Christmas Eve Food in Lithuania

Christmas Season is unarguably the biggest among all public holidays in Lithuania - much like in most Western countries. What may surprise you, however, that not Christmas itself, but rather Christmas Eve ("Kūčios") is more anticipated and has more traditions, both cultural and culinary, attached to it.

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

Lithuanian Christmas Eve Dinner

Traditionally, twelve dishes are to be served on a Christmas Eve table (symbolizing twelve months of the year) and the dinner is to start once the Western star rises. To date, I am not sure what the Western star is, but the twelve dish rule is generally much easier to observe :)

So what are the typical 12 dishes that you would find on a Lithuanian Kūčios dinner table?

Herring & Beet Salad

1, 2, 3 and maybe more. Various herring salads

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.

Herring Terrine

... and more herring

Kūčiukai

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 - you will find the recipe in my next post.

Poppy Seed Milk

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.

Cranberry Kissel Drink

Communion Wafers

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.

White Salad

Beef tongue cuts

Aspic

Tangerines on Christmas Eve table

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.

Candies "Griliažas"

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!

33 Comments

Richard Vidutis

4/17/2014 10:47:03 am

I take issue with Milda's statement that meat can be allowed at the Kuciu table. Here in the US most immigrants that I have known for decades try to keep Christmas Eve meat free as a traditional imperative. Perhaps the situation in Lithuanian proper has changed but immigrant populations are generally more conservative with their traditions and rituals.

Sabina

8/11/2014 02:20:52 am

I agree with Richard. Traditionally there is NO MEAT on Christmas Eve

Trish Swartz

11/19/2015 12:50:47 pm

I agree, we keep it strict fast, as a matter of fact we only eat a small amount for breakfast, then we go to church and only break our fast with Kuicios.

Martha pranckuviene

11/19/2015 05:58:28 pm

Meat is absolutely not allowed on the table Christmas eve...weclivecin Ireland but travel back to Lithuania often and even in Ireland Lithuanians never eat meat Christmas eve...

Dalia

11/20/2015 10:07:43 am

I agree. If you want to have authentic Kucias you do not serve meat. I don't know of anybody that serves meat on Kucas. Those other delicious dishes can be had another day.

Leila

1/12/2017 01:35:49 pm

my lithuanian grandma (shes an immigrant here in germany) is raised very religious and conservative but theres always a lot of meat on christmas.

summers link

12/14/2017 08:45:52 am

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rovanas

12/1/2017 12:30:03 pm

I believe that all Lithuanians I know eat meet free on Kūčios.

Algis Pleckauskas

12/23/2017 09:18:38 pm

I agree with Richard and may add that the 12 dishes symbolises the apostles as I was brought up to believe and am from Australia and still following the tradition after 68 years.

Nijole

11/19/2015 02:01:31 pm

Not only is there no meat, but there should be no eggs and no milk. In other words: no mayo. We, like Trish, also fast all day. It makes Kucios all the more tasty!

Raymond Simanavicius

11/19/2015 03:51:45 pm

No meat in our family on Christmas Eve...We have to keep reminding each other during the day when one of us reaches for sliced ham or something to make a sandwich...

Edita

11/19/2015 07:26:44 pm

This is not traditional Christmas Eve food - no meat, eggs or dairy products are allowed. And we never have "potato salad" or herring with mayo during Christmas Eve. It only allowed on Christmas Day.

Regina

11/20/2015 06:25:11 pm

Here's another NO MEAT family. While my childhood table had several herring dishes, my kids don't care for it, so we substitute seafood... but absolutely no meat on the Christmas Eve table

Rūta

11/20/2015 07:05:38 pm

No meat on Christmas Eve day (Kūčios). Fish, herring, salmon, and/or any other kind of fish, smoked eel, if you can get it, tomatoes with cucumbers and onion and oil, beet salad, potato salad (no mayo), bread, kisielius (cranberry pudding), kompotas (stewed chilled mixed dried fruit), poppy seed milk, which actually has no milk in it, with those crunchy bread things called šližikai. (Ugh, I never learned to like that, but my kids do. Weird). Isn't all the food supposed to be cold?

Valerija

11/21/2015 01:36:14 am

Ta proga UAB Kintai gali pasiūlyti Nemuno deltos regioniniam parke esančiuose tvenkinuose užaugintos pačios geriausios šviežios žuvies, bei rūkytų jos gaminių

Vitalijus

11/21/2015 01:39:14 am

NO MEAT!!!!! But you forgot one very important dish is mushrooms! !! I cant imagine Christmas eve without it

Angelina

11/21/2015 07:17:28 am

Strictly ---- NO MEAT------

Vicki

11/21/2015 12:10:32 pm

no meat at all!

no meat at all.

11/25/2015 02:40:54 pm

Tina Ona

12/5/2015 11:52:20 am

No we never eat meat. The most important is the grybu virtinuku ( mushroom dumplings) They are a must.

Algis

12/24/2017 08:29:37 pm

Could you possibly send me the recipe for the mushroom dumpling you refer to as my mother used to make them in days gone by and I would love to have them once more before I die.

Jurate

12/15/2015 08:35:04 pm

NO meat ever for Christmas Eve/Kucios

Rūta link

12/17/2015 03:41:38 am

There are some false propositions in this article. To tell the truth, any dishes with the products of warm-blooded animal origin (as eggs, milk, any meet) are being placed on the Kucios' table. It's a tradition. Lithuanians eat salted or fried fish (e. g. herring, carp, and pike), dried or preserved mushrooms, fresh or preserved vegetables (beetroot, carrots, potatoes, preserved cucumbers or sauerkraut; e. g. broth of beetroot and dried ceps with dumplings field with dried boletus) and fruits, seeds, nuts and grits, seed milk. It is a pagan tradition to bring together all family members, to remember ancestors and to stay in peace with domestic and savage animals this evening.

Rita

12/17/2015 05:43:33 am

Absolutely no meat for Christmas Eve! And no sweets too! I live in Lithuania - I've found it like that, and I am going to leave that tradition for future generations. It is in our family anyway, even if we are not zealots.

Kristina

1/5/2016 10:05:51 am

Def no meat, but our family kucios did allow for cottage cheese and farmers cheese in blintz. Also, Napoleonas was my mother's crowning glory for dessert. Every region seems to have different rules. Although, someone mentioned tomatoes and I'm sorry but the tomato isn't indigenous to Lithuania. It shouldn't be part of the meal or any traditional Lithuanian meal ever. If you're using tomato it's not Lithuanian.

Kristupas link

6/12/2016 11:43:12 am

I DON'T CARE!!! :) :D XD ;D

?????????

11/12/2016 05:42:46 pm

Birute

12/13/2016 05:50:26 am

No meat. We do have mushrooms in a sauce, herring in a variety of ways other fish. Kopustai, hard boiled eggs with horseradish sauce, boiled Potatoes, slizikai, plotkeles cranberry pudding. We definitely have 12 dishes. We also put some hay under the tablecloth. We also fast all day, the seniors and young children may not. I think we all mostly try to uphold our family traditions.

Patty Kiernan

12/15/2016 11:05:04 am

The dish that I remember most of all is stewed prunes with orange slices....it was wonderful. I also remember some type of cabbage dish with mushrooms. Definitely shared the wafers every year. And also had some type of fish most likely haddock or cod. My sister was allergic to fish so we must have had something else to eat. My older cousin told me you had to eat until you burped. And then when we went to midnight mass we left food on the table for those who had died....

Jonas A

8/18/2017 12:40:01 am

Kucios,

Great tradition how to keep heritage of untasty food.
Not any restaurant in Vilnius would survive if they only offer kucios dishes

jamasion wedding

12/12/2017 09:21:02 am

your gay

21 savage

12/12/2017 09:20:11 am

this is terreble

vitas ptasinskas

12/19/2017 10:30:08 am

The twelve dishes served for Christmas without meat do not represent the seasons,they represent the 12 apostles,to the best of my knowledge

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