even a little Statue of Liberty gnome.

And this one climbing his way up a lamppost, who's got the best views of the Christmas market.

But why in the curious world are they here?

Well, the tale of the Wroclaw gnomes goes back to the Middle Ages when they were believed to be magical little helpers.

And they also kept the evil goblins away.

It was also believed that they lived underground and only popped up when needed.

In fact, this is the little door to their secret underground world.

So why are there so many in plain sight around the city today?

Well, because this guy, the guard was sleeping on the job and all the little gnomes escaped out of this little door.

But with all this silliness, you might never guess that this fun public arts project has a very serious history to it, which explains why the jolly little gnome has become the symbol of the city.

- When we talk about our dwarves, the very important date is year 1980.

In that year here in Poland, we had a martial law.

People were fighting against communism.

And in that year, here in Wroclaw was born a movement.

They were young people who were fighting against communism, but not with guns, but with laughing, joking, showing the stupidity of the system.

Very often, they dressed like dwarves.

Can you imagine big guy looking like dwarves?

- Right.

- And for instance, they went into the direction of the policemen.

The policemen were standing just like that.

And they came and gave them flowers.

So they did, the policemen didn't know what to do.

A dwarf gave you a flower.

Why should I beat him, you know?

And so they made laugh of the communism.

And after this democratic changes, authorities of the city decided commemorated that movement.

They found the first sentry.

Today, the first one, we call this one Papa Dwarf.

- Okay.

- Papa Dwarf.

- And so, that first Papa Dwarf statue to commemorate what was called the Orange Alternative Movement, was erected in 2001.

And then as we've seen, many, many more gnomes followed.

All in fun, all in silliness, but all still a reminder of a brave political reform movement.

How curious.

(playful music) Our final Christmas-y city is Gdansk, here on the northern border of the country.

Gdansk has a history that goes back at least a thousand years, and was an important trading port for the Hanseatic League and a headquarters for the Teutonic Knights.

Over the centuries, power changed hands between Poland and Prussia.

And Gdansk was known by its German name of Danzig for nearly 200 years.

Today, Gdansk is famous for its huge town square, which isn't a square at all.

In fact, it's actually one long street, simply named Long Street.

And at Christmas time, this Long Street is all decked out in twinkling holiday magic, with its town hall soaring above connecting to the royal road and the High Gate, where the Polish royalty would enter the city.

And just steps away is its joyful Christmas market, which in more modern years, has been voted as the best Christmas market in all of Europe.

Here, you will find all the Christmas-y delights from those cute little mugs for spiced wine or hot chocolate, two chestnuts roasting on an open fire.

Yes, seriously.

I'm gonna get ready for this because you're gonna teach me - Yeah.

- How to actually peel.

Thank you very much.

Oh, these are so good for cold hands like I have.

Okay, you take the first one.

- Okay.

- And show me how.

I can't believe I don't know how to do this.

How do you actually peel and eat one?

- Yeah, just peel it.

Eat them like regular nuts.

- Oh, it's so much softer than I thought it was.

Oh, that looks so good, okay.

I'm gonna try one here.

All right, manicure is out the window, but that's okay.

It's gonna be worth it.

That is so good.

Oh, my goodness.

Do you wanna sing the song with me?

- Oh.

♪ Chestnut ♪ - You don't have to.

- What kind of song?

- The chestnut roasting on an open fire.

Okay, so my question is, if I eat enough of these, do I get to wear a cool hat like that?

- They're very nutritious.

- Oh, yes.

- They have a lot of flavor.

- I think something got lost in translation there.

So let's move along to the rest of the market, full of wonderful Christmas ornaments and gifts.

And especially here in Northern Poland, you will find lots of gifts made out of amber.

That beautifully golden stone found here in the Baltics, which is then turned into lovely little pieces of jewelry by family-run shops.

Everything is sparkly and beautiful here.

- I painted them using with special glue.

After that, I make with nature amber.

- I love it.

- We have many of colors of, different colors of amber you can see over there.

- Yeah.

- Even the picture in the side, - You do that pose for it.

The texture is so wonderful, too.

Oh, I love these.

And Gdansk is also the perfect place to learn about another Polish Christmas tradition, the special Christmas Eve dinner called the Wigilia.

Wigilia traditionally consists of 12 vegetarian dishes, sometimes including vegetarian pierogis.

So to learn all about this treasured tradition and to learn how to make the perfect pierogi, we visit a local authentic Polish restaurant.

So I'm all ready to learn how to make the perfect pierogi.

- And we have our sauerkraut and wine mushroom, and we use that for Christmas only because it's the vegetarian one.

So that's why I use it for Christmas.

And that is my favorite.

- Perfect.

- That's how I remember my Christmas when I was little.

- Oh, that's nice.

- And that was my mom doing the sauerkraut and wine mushroom for Christmas because the 24th in Poland, and there's a tradition that all the dishes have to be vegetarian.

- The reason why the traditional Polish Christmas dinner is vegetarian and fish only is a symbol of sacrifice, much like the giving up of meat during Lent.

And the pierogi is just one of the 12 traditional dishes for Wigilia.

Why 12?

Well, it's a symbol for the 12 apostles and for the 12 months of the year.

Traditionally, the meal begins with the sharing of the oplatek, a Central and Eastern European Catholic tradition, which is a thin wafer embossed with Christmas images.

And it represents the unity of the family.

And then the other thing is, do they vary?

- At my home, we have our borscht to drink.

And then before you do the dumplings, you have your mushroom soup, and then you go to another dishes.

- You guys need to invite me over.

You're saying all my favorite things.

And Chef Greg remembers fondly the many years of his family's Wigilia and the many years of learning the proper way to make the pierogis, handed down through the generations.

- My granny, she had like a wooden, you'd call it a board, but was designed like, let's say in Italy, the grannys have it for pasta.

So my granny had it for dumplings.

- Okay, let's make granny proud.

Once the dough is nice and thin, it is time to cut the cute little circles.

And for that, Chef Greg uses the goblets you might find on the Wigilia table.

- Press and twist, that's what we're looking for.

Yeah, perfect.

- Get that, I'm a born chef.

Then you spoon in the filling and pinch the edges.

Or if you really want to make it pretty, use a fork to press in those nice little stripes.

Oh, that's much better.

And then ta-dah!

The perfect Wigilia pierogi.

Can we just, for one second, hold these side by side?

- Absolutely.

- Which one of these things is not like the other?

I tried.

- Not my best, but.

- No, not my best.

Not my best.

Well, maybe not perfect, but hopefully, I'll still be allowed at Christmas Eve dinner.

(bright festive music) So from a centuries-old Polish pottery technique used to create these delicate ornaments painted by hand, to a decades-old Polish nativity scene competition turned fantasy-foiled castle wonderland, to an entire island filled with churches and lights still lit by hand each night, where Santa's little elves roam along the streets of their home, to a fairytale Christmas market full of all manner of ornaments, gifts, and treats, and a Christmas Eve celebration, where 12 of vegetarian dishes are served instead of meat.

Poland's Christmas traditions have so much to be curious about.

Thank you for joining us on our educational journey, and hopefully, now you're even more curious about the who, what, where, why, when, and hows of Polish Christmas traditions, and of course, Polish Christmas markets.

As they say here, (speaks in Polish).

(bright festive music) Closed caption funding provided by.

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Moroccan inspired suites, authentic cuisine, all set in a desert oasis.

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Europeanwaterways.com.

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