When I was a child, after the main course, when everybody were having smokes, making coffee, etc, I've managed to put cake on the empty plate that was left for my dead grandfather and gobbled it up. The face on my grandmother, when she walked in, was something else... They still keep reminding everybody of this event to this day and laugh. Also rye bread can be a substitute for the church wafer thing. Passed by the eldest to everyone. Also poppy seed milk is a ploy to make children sleep.
as an American married to a Lithuanian and living in the USA, we celeberate Kucias every year on December 24th. We do the "traditional" Kucias, with 12 dishes and then do a "typical" American Christmas morning/day. It's a nice blend of her culture and mine.
My family wasn't very religious but on Christmas Eve we, the kids, were always encouraged to keep calm, not to be too noisy and refrain from eating candy as well as meat, which meant that we barely ate anything cause we all hated herring, mushrooms and whatnot. The way we observed it, Christmas Eve is a day of respectful anticipation for the Christmas miracle that's coming tomorrow.
I find it interesting that the most popular greeting in Lithuania during mid to late December is "happy holidays" and there's no controversy surrounding it. Since you have Christmas Eve, Christmas, then The Second Day of Christmas and then New Year's is just around the corner, it makes sense to use the term "holidays". On December 25th people tend to say "Merry [Holy] Christmas", though, it seems.
@@SmellYaLatter I don't believe that at all. Considering pretty much every country in Europe has many different traditions during Christmas most of them came from the time people celebrated winter solstice. After all Lithuania adopted Christianity veeeeeeery late. Some aspects came from winter solstice holidays, some from Roman pagan one, some were added in to make it more Jesus approved.
yeah, christianity just made a similar celebration every time, because people were already used to celebrating pagan holidays. Like žolinės vs saint smth, joninės vs st john's day, etc.
My family are those kind of people that really believe in the talking animals superstition 😅 when I was a child my grandmother even told me a story about how a farmer once by accident heard his horses talking about needing to rest for an early morning duty. The farmer was confused about what did they mean by that, but it turns out that the animals were aware of him hearing their conversation and they needed to get ready to be the ones taking the dead body away, or something like that. My grandma tells the story so much better haha, and it really gave me chills when I first heard it as a child.
Herring and White salad mentioned in the video are Soviet relics and is not traditional lithuanian Christmas eve meals. Even though white salad is heavily consumed it is made of dairy, eggs an mayo which are not allowed during Christmas eve. A bit of misinformation there🫠
I didn't know that opening the gift sooner was a tradition, I just tought my parents let me open them to stop me from being dramatic and impatient as a kid haha! Also after dinner we usually give the 'secret santa' gifts
Yeah, we open our gifts on Christmas Eve and I was always jealous of Americans in the movies waking up on Christmas and running to the Christmas tree to find a pile of presents in the morning :/
Also, our family from December doesn't eat milk products or any other meat only fish every Friday until Christmas day its called something like Pasnikas or Pasnikavimas ;) don't know why but my mom says that my grandmother did the same so we do this too but it's hard sometimes, don't eat sausages or yogurt all day, we a not that religious but we still do it. Also if you live in a village then from the nearest church priest drives around homes and collects some money, when was a kid he would give candy or some kind of toy but now comes to collect just money at least can give any amount u want its called something like Kaledodamas don't know if this still a thing in all Lithuania or only in our area
My family has some multicultural aspects to most of the festivities, so when it comes to Christmas, we celebrate all 3 days. All three are celebrated in a similar fashion to how it's normal in Lithuania with some touches of other relevant cultures. So Christmas eve is all the usual 12 dishes, wine & bread, kūčiukai and so on. But we also exchange sort of token gifts. Those are symbols and tokens of Christian as well as pagan backgrounds. For example last Christmas eve I got an amber cross, a statuette of a snake called "Žaltys" (an important being in Baltic paganism) , a little runic stone and a Mjolnir necklace ( that's Thor's hammer ). The first Christmas day, which is the 25th, is a day where you celebrate with those closest to you, which is normally your family, but it might vary. On this day you eat absolutely anything you like, the staple dish of this day varies from home to home. This is the day where we exchange all the gifts we wanted and asked for. So it could be anything from money to a phone, clothes or anything of the sort. Second Christmas day, the 26th is practically the same as the first one, but on this day you celebrate with everyone you like. On this day our house does not have enough space to fit everyone we'd like to invite, but the guests are usually anyone from close friends to co-workers, neighbours and anyone else. We also exchange gifts, but those are normally more "generic" gifts. So for example if you are a kid, you likely will just get some sweets, maybe some money or a toy, while adults normally get some alcohol and maybe something on the side, like a box of chocolates or something. And all throughout this period, you eat. You eat A LOT. People put enormous effort into making all this fine food and if you are a guest visiting and you don't eat your fill properly, the hosts might be quite displeased. 😬
On Kūčios my family would go to my grandmas(dad) house where we would eat usually there were more than 12 dishes because there were 13 of us, but the rule was to taste at least 12 dishes, before eating we would have, as I have been calling it in my head, "The church wafer", though we aren't really religious. Then after dinner we would relax and just enjoy eachother company, after a while the adults would lure out the kids out of the room with the Christmas tree and hide the presents there, later saying that we missed Santa, anyway after unwrapping presents we chill for an hour or so, help clean up(because grandma is old and has enough housekeeping chores as is) and go home. The next day we would visit our grandma on mom's side and spend the day with them(unfortunately both of them have past). The next day would be spent just at home.
I really have a hard time not being able to eat any eggs, milk nor meat during Xmas eve 😔 as a Spanish guy married to a Lithuanian woman. In Spain most dishes will likely contain at least one of those 3 ingredients 😅, so we reserve them for Xmas day
Shortly, the Lithuanian Christmas Eve means all day hunger + the vegan evening table with little fat, lots of fish, mushrooms, nuts, berries, vegetables and not sweet pastries, poppy seed “milk”, . Christmas is meat meals, sweet meals, wine, fat and all you want.
In some parts off lithuaina you have crushed up weed with salt i hear this is prevelant in the coastal areas. You just have a small bowl off it and you dip your potatoes in it and it tastes super good. I once remember when my mom put some of it for my family wich comes from eastern žemaitija (Lowlands) region off lithuaina they looked at her as some sort off crazy. P.s there might not be salt in it, as ive not made it yet, but it tastes salty so im just guessing
Herring in bedding is a Russian dish, originating from a phenomenon called Soviet cafeteria kitchen (various (somewhat) easy to make dish recipes gathered through out many ethnic groups within former Soviet Union territory and addapted to fit deprived culinary culture within already restrictive USSR food distribution system.) Although it's not traditionally lithuanian per se, it doesnt make it any less delicious :)
@@RichieLarpa It originated in the soviet union, where exactly I cannot find so frankly just pointing to any territory of the ex soviet union would be correct here
@@d3iviz600 Import of herring to Lithuania started from 13th and was mainly from Riga and Danzig . Hanseatic merchants made a good money from this trade up to 16th century. In 1929-1938 main import of herring to Lithuania was throug Klipeda port from Britain. 98% of all imported herring then was Atlantic herring.
In my parts hearing animals speak will result in you becoming a mute (I think until next Christmas, but I might misremember here), so you do not share about what they talked about. So I, as a kid, was advised not to seek out speaking animals. Also hay on the table represents hay on which Jesus was born (because Jesus was born in a barn). And it seems we share same explanation as your wife, shorter the straw, means shorter life, longer the straw, longer life. Also, nowadays not really followed tradition, but religious folk still follow it: no meat meal in Christmas Eve, and dinner must be served only after Northern Star becomes visible in the sky, but not sooner, also some eat dinner only after attending the Holy Mass.
Despite the name calling christmas a christian holiday is a misnomer. The holiday predates christianity as well as most traditions we associate with the holiday. Maybe with the sole exception of gift giving.
You are wrong. You can't have a white smoothie on Christmas Eve because it has mayonnaise. We eat 12 dishes of herring, fish, mushrooms with oil, poppy and fruit.
Christmas Eve is definitely a very old tradition, much older than Christianity. (Here it is not so old, in Samogitia at 1413 it just started). Strict anti-cholesterol food restrictions were applied 4 weeks before Christmas and 7 weeks before Easter. The main course at Christmas Eve (Kučios) is called Kūčia. It is made all around here and is just various grains or just wheat grains cooked and sweetened with honey. More modern variety of Kūčia is Kūčiukai - dry very simple wheat cookies made with no milk nore eggs and served in sweet poppy milk. Then you add to your table whatever you have - mushrooms, beats, fish (herring, used to be available fish). One extra plate is added on the table for our family diseased join us on Christmas Eve. It is also very good to invite lonely neighbors, foreigners, etc., that people would not be left alone on Christmas Eve. While Christmas means Christ is born, all restrictions are over. Some good meat and tasty vine are served or whatever best you have.
You forgot that in the midnight animals talk and also water becomes wine, but who uses these miracles on purpose, d!3s the next day, but who just comes to this situation randomly, becomes rich (and I had a dream that my cat was talking🙃)
I think that only Christian traditions are displaying the Nativity scene and going to the mass in a church. Not all people do that though. All other traditions come from the pagan times and are remnants of the winter soltice celebration. Lithuanian Christmas is more pagan than Christian, even the Lithuanian name for Christmas, Kalėdos, comes from the pagan times. Herring in bedding wasn't a thing before soviet occupation. Although I eat this dish sometimes when I have a chance it's not something we have on our Christmas Eve/Christmas table. Balta mišrainė wasn't a thing in those back days either, it''s never served during Christmas Eve (because it contains eggs and mayo), only on Christmas day and other festivities that doesn't require fasting.
hi there. one person who did that at every Kucios is greeting you :) in general video does not lie. yet i am happy that i do not celebarate this way anymore because it is too tiring to prepare everything.
Is it normal for a Lithuanian to shove a pickled herring in your mouth whilst you're asleep at 7am around Christmas time? I asked her what she was doing and she said "it's tasty". She thought it was endearing, I thought it was strange.
No, it is meat, but fishes could not come to greet baby jesus (because they live in water, lol) so according to christian traditions - it is okay to eat fish but no ther animals that came to see jesus on 25th.
There is no logic, it's religion. For catholics fish is not meat, for orthodox fish is meat while shrimp is not, etc. its nonsense. Jews and muslims have their own weird rules that go to even another level.
my parents told that we eat only fish meat on christmas eve because fish was first what jesus ate, how much truth in that dunno maybe what kristinyt saying is more truth
Fish and other "bloodless" animals are okay to eat, because animal who have blood, must have at first their blood let out and ritually prepared, and in jewish tradition it is not okay to eat it as it is forbidden to eat animals with blood, and slaughtering and letting blood out and ritual preparation is work (remember, in ancient times in hot middle eastern climate meat went bad quickly so people usually prepared and ate it right after slaughter, because there were no refrigeration), and work is forbidden on holidays and sabboth. So this tradition carried to Christianity.
Can't say anything about logics there but the fasting tradition is good for health, anti-cholesterol. Diet is vegan with addition of honey and fish. Meat, all dairy products and eggs are forbidden.
When I was a child, after the main course, when everybody were having smokes, making coffee, etc, I've managed to put cake on the empty plate that was left for my dead grandfather and gobbled it up. The face on my grandmother, when she walked in, was something else... They still keep reminding everybody of this event to this day and laugh.
Also rye bread can be a substitute for the church wafer thing. Passed by the eldest to everyone.
Also poppy seed milk is a ploy to make children sleep.
as an American married to a Lithuanian and living in the USA, we celeberate Kucias every year on December 24th. We do the "traditional" Kucias, with 12 dishes and then do a "typical" American Christmas morning/day. It's a nice blend of her culture and mine.
My family is Lithuania we do that on Christmas eve aswell
My family wasn't very religious but on Christmas Eve we, the kids, were always encouraged to keep calm, not to be too noisy and refrain from eating candy as well as meat, which meant that we barely ate anything cause we all hated herring, mushrooms and whatnot. The way we observed it, Christmas Eve is a day of respectful anticipation for the Christmas miracle that's coming tomorrow.
I find it interesting that the most popular greeting in Lithuania during mid to late December is "happy holidays" and there's no controversy surrounding it. Since you have Christmas Eve, Christmas, then The Second Day of Christmas and then New Year's is just around the corner, it makes sense to use the term "holidays". On December 25th people tend to say "Merry [Holy] Christmas", though, it seems.
Even though Christmas is a purely pagan holiday I will accept your intro. :)
It's pagan sure, but pagan as in Roman pagan, which has nothing to do with paganism I pressume you're pointing to
@@SmellYaLatter I don't believe that at all. Considering pretty much every country in Europe has many different traditions during Christmas most of them came from the time people celebrated winter solstice. After all Lithuania adopted Christianity veeeeeeery late. Some aspects came from winter solstice holidays, some from Roman pagan one, some were added in to make it more Jesus approved.
yeah, christianity just made a similar celebration every time, because people were already used to celebrating pagan holidays. Like žolinės vs saint smth, joninės vs st john's day, etc.
@@SmellYaLatter Kūčios is not Roman Pagan
@@jygeb Kalėdos not Kūčios
What we leave are not dirty dishes. By this we share our meal with our ancestors, and this is the remnant tradition from an old religion.
Very good description of main traditions.
This video might as well be a documentary, because it's 100% true
My family are those kind of people that really believe in the talking animals superstition 😅 when I was a child my grandmother even told me a story about how a farmer once by accident heard his horses talking about needing to rest for an early morning duty. The farmer was confused about what did they mean by that, but it turns out that the animals were aware of him hearing their conversation and they needed to get ready to be the ones taking the dead body away, or something like that. My grandma tells the story so much better haha, and it really gave me chills when I first heard it as a child.
same my mom say same story xD every year during Kučios evening xD
For me the story was about cows criticizing their owner and if a human hears it the animal that spoke would die next morning
@@d3iviz600 I guess my grandpa heard his horse talking :(
Herring and White salad mentioned in the video are Soviet relics and is not traditional lithuanian Christmas eve meals. Even though white salad is heavily consumed it is made of dairy, eggs an mayo which are not allowed during Christmas eve.
A bit of misinformation there🫠
Great Channel, happy I came across it, as I moved to LT in 2020, you share a lot of good info. Grazie 😉
I didn't know that opening the gift sooner was a tradition, I just tought my parents let me open them to stop me from being dramatic and impatient as a kid haha!
Also after dinner we usually give the 'secret santa' gifts
Right on, pretty accurate I should say.
For my family the 12 dishes mean 1 dish for 1 month of felling full
Great video! 💖Really love your appreciation for this small country, it's very heartwarming :)
Su Šv. Kalėdom!! 💚❤💚❤
Yeah, we open our gifts on Christmas Eve and I was always jealous of Americans in the movies waking up on Christmas and running to the Christmas tree to find a pile of presents in the morning :/
Also, our family from December doesn't eat milk products or any other meat only fish every Friday until Christmas day its called something like Pasnikas or Pasnikavimas ;) don't know why but my mom says that my grandmother did the same so we do this too but it's hard sometimes, don't eat sausages or yogurt all day, we a not that religious but we still do it. Also if you live in a village then from the nearest church priest drives around homes and collects some money, when was a kid he would give candy or some kind of toy but now comes to collect just money at least can give any amount u want its called something like Kaledodamas don't know if this still a thing in all Lithuania or only in our area
My family has some multicultural aspects to most of the festivities, so when it comes to Christmas, we celebrate all 3 days. All three are celebrated in a similar fashion to how it's normal in Lithuania with some touches of other relevant cultures.
So Christmas eve is all the usual 12 dishes, wine & bread, kūčiukai and so on. But we also exchange sort of token gifts. Those are symbols and tokens of Christian as well as pagan backgrounds. For example last Christmas eve I got an amber cross, a statuette of a snake called "Žaltys" (an important being in Baltic paganism) , a little runic stone and a Mjolnir necklace ( that's Thor's hammer ).
The first Christmas day, which is the 25th, is a day where you celebrate with those closest to you, which is normally your family, but it might vary. On this day you eat absolutely anything you like, the staple dish of this day varies from home to home. This is the day where we exchange all the gifts we wanted and asked for. So it could be anything from money to a phone, clothes or anything of the sort.
Second Christmas day, the 26th is practically the same as the first one, but on this day you celebrate with everyone you like. On this day our house does not have enough space to fit everyone we'd like to invite, but the guests are usually anyone from close friends to co-workers, neighbours and anyone else. We also exchange gifts, but those are normally more "generic" gifts. So for example if you are a kid, you likely will just get some sweets, maybe some money or a toy, while adults normally get some alcohol and maybe something on the side, like a box of chocolates or something.
And all throughout this period, you eat. You eat A LOT. People put enormous effort into making all this fine food and if you are a guest visiting and you don't eat your fill properly, the hosts might be quite displeased. 😬
Amazing video 👏🙏
im actually lithuanian and yes the 12 foods stand for the 12 months of the year .
On Kūčios my family would go to my grandmas(dad) house where we would eat usually there were more than 12 dishes because there were 13 of us, but the rule was to taste at least 12 dishes, before eating we would have, as I have been calling it in my head, "The church wafer", though we aren't really religious. Then after dinner we would relax and just enjoy eachother company, after a while the adults would lure out the kids out of the room with the Christmas tree and hide the presents there, later saying that we missed Santa, anyway after unwrapping presents we chill for an hour or so, help clean up(because grandma is old and has enough housekeeping chores as is) and go home. The next day we would visit our grandma on mom's side and spend the day with them(unfortunately both of them have past). The next day would be spent just at home.
I always wanted to ask if the tradition of almost every city building a Christmas tree is a thing only in Lithuania.
I really have a hard time not being able to eat any eggs, milk nor meat during Xmas eve 😔 as a Spanish guy married to a Lithuanian woman. In Spain most dishes will likely contain at least one of those 3 ingredients 😅, so we reserve them for Xmas day
Shortly, the Lithuanian Christmas Eve means all day hunger + the vegan evening table with little fat, lots of fish, mushrooms, nuts, berries, vegetables and not sweet pastries, poppy seed “milk”, . Christmas is meat meals, sweet meals, wine, fat and all you want.
In some parts off lithuaina you have crushed up weed with salt i hear this is prevelant in the coastal areas. You just have a small bowl off it and you dip your potatoes in it and it tastes super good.
I once remember when my mom put some of it for my family wich comes from eastern žemaitija (Lowlands) region off lithuaina they looked at her as some sort off crazy.
P.s there might not be salt in it, as ive not made it yet, but it tastes salty so im just guessing
Not weed, hemp seed. Weed and hemp are related but still different.
Herring in bedding is a Russian dish, originating from a phenomenon called Soviet cafeteria kitchen (various (somewhat) easy to make dish recipes gathered through out many ethnic groups within former Soviet Union territory and addapted to fit deprived culinary culture within already restrictive USSR food distribution system.) Although it's not traditionally lithuanian per se, it doesnt make it any less delicious :)
Netiesa, silkė pataluose pavogtas iš suomių. Ruskeliai savo nieko neturi, net šlapenka nukopino nuo amerikiečių.
Saying "Russian" nowadays might put you in danger, say "Ukrainian" instead and you will be more politically correct and more accepted.
@@RichieLarpa It originated in the soviet union, where exactly I cannot find so frankly just pointing to any territory of the ex soviet union would be correct here
@@d3iviz600 Import of herring to Lithuania started from 13th and was mainly from Riga and Danzig . Hanseatic merchants made a good money from this trade up to 16th century. In 1929-1938 main import of herring to Lithuania was throug Klipeda port from Britain. 98% of all imported herring then was Atlantic herring.
@@fidenemini111 Import of HERRING, herring in a fur coat is not the same as plain old herring.
Tradition or no tradition, I cannot leave dirty dishes to fester 🙈
😂
In my parts hearing animals speak will result in you becoming a mute (I think until next Christmas, but I might misremember here), so you do not share about what they talked about. So I, as a kid, was advised not to seek out speaking animals. Also hay on the table represents hay on which Jesus was born (because Jesus was born in a barn). And it seems we share same explanation as your wife, shorter the straw, means shorter life, longer the straw, longer life. Also, nowadays not really followed tradition, but religious folk still follow it: no meat meal in Christmas Eve, and dinner must be served only after Northern Star becomes visible in the sky, but not sooner, also some eat dinner only after attending the Holy Mass.
Also some people believe that people living in Vilnius at the midnight of Christmas day starts to speak in Lithuanian language 🙂
The ending was cute, I do not celebrate Christmas, but thank you for asking.
Great video!
Despite the name calling christmas a christian holiday is a misnomer. The holiday predates christianity as well as most traditions we associate with the holiday. Maybe with the sole exception of gift giving.
It is good to hear that the Christmas season is here but I don't like that the prices for everything is sky rocketed :( this is gonna be a bad season
Nicely
You are wrong. You can't have a white smoothie on Christmas Eve because it has mayonnaise. We eat 12 dishes of herring, fish, mushrooms with oil, poppy and fruit.
Christmas Eve is definitely a very old tradition, much older than Christianity. (Here it is not so old, in Samogitia at 1413 it just started). Strict anti-cholesterol food restrictions were applied 4 weeks before Christmas and 7 weeks before Easter. The main course at Christmas Eve (Kučios) is called Kūčia. It is made all around here and is just various grains or just wheat grains cooked and sweetened with honey. More modern variety of Kūčia is Kūčiukai - dry very simple wheat cookies made with no milk nore eggs and served in sweet poppy milk. Then you add to your table whatever you have - mushrooms, beats, fish (herring, used to be available fish). One extra plate is added on the table for our family diseased join us on Christmas Eve. It is also very good to invite lonely neighbors, foreigners, etc., that people would not be left alone on Christmas Eve. While Christmas means Christ is born, all restrictions are over. Some good meat and tasty vine are served or whatever best you have.
You forgot that in the midnight animals talk and also water becomes wine, but who uses these miracles on purpose, d!3s the next day, but who just comes to this situation randomly, becomes rich
(and I had a dream that my cat was talking🙃)
I think that only Christian traditions are displaying the Nativity scene and going to the mass in a church. Not all people do that though. All other traditions come from the pagan times and are remnants of the winter soltice celebration. Lithuanian Christmas is more pagan than Christian, even the Lithuanian name for Christmas, Kalėdos, comes from the pagan times. Herring in bedding wasn't a thing before soviet occupation. Although I eat this dish sometimes when I have a chance it's not something we have on our Christmas Eve/Christmas table. Balta mišrainė wasn't a thing in those back days either, it''s never served during Christmas Eve (because it contains eggs and mayo), only on Christmas day and other festivities that doesn't require fasting.
I have super traditional Kūčios and never ever had silkė pataluose in my life
same any other recipe from fish but not silke pataluose ;)
Because mayo is made of eggs therefore strictly forbidden on Christmas Eve.
not sure if my family is an odd one out but i've never consumed poppy seed milk at the table my entire life nor i know anyone who has
we always just snacked on them by itself or dunk them in kisielius
hi there. one person who did that at every Kucios is greeting you :)
in general video does not lie. yet i am happy that i do not celebarate this way anymore because it is too tiring to prepare everything.
Honestly same like seriously who puts seeds in milk???
@@d3iviz600 oh poppy milk is one of those vegan milk alternatives it's not actual seeds dumped in cow milk
@@AnimeJuggz_ Yeah I know I was joking but still doesn't sound all that pleasant nonetheless
hi
Is it normal for a Lithuanian to shove a pickled herring in your mouth whilst you're asleep at 7am around Christmas time? I asked her what she was doing and she said "it's tasty". She thought it was endearing, I thought it was strange.
on chrismtas eve animals speak, but if you listen to them you will hear them discussing your death, this is the correct myth
12 mins early
at least in my family you cannot leave Christmas eve table without kissing every member siting at the table goodbye
2:00 I understand the traditions, but you want to tell me that fish is not meat, hence it is allowed? This logic does not make sense to me.
No, it is meat, but fishes could not come to greet baby jesus (because they live in water, lol) so according to christian traditions - it is okay to eat fish but no ther animals that came to see jesus on 25th.
There is no logic, it's religion. For catholics fish is not meat, for orthodox fish is meat while shrimp is not, etc. its nonsense. Jews and muslims have their own weird rules that go to even another level.
my parents told that we eat only fish meat on christmas eve because fish was first what jesus ate, how much truth in that dunno maybe what kristinyt saying is more truth
Fish and other "bloodless" animals are okay to eat, because animal who have blood, must have at first their blood let out and ritually prepared, and in jewish tradition it is not okay to eat it as it is forbidden to eat animals with blood, and slaughtering and letting blood out and ritual preparation is work (remember, in ancient times in hot middle eastern climate meat went bad quickly so people usually prepared and ate it right after slaughter, because there were no refrigeration), and work is forbidden on holidays and sabboth. So this tradition carried to Christianity.
Can't say anything about logics there but the fasting tradition is good for health, anti-cholesterol. Diet is vegan with addition of honey and fish. Meat, all dairy products and eggs are forbidden.