Thank you for sharing this, Gina. It is so fun to see the different ways we all celebrate this grand Holiday.
Gina is from Lithuania and now lives in Texas.~Marie
Christmas Eve, which is the day before Christmas Day, is celebrated in many countries worldwide. It is a Christian observance that falls on December 24 in the Gregorian calendar.
After Glen and I married and had children we spent many years at my parents house in Cleveland, Oh. The kids would cringe that they would have to eat FISH and HERRING. ~ Gina
Christmas Eve Food in Lithuania
Article from: www.lithuanianhomecooking.com/home/christmas-eve–foodin-lithuania
Authentic Christmas Eve celebrations encompass a variety of ceremonies and rituals, some of which date as far as Lithuania’s pagan times before the end of the 14th century. Today, Christmas Eve is mostly regarded as an annual occasion to gather family and friends around the dinner table.
Twelve Dishes for the Christmas Eve Dinner Table
Not even kidding – you will find on average 3 types of dishes containing herring on a typical Lithuanian Christmas Eve table. Herring with beets, herring with carrots, herring with apples, herring with hot potatoes – you name it. I personally LOVE herring and Christmas Eve is a good occasion to get a year’s fill of it.
4. Christmas Eve Cookies (“Kūčiukai“)
I translated the name of this pastry as “cookies” for the lack of a better word. Kūčiukai (sometimes called šližikai) are crouton-sized dough bits made of plain flour, water and poppy seeds and baked exceptionally for Christmas Eve only. Once baked, they become rock-hard within a day, yet are served as a table centerpiece because of old traditions. What is Christmas Eve without a cracked tooth!
Yet do make Kūčiukai if you plan to have truly Lithuanian Christmas Eve.
5. Poppy Seed Milk
Another special for Christmas Eve, poppy seed milk is something like Lithuanian eggnog. It is often served alongside with Christmas Eve cookies – something like breakfast cereal, only for dinner.
6. Cranberry Kissel Drink
Kissel is found in many Eastern European cuisines, and it is usually a berry or fruit flavoured thick starchy dessert. In Lithuania, however, kissel is thinned down to a consistency of a drink, and its cranberry variety is a favorite in winter and during Christmas season.
Traditionally, cranberry kissel is made by boiling cranberries, straining them, thickening the hot liquid with starch and adding sugar to taste. As a shortcut, you may heat up ready-made cranberry juice and drizzle some starch suspended in a small amount of water to thicken the juice. Voila – you have a kissel.
7. Communion wafers
Catholicism is the dominant religion in Lithuania, and sharing community wafers during the Christmas Eve dinner is common. Usually a wafer is passed around the table, and each family member breaks and eats a piece, whishing the others a good year ahead. Thus it is not strictly a dish, but one of a better known traditions. One usually can buy wafers from their nearest church.
8 and on. The Rest
The remaining of the twelve dishes (and lets face it – twelve is the minimum, rather than the exact count, nowadays) vary from table to table, from family to family. Here a several of the most common ones:
Potato salad – or as Lithuanians call it, “white salad”, is a favorite in various celebrations, not only in Christmas season.
Cold cuts – ham, roasts, or beef tongue with condiments. Traditionally, meat is not allowed on the Christmas Eve table due to Advent observances, but this is often no longer the case nowadays.
Aspic – a savoury collagenous jelly made with meat and set in a mould. Served with mayo, horseradish or vinegar.
Tangerines – tropical fruits, of course, are far from traditional, but in the latter decades tangerines in particular became very common on the Christmas Eve table. Grocery stores also seem to stock up on them in December in anticipation of the demand. Culinary globalization in action!
Chocolate and candies – our family’s Christmas Eve tradition was to serve a certain Lithuanian candy brand “Griliažas” – something like peanut brittle covered in chocolate.
You may by now have come to an impression that Lithuanian Christmas Eve table mostly consists of salads, appetizers and snack-like dishes – and you would be right. Hot courses, such as roasted turkey, goose or cepelinai are usually reserved for the Christmas day lunch. Nevertheless, the Eve dinner is very rich and filling, and the New Year resolutions for weight loss usually start on Christmas Eve.
Peaceful Christmas, everyone!
~Gina
Gina, I’m afraid that in order for me to eat herring, my Kissel would have to be spiked…A lot.
I’m with you Marie, I don’t do raw fish! No herring, no lox, no sushi!
Thanks for telling us about your traditions. My husband and I visited Lithuania a few years ago, liked it a lot, and although I don’t remember the exact foods I remember liking all the foods, typical Eastern European foods. Merry Christmas.
Thanks Marie for posting this. I grew up eating herring so I do like it but my husband and children felt they were going thru torture.
Regular Lithuanian food is very similar to Russian, Polish and other European countries.
I was fifteen when we emigrated to the US after WWII and left Cleveland to join the Marine Corps at 25 so my life changed and my parent’s house was my only HERRING experience from then on.
Merry Christmas to everyone.
You have lead such an interesting and diverse life. Someday you will have to share with the Crew how and why you left Lithuania.
Gina, I’m from England, and my father would eat herring every morning for breakfast!
I am allergic to fish,but i would rather be allergic to that than anything else. Those “griliazas” sounded really good.
Thank you for sharing your traditions. Wonderful to continue for children to know how and why certain food items are used. Merry Christmas.
Thanks Gina for having documented the customs of the Christmas Eve meal. I may not know the part of these dishes but I have to tell you that at our house this evening there will be lunch the day before, strictly fish, and of course there will also kippers which we like very much, yesterday I had to shoot three stores to find them but it did.
Thank You, Gina. Very pretty food presentations on your traditional, Lithuanian Christmas Eve tables. The fish, vegetables, fruits and seeds are good, healthful foods. I wasn’t aware of any of this, so I thank you for your posting it for us to learn about it. I wish you and yours a wonderful Christmas season and a peaceful and happy new year. 🌟🌍