There are not very many nations in the world that celebrate Christmas Eve so devotedly as the Lithuanians. The celebration of Christmas Eve is part of the late autumn and winter holiday cycle which includes the commemoration of the dead and the celebration of the winter soltice and the New Year. Christmas Eve is the day for family reunions, both their living and dead members. It is a day of thorough cleaning, both inside and outside the house.
People try to be nice to each other, pay all their debts and have confessions with the priest.
On this day neighbours do not visit each other without a good reason. It the Christmas Eve table is poor, the whole year will be poor. After the day's chores and a good bath the master of the house or the grandfather brings in an armful of hay to be spread under a new white tablecloth. In some localities a little hay is spread in or under the plate with Christmas Eve wafer which is placed together with bread and sometimes a little cross in the center of the table. Lithuanians know more than one hundred recipes of Christmas Eve dishes.