Christmas in Lithuania has always been a magical time for me and I always struggled to relate to elf on the shelf, mountain of toys, advent calendars and putting Christmas tree up a month before Christmas.
In Lithuania we have always followed various traditions which were passed on from generation to generation and up until I have moved over to England I have not realized how rich and meaningful these traditions were.
There are 4 regions in Lithuania and each of them has got slightly different traditions, however I will tell you about few of the ones are celebrated in our region.
First and the most important step to be ready for Christmas Eve dinner is to do a deep clean of the house, get rid of any clutter, change the bedding and have a good wash yourself. We believe that you will not have successful year if on Christmas Eve your house or yourself will be dirty.
Christmas Eve is spent with your closest family members, and Christmas Day is for visiting other relatives or friends. Dinner is not eaten until the Evening star appears in the sky. Every year our mum would send me and my sister outside to look for the evening star and every year because we would be very hungry me and my sister would just look up in the sky, find any star we can see and run back inside to confirm that we found it.
Hey is traditional decoration. It is usually spread on the table top and then covered with a clean white tablecloth. Hey reminds people of the baby Jesus lying in the manger. The bread served on the table is human food and the hay represents the connectionwith the animals who help humans in so many ways.
A prayer is said before the dinner. The first meal is always the flatbread wafers, which we call Kalėdaitis). They are identical in therecipe to the Holy Communion, inscribed with Christian imagery and you can only get them from the church. The head of the household would take a wafer and start sharing with everyone, breaking it down piece by piece. After the wafer is shared and eaten, then the dinner can start.
Christmas Eve dinner would not consist of any meat, but we would have fruits like Lithuanian apples, nuts, honey, potatoes with various types of fish, mushrooms and vegetables.
As Lithuania is a Catholic country, we would have 12 dishes laid out on the table, and these 12 dishes represent 12 apostles (followers of Jesus). However, it is believed that 12 dishes also represent 12 months of the year that passed. Everyone had to try all the dishes so all the following months would be successful. One dish for one month.
We would always have an empty spare plate at the table – for the souls of our ancestors and family members who are no longer with us, but we believe they visit us on that night, hence we would not clear the table until the next day, so our ancestors can also have a feast.
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And I cannot imagine Lithuanian Christmas Eve without a bit of a magic!
After Christmas Eve dinner just before midnight we would be taking part in magic rituals such as guessing the future, especially young men and women wishing to find out if they will remain single or will get married.
For example, if you threw a shoe towards the door and it landed facing the door, it means that you will leave the house next year and will get married, if the shoe is facing the room, it means you will stay with your parents for another year. Imagine the pressure on the young women and men in their early 20s when their parents can’t wait for them to move out!
We would also go outside and listen for the sound of dogs barking. The side you hear the dogs bark from means your future husband will come from that side.
If there were few boys we fancied throughout the year, we would write their names down on separate pieces of paper and put them under the pillow and go to sleep. In the morning the first thing we would do is pick one piece of paper and we would know who our future husband will be.
At the dinner table we would take a handful of Kuciukai (small little pastries) only eaten on Christmas Eve and if the number of Kuciukai is even, that means you will find your other half, if odd – you will remain single for another year.
Our ancestors believed that on Christmas Eve water in wells turn into wine and animals start talking like humans. But you cannot go and listen to them talk as this is bad luck and they even might be talking about your death.
Remember the hey under the tablecloth? A superstition says that if you pull a piece of straw from under the tablecloth and its long, you will have a long life, but if its short , then nothing exciting is coming your way next year and if the straw is thick it means a rich and happy life.
Another trick we used to have lots of fun with as children was to take a bowl of water, light a candle and slowly drip the wax into the water and see what shapes it made. Most often they represented your secret wishes: maybe someone wanted to get a toy and saw a shape of a toy made from wax in the bowl.
Finally before going to bed, all family members would take hazelnut each and put it under the pillow. We would carry this with us all year round, so it protects us from bad energy and it would bring us happiness and good luck.
So whatever Christmas you will have this year, I wish you all to have a magical one and surrounded by people you love.
Viktorija x
