Kūčios is the traditional Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...

 dinner in Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

, held on the twenty fourth of December. The meal is a family occasion which includes many traditions of both pagan and Christian origin. The name of the feast may be related to the traditional Christmas Eve meal kutia

Kutia

Kutia is a sweet grain pudding, traditionally served in Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Belarusian and Polish cultures. Kutia is often the first dish in the traditional twelve-dish Christmas Eve supper...

.

Importance

Everyone in a family makes a special effort to come home for the Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

 Eve supper, even from great distances. They make the journey not so much for the meal as for the sacred ritual of Kūčios. Kūčios draws the family members closer, banding everyone together and strengthening the family ties. In this spirit, if a family member has died that year or cannot attend the meal (only for very serious reasons) an empty place is left at the table. A plate is still placed on the table and a chair is drawn up, but no spoons, knives or forks are set. A small candle is placed on the plate and lit during the meal. It is believed that the spirit of the deceased family member participates in the Kūčios along with everyone.

Preparation

Preparing for Kūčios is an all day event, though the preparations can begin up to a week in advance in some communities. On Christmas Eve, the entire house must be thoroughly cleaned and all of the bed linens must be changed. Everyone attending Kūčios must bathe and dress in clean clothes before the evening meal. Before gathering at the ritual table, everybody makes up with their neighbors and forgives their enemies. The twelve dishes for the evening meal are prepared as is the meal for the first day of Christmas during the day.

Traditionally, people fast

Ember days

In the liturgical calendar of the Western Christian churches, Ember days are four separate sets of three days within the same week — specifically, the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday — roughly equidistant in the circuit of the year, that were formerly set aside for fasting and prayer...

 and abstain from meat for the entire day. While the Catholic Church has decreed that food may be eaten as often as desired on Christmas Eve, most Lithuanians still adhere to the original custom of abstinence. Before they changed their stance, Catholics could only eat a handful of boiled peas and water on Christmas Eve with exceptions allowing small children, the sick or very old persons to eat a bit more. This tradition is still followed by many Lithuanians

Lithuanians

Lithuanians are the Baltic ethnic group native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,765,600 people. Another million or more make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the United States, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Russia, United Kingdom and Ireland. Their native language...

. Although official fasting no longer exists, most Lithuanians refrain from eating meat on Christmas Eve so as to preserve tradition. Regardless of what is consumed during the day, it is vitally important that the Christmas Eve dinner include no meat dishes because it would then no longer be called Kūčios but an ordinary meal prepared for any other evening.

For the Christmas Eve dinner, the table is prepared is a special way. A handful of fine hay is spread evenly on the table which is a reminder that Jesus was born in a stable

Stable

A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals...

 and laid in a manger on hay. The table is then covered with a pure white tablecloth, set with plates and decorated with symbols of the life force, which sustains the human world according to pagan beliefs. These include fir boughs, candles, and a bundle of un-thrashed rye, which traditionally pagan families would bind around its apple trees the next day. Live flowers are not appropriate for the table, in particular the red or white poinsettia

Poinsettia

Euphorbia pulcherrima, commonly known as Zack Wood or noche buena, is a species of flowering plant indigenous to Mexico and Central America. The name "poinsettia" is after Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first United States Minister to Mexico, who introduced the plant into the US in 1825...

s that are so common in other countries in the Christmas session.

Dinner

Dinner starts when the first star appears in the sky. Waiting for the star to appear in the sky symbolizes the Star of Bethlehem

Star of Bethlehem

In Christian tradition, the Star of Bethlehem, also called the Christmas Star, revealed the birth of Jesus to the magi, or "wise men", and later led them to Bethlehem. The star appears in the nativity story of the Gospel of Matthew, where magi "from the east" are inspired by the star to travel to...

 leading the shepherds

Adoration of the shepherds

The Adoration of the shepherds, in the Nativity of Jesus in art, is a scene in which shepherds are near witnesses to the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. It is often combined with the Adoration of the Magi, in which case it is typically just referred to by the latter title...

 to Bethlehem

Bethlehem

Bethlehem is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank of the Jordan River, near Israel and approximately south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism...

. Instead of a town, the star leads the member of the family to the table for dinner. If it is a cloudy night, the evening meal begins when the head of the house announces it is time to eat. Either way it is determined, the meal usually begins between six and seven o’clock.

Kalėdaitis

Before the meal starts, the family shares kalėdaitis, also known as plotkelė, paplotėlis, plokštainėlis or Dievo

Dievas

Lithuanian Dievas, Latvian Dievs, Prussian Deywis, Yotvingian Deivas was the supreme god in the Baltic mythology and one of the most important deities together with Perkūnas. Dievas is a direct successor of the Proto-Indo-European supreme god *Dyēus of the root *deiwo-...

 pyragai depending on the region of Lithuania

Regions of Lithuania

Lithuania can be divided into historical and cultural regions . The exact borders are not fully clear, as the regions are not official political or administrative units. They are delimited by culture, such as country traditions, traditional lifestyle, songs, tales, etc. To some extent regions...

 a family is from. A plate with as many wafers as there are persons participating in the meal is placed in the center of the table. Each member of the family is given a piece of unleavened bread

Flatbread

A flatbread is a simple bread made with flour, water, and salt and then thoroughly rolled into flattened dough. Many flatbreads are unleavened: made without yeast or sourdough culture: although some flatbread is made with yeast, such as pita bread....

. These wafers are usually rectangular in shape and very thin; they are identical in composition to the Host used during a Catholic mass.

In some Lithuanian regions these wafers were called God's cakes (Dievo pyragai) because they were originally obtained from the parish and were imprinted with Biblical scenes of Jesus' birth

Nativity of Jesus

The Nativity of Jesus, or simply The Nativity, refers to the accounts of the birth of Jesus in two of the Canonical gospels and in various apocryphal texts....

. Today the wafers still have Christmas related images on them varying from the nativity scene

Nativity scene

A nativity scene, manger scene, krippe, crèche, or crib, is a depiction of the birth of Jesus as described in the gospels of Matthew and Luke...

 to the Star of Bethlehem.

The head of the family, typically the oldest person present however often father of the family, then takes a wafer and offers it to a family member wishing them a Happy Christmas. "God grant that we are all together again next year", they respond and break off a piece of wafer. The family member then offers the head of the family a piece of their wafer in return. The head of the family then offers their wafer to every family member or guest at the table. After them, all the diners exchange greetings and morsels of wafer. Care is taken not to skip anyone for that means terrible misfortune or even death the following year. In breaking a piece of wafer, each tries to get a piece larger than that remaining in the other's hand for it means his year will be better. The person holding the wafer tries to prevent a large piece being taken for this will "break his luck". When everyone has exchanged wafers, the family members take their pile of wafers before the head of the house. He then looks of the wafers in the family member’s hands and reads a fortune from how they are assembled. After this has been completed, people return to their seats and the wafers are eaten.

Apples

In certain Lithuanian regions apples were placed on the table because December 24 is the feast day of Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...

. The apples recalled our first parents through whose sin mankind fell and that the world was saved through the submissiveness of the New Eve— Mary

Mary (mother of Jesus)

Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...

, the Mother of God—to God's will.

If apples are placed on the table, the mother takes an apple after the wafers have been shared, cuts it into as many pieces as there are diners and gives the father the first piece. This symbolized the fall of the first parents when Eve

Eve (Bible)

Eve was, according to the creation of Abrahamic religions, the first woman created by God...

 gave Adam the apple which he took and ate. Then, the apple pieces are distributed to those at table.

Number of Dishes

The reason for there being twelve separate dishes varies between pagan and Christian beliefs. The pagans practiced Kūčios traditionally with nine different foods, because there were 9 months in the year according to the ancient calendar. According to the alternative tradition, the thirteen different dishes represented the thirteen lunar months of the year. However, under the influence of the solar calendar, the number changed to twelve. Christians have different beliefs but it is not hard to see how the pagan beliefs could have been adapted by missionaries or monks. For Christians, the twelve different dishes served on the table represent Jesus’ twelve apostles.

Food

The evening meal consists of very specific dishes. There can be no meat, dairy

Dairy product

Dairy products are generally defined as foods produced from cow's or domestic buffalo's milk. They are usually high-energy-yielding food products. A production plant for such processing is called a dairy or a dairy factory. Raw milk for processing comes mainly from cows, and, to a lesser extent,...

, or hot food. Typical dishes include fish, vegetables, and bread. Silkė is a name for herring

Herring

Herring is an oily fish of the genus Clupea, found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Three species of Clupea are recognized. The main taxa, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring may each be divided into subspecies...

, a type of fish, dish which is served with different sauces. The sauces can be tomato

Tomato

The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...

, mushroom, or onion

Onion

The onion , also known as the bulb onion, common onion and garden onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion The onion...

 based. Ungurys, or smoked European eel

European eel

The European eel, Anguilla anguilla, is a species of eel, a snake-like, catadromous fish. They can reach in exceptional cases a length of 1½ m, but are normally much smaller, about 60–80 cm, and rarely more than 1 m....

, is also a common dish. Barščiai (borscht) is a beet soup that is served. Other common dishes include boiled or baked potatoes, spanguolių kisielius (cranberry

Cranberry

Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus Oxycoccus of the genus Vaccinium. In some methods of classification, Oxycoccus is regarded as a genus in its own right...

 kissel

Kissel

Kissel or kisel is a fruit soup, popular as a dessert in Eastern and Northern Europe. It consists of sweetened juice, thickened with arrowroot, cornstarch or potato starch, and sometimes red wine or fresh or dried fruits are added...

), cooked sauerkraut

Sauerkraut

Sauerkraut , directly translated from German: "sour cabbage", is finely shredded cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria, including Leuconostoc, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus. It has a long shelf-life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid...

 (prepared without meat), mushrooms, kūčiukai or šližikai (bite-sized hard biscuits) with agounų pienas or aguonpienis (a poppy seed

Opium poppy

Opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, is the species of plant from which opium and poppy seeds are extracted. Opium is the source of many opiates, including morphine , thebaine, codeine, papaverine, and noscapine...

 “milk”), cranberry pudding, and multigrain breads with honey

Honey

Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...

 and margarine

Margarine

Margarine , as a generic term, can indicate any of a wide range of butter substitutes, typically composed of vegetable oils. In many parts of the world, the market share of margarine and spreads has overtaken that of butter...

 because butter

Butter

Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...

 is not allowed being a dairy product.

According to ethnologists, Kūčiukai is the archaic form of ritual bread, that is meant for the souls. They are so tiny because souls have no material bodies; the plentifulness of them is due to the fact that there exists a great number of souls.

Everything served at the meal should be made from ingredients available in Lithuania during the winter. This is because the people whose lifestyle produced the Kūčios traditions made do with food prepared in the summer and fall: dried, pickled and otherwise preserved for the winter. The meal is traditionally served with water, homemade cider

Cider

Cider or cyder is a fermented alcoholic beverage made from apple juice. Cider varies in alcohol content from 2% abv to 8.5% abv or more in traditional English ciders. In some regions, such as Germany and America, cider may be termed "apple wine"...

, or fruit juice. Everyone is expected to eat some of each dish served; whoever skips a Kūčios dish will not survive to see the next Christmas Eve. Leaving the table before everyone has finished eating is also considered unlucky; the first to rise while another is still eating will be the first to die. The meal is eaten leisurely but solemnly, there is little conversation or joking.

Rituals

The meal is full of rituals to predict the future and welfare of family members such as these:

• A stem of hay is pulled from under the tablecloth. It cannot be picked; the first one the fingers encounter must be drawn. The person with the longest of the drawn straws will live the longest life, while the person with the fattest straw will have the most fulfilling life. A bent straw indicates the holder will have a turn in their life, while a straw with fork in it indicates many decisions to come in the following year. If a long, slender stalk is withdrawn, the girl can expect a tall slender husband, while a short, fat, bent stalk means a short, fat crooked husband. If this happens to a man, his future wife will be slender and tall or fat and short like the straw drawn. Married persons can also guess next year's happiness from the kind of stalk pulled. A thin stem indicates a flat, empty wallet, while a fat one means a prosperous year, a full wallet. If a married woman pulls a straw thicker in the middle, she will have a baby that year.

• While seated at the table, look at the walls where the candlelight casts the shadows of those dining. If your shadow is large, wide and of the whole person, the year will be good, there will be no illness, everything will go well. If the shadow lacks a head a terrible calamity will occur; if it is skinny, unclear and wavering, the year will be difficult.

Afterwards

After the meal, everyone leaves the table to go to sleep or the midnight mass, known as the Shepherds’

Adoration of the shepherds

The Adoration of the shepherds, in the Nativity of Jesus in art, is a scene in which shepherds are near witnesses to the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. It is often combined with the Adoration of the Magi, in which case it is typically just referred to by the latter title...

 Mass. The food is left to stand overnight. It is believed that the spirits of deceased relatives or loved ones will visit the home during the night and the table set with food would make them feel welcome. It was believed that the baby Jesus allows the souls of all the departed to return to earth to visit their families.

Traditions

The evening of Kūčios is filled with many traditions for either predicting the future or assuring success in the year to come. These traditions predate the Christians coming to Lithuania and, as such, are all pagan beliefs.

Weddings

On Kūčios, as during many other Lithuanian feasts, much attention is paid to wedding themes. Many of these rituals involve the maidens in the house. There are several rare marriage charms:

• The windows are covered after the meal is completed, a rooster and hen are pulled out from under the stove, and their tails are tied together. If the rooster pulls the hen to the door, there will be a wedding and if he pulls the hen back under the stove, there will be no wedding.
• Three items are placed on the doorsill: a ring, a piece of chalk and a piece of bread. A hen is brought out. If the hen picks up the ring, the girl will marry. If the hen picks up the piece of chalk, the girl will die. The girl will live poorly if the hen picks up the bread.

• A pot of water is brought to a boil and then two pieces of coal are dropped into the water. If the coals come together, there will be a wedding.

• Every girl in the room lights a candle. All the candles are placed on the table's edge and blown out by the master of the house. The girl whose candle is not blown out will remain unmarried.

• A ring is dropped into a half filled glass of water by a maiden. The number of ripples shows the number of years before her wedding.

• At midnight, girls place two sacred candles and between them a glass filled with water, birch ashes and drop a wedding band inside. Looking through the glass, they will either see their chosen male or a coffin.

• Three whole herring, without breading should be eaten by a maiden before going to bed. A towel should be placed on two wooden rods, set over a bowl filled with water by their bed. They will dream of their future male while sleeping.

• Quietly tie up even knots, putting into each one money, a piece of coal, a lump of earth, a piece of clay from the stove, grain or seeds, and a small rag. All these knotted pieces are placed in a tub, next to the girl's bed, so that they can be touched without leaving the bed. The meanings of the different knots are: the ring represents a wedding, money represents riches, coal represents fire, earth represents death, rag represents children, seeds or grains represent a good harvest.

• That night, two needles are dropped into a plate filled with water. If the needles come together, there will be a wedding.

Animals

On Christmas Eve a greater attention was given to animals. This was to assure their health, fertility and breeding success:

• Hay from the supper table was later fed to the animals.
• If one sewed on Christmas Eve, sheep will bear motley lambs
  Domestic sheep
  Sheep are quadrupedal, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Although the name "sheep" applies to many species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it almost always refers to Ovis aries...
  
  .
• To assure that animals do not scatter in the summer, the entire family must eat the Kūčios supper together.
• To keep the animal herds together in summer, tie up the cutlery after supper with the whip, broom and shepherd.
• No need to lock barn doors on this night, place a cross or another sign on the doors so that harmful spirits are ineffective.
• Those who sprinkle a mixture of wheat and peas in the barn, will have good animals the following year.
• After supper the mistress of the house should take all milk pots outside and place all around the farmstead so that next year the cows will give much milk.
• After supper the mistress of the house takes the butter churn and walks around the fields churning it, so that there will be an abundance of butter.
• No spinning should be done on this day because it will cause calf abortions and animals to slobber.
• After milking the cow, milk should be poured three times over the cow so that the witches do not drain the cow on the feast day of Saint John.
• On this day stroke the cows, so that they will be fat and have no pustules.
• Several Christmas wafers are saved and fed to cows, to keep the milk from spoiling.
• To make your horses look good, steal manure from your neighbor and feed it to your horses.
• So that no one can bewitch the horses, the master of the house feeds them ears of rye.
• Sheep should be sheared on this day so that new born lambs have curly fleece.
• To keep wolves
  Gray Wolf
  The gray wolf , also known as the wolf, is the largest extant wild member of the Canidae family...
  
  from carrying away animals, mention wolves while eating.
• Carry a sieve, a strainer for separating lumps from powdered material, around the fields to prevent the killing of colts by wolves.
• Wash windows, door handles, and all the corners of the house. Give the wash water to the animals to drink; it will keep evil eyes away from the animals.