Catholic Christmas
Description:
Shepherd bonfires were burning in the desert.
Buran raged and exhausted the soul
Of the poor kings who delivered gifts.
Camels raised shaggy feet.
The wind howled: Star, flame in the night,
Watched three caravans of the road.
They came to Christ’s cave like rays.
I. Brodsky “Christmas of 1963”
On the night of December 25, Catholics and Protestants, when the snow is easily circling in the north in the light of bright festive opiates, soft flakes fall to the ground and creak under their feet ... Christmas is celebrated everywhere.
Christmas is a fusion of beautiful customs and traditions that exist among people of different nationalities. One thing unites them is the days of universal love and goodness.
According to Charles Dickens, this is a time of mercy, kindness and incarnation, these are the only days on the calendar when people ... freely open their hearts to each other and see in their loved ones people like themselves.
In Lithuania, where Catholics predominate among different religions, the feast of the Nativity of Christ begins the day before, on Christmas Eve - "couches" - with a solemn family dinner.
After a month of fasting on Christmas Eve, the housing is cleanly cleaned, Christmas trees are decorated, and in the evening the whole family sits down at the table. This is a purely family holiday - a lonely neighbor or acquaintance can be invited to dinner. Only lean dishes are served on the table, but it is distinguished by a special variety and delicacies for children. Traditionally, there should be twelve dishes. These are fish, mushrooms, cranberry jelly, vegetables and fruits, poppy milk and necessarily "slizhiki" - miniature cakes that are served in this milk from grated poppy. Alcoholic drinks are not served.
Only the next morning, after returning from the church, you can put hearty meat dishes on the table. Usually, the first day of Christmas is celebrated with family, and only on December 26, neighbors and friends visit each other.
This tradition persists not only in rural areas but also in cities. It is adhered to by the first persons of the country - the president, the speaker of parliament, the prime minister. The hierarchs of the Catholic Church of Lithuania also wish peace and prosperity to their compatriots in their sermons, and Lithuanians celebrate Christmas from December 25 to 28.