Christmas in Lithuania
2007-12-18 13:39

Today Christmas Eve is mainly associated with a solemn supper bringing the whole family together. However, Lithuanians have other Christmas traditions as well.

Christmas Eve starts only when the Hesperus shows up in the sky. Just as in other parts of the world, one of the most important traditions during the Christmas Eve is decoration of the Christmas tree. In former times, this beautiful green tree used to be brought from the forest and decorated with apples, sweets or cookies. However, this tradition has changed over the 20th century, and today all you need to decorate a Christmas tree, can be easily found in a supermarket, including the Christmas tree itself.

There is an old tradition in Lithuania that each member of family should bath and put on clean clothes on the day before Christmas. After this, the whole family gathers at the Christmas table, which is traditionally covered with white huckaback tablecloth.

Another common Lithuanian custom is to serve twelve meals for the supper, since this number symbolizes the number of Jesus’ apostles. The supper begins with a prayer, then everybody starts eating. The meal that should be eaten first is a Christmas wafers, so they are handed around to everybody by the oldest member of the family.

It was also believed in earlier times and is still believed today that the souls of those who have died do not leave their house after the death, but live like shadows with their family. Therefore, an empty plate is always prepared for the souls of the deceased, expecting them to join the supper during the Christmas Eve. All meals on the festive table are traditional: herring, hot potatoes, mushrooms, beetroots, nuts, bread and beans. It was believed that sweet meals can make your life sweet too, so deserts, like cranberry jam or pear compote were essential on the Christmas table. Nowadays, people drink red wine at supper, but long time ago, there was no such kind of thing in Lithuania, so villagers used to drink bear or poppy milk.

After the supper, it’s time for magic. There’s an old custom - trying to guess his luck in the future, each member of the family pulls a straw from underneath the table cover. If one succeeds to get a long straw, he will live a long live, but if the straw is short, the life will be short. After the meal, girls try to guess when they will get married. All of them go outside and listen if there is any dog barking. The sound shows the way where the groom lives. They also observe the wind, as it shows the direction where the girl is going to live after she gets married.

Old men used to say that the Christmas night is holy and full of miracles. For example, ancient Lithuanians believed that animals begin to speak in human voice during this magic night, so people used to feed them from their table.

On Christmas morning, people wake up early. It is believed that if the weather is cold, the spring will be warm and fertile.
In earlier times, children used to spend the morning waiting for the oracle (the oldest dweller in the village), who would bring them some presents. Usually, he had his body covered with an animal skin, had a wooden stick and a long gray beard. The oracle was walking across the village, giving present to children and shouting- “marry Christmas”. This custom has changed a lot over time, and the function of oracles is performed by Santa Claus today.