24 December - Christmas Eve

24 December - Christmas Eve, December 24, is the night before Christmas Day, which celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ.

Christmas holiday start on 24th December and lasts till Stefanovden (27th December). Christmas Eve for most people is a bigger fete then the Christmas itself because that’s the night when Jesus was born. “Badni vecher” is the first of the Christmas nights. The main “roles” in the festive night are assigned for “badnik”, the ritual table and the Christmas meals.
“Badnik” is an oak or a pear tree, cut down by a young man for keeping the fire in the fireplace all night long. The dinner is festal. The table is elongated in contrast to the round table typical for other rites.

On the table are set not only ritual breads, but meatless meals like beans, stuffed vine leaves filled with rice and wheat, stuffed peppers, pumpkin pastry, boiled corn, walnuts, etc. As a rule the dishes are an odd number – seven, nine, and so on. On the table are set rakia, red wine, oshav (dry fruits compote). After the whole family gathers together around the table, nobody stands up until the end of the dinner. If something is needed, the oldest man of the household brings it by walking bowed down for the wheat to be “stooped” with grains. The table stays set all night long because it is believed that the dead come for dinner.