What would a Polish Christmas season be without a gathering that included a “short artistic program” — a skit? It seems the urge to produce amateur dramatic performances leaches into the potatoes that sustain Poles because it’s simply everywhere.

Yet the idea behind such performances are among the things that keep a culture alive for centuries. It’s the same creative impulse that leads to symphonies and epics.

And in a situation like the one in which K and the other area Poles find themselves, in a different land with different traditions, such performances ensure that the legacy they leave to their children will have a significant element of beets, potatoes, consonant-laden words, and songs — a culture within a culture.

Last year’s celebration is here.