Lavish and Luscious Christmas Eve Feasts in Poland, the Ukraine and Lithuania

Christmas traditions such as buying gifts, decorating homes, offices and classrooms and trimming indoor Christmas trees with lights and ornaments are commonplace throughout the world. For most, it wouldn't be Christmas without these annual customs. However, in Poland, Ukraine and Lithuania Christmas would be incomplete without their traditional Christmas Eve feasts.

These feasts are rich in traditions and superstitions dating back to pagan times. Early Christians adapted many of these customs giving them new meanings relating to Christianity. One such custom, delaying the meal until the sighting of the first star at night, symbolizes the birth of Jesus in Christian tradition and a soul of deceased ancestors in pre-Christian beliefs. Another custom, setting an extra plate and chair at the table, welcomes strangers who might be Jesus in disguise to the meal in Christian tradition and deceased ancestors who are believed to revisit their homes on Christmas Eve in pre-Christian beliefs.

The meal, a twelve-dish menu symbolizing the 12 apostles in Christian tradition and the 12 months of the year in pre-Christian beliefs, varies depending on the country. However, in all countries meat and dairy are not served in keeping with the month-long fasting period of Advent.

So what do they eat?

In Poland, unlike other countries where Christmas Day is the centerpiece of activity, Christmas Eve takes center stage. The day begins with a 24-hour fast and concludes with the Wigilia, or Star Supper.

The Wigilia begins with the breaking of the opłatek, a wafer of unleavened dough stamped with scenes of the nativity. The father, or other head of the household, will offer blessings to those present then break off and eat a piece of the wafer before passing it around the table for each person at the table to do as well.

The meal, which is laid out upon a white tablecloth having bits of hay spread beneath it as a reminder that Christ was born in a manger, includes a variety of fish, vegetable, soup, grain and sweet dishes.

The menu varies from region to region, however, in most places the meal begins with red borsch, mushroom soup or fish soup. Creamed herring; herring in spicy honey; herring in garlic plum sauce; jellied pike with horseradish sauce; jellied carp; pierogies; mushrooms, dried or pickled; fresh fruit compote; boiled potatoes; beans and sauerkraut; and assorted pastries, nuts and candies are standard fare in many homes throughout the country.

For Ukrainians, Christmas arrives January 7^th. As such, their traditional twelve-dish Christmas Eve feast, known as the holy supper or Sviata Vechera, begins with the sighting of the first star in the sky on the eve of January 6^th.

As in Poland, the meal is laid out upon a tablecloth having bits of hay spread beneath it. In some cases, two tablecloths are used to symbolize both living and deceased members of the household. The kolach, or Christmas bread, is placed on the center of the table along with a sheaf of wheat called a didukh, which serves as a reminder of the family's ancestors and a candle, which symbolizes Christ.

The meal begins with kutia, boiled wheat kernels sweetened with honey and flavored with poppy seeds or nuts. Borsch; baked, fried, jellied or pickled fish; dough dumplings filled with potato and onion; cabbage rolls stuffed with savory rice or buckwheat; white beans mashed with onions and garlic; sauerkraut with onions; marinated beets or mushrooms; a compote of dried fruit; and little deep-fried pastries containing various fillings such as poppy seed or dried fruit are some of the typical grain, fish, vegetable and fruit dishes to appear at the table during the meal.

Christmas Eve is more important than Christmas Day in Lithuania. The twelve-dish dinner, called Kûèios, is served on a white tablecloth with hay spread beneath as in Poland. Here too the meal begins with father breaking the oplatek and offering blessings to those at the table before passing it around amongst the remainder of the family.

The meal includes servings of fish such as herring with carrots, herring with mushrooms, poppy seed milk with tiny dumplings, cranberry pudding, a dried fruit soup or compote, a salad of winter and dried vegetables, mushrooms, boiled or baked potatoes, sauerkraut, bread and honeyed porridge made from wheat, barley, peas, and beans.