Lithuania

Kūčios on 24 December is the family supper of the year, and relatives travel long distances to be at the table. An empty place is laid for anyone who died that year or could not come. The meal has twelve dishes and no meat or dairy: herring in tomato, mushroom or onion sauce, smoked eel, potatoes, cranberry kisielius, sauerkraut, mushrooms and bread with honey. Kūčiukai (small hard biscuits) are eaten with poppy-seed milk, and ethnologists read them as an old ritual bread for the souls of the dead.

Hay goes under the tablecloth to recall the manger, with fir boughs and candles on top. Supper once began when the first star appeared and now usually starts between 18:00 and 19:00. Some families draw straws from under the tablecloth to read the year ahead. The food stays on the table overnight for the spirits of the departed while the family goes out to the Shepherds' Mass at midnight, which is worship first.

Christmas Day is left for celebrating, and Christmas Eve and both days of Christmas are public holidays. In Vilnius the city's tallest Christmas tree goes up on Cathedral Square, with outdoor nativity scenes around it, and the square hosts the city's public New Year's Eve celebration.