Christmas 2012 - away from home

This time we didn't have a chance to go to the mountains for Christmas. Still we celebrated it with all traditions we have there. Of course these were adjusted to completely un-romantic city conditions, but this turned out cool too.

Couldn't help photographing the tree :)

 12 dishes are traditionally cooked for Christmas. They contain no meat since the 6th of January is still the fasting time. The main one is called "kutya" - boiled wheat grains with poppy seeds, honey, nuts and different kinds of dried fruit. It's the first dish to be eaten during the Christmas dinner - the oldest family member is always the 1st one to take it. If one of younger family members tries to take it first - they get hit on their forehead. With a spoon. :D
I didn't risk and let dad be the 1st one, ending with giving some to our kitty Hrytsia who is just 1 year old. ))

Just the beginning of serving the table. Kutya in the bowl and mushrooms in the pot.

In the Carpathians the man who lives in the house does a ritual: he is given bread with a candle in it, and the bowl with kutya, and goes around the house 3 times, greeting his family members who are sitting near the windows. It would be hard to do in the city, so dad only had to go to the kitchen and back to the door of the room while mum and I greeted him from the sofa. :)

Families sit down to eat as soon as the 1st star appears in the sky. It's also common to mark it with shooting a gun if the household has it. When in the Carpathians we often run out to check the stars out. )) This time we heard about that on the phone from relatives from the countryside.

The dinner starts from a prayer to thank God for everyone's being able to live long enough to be there on Chrustmas Eve. Then everyone sits down and shouldn't stand up before they've tried every dish of the 12 available on the table.


Of course Hrytsia had her own small plate.

She wasn't very excited about the fish we gave her, but the mushrooms made her lick the plate to the shiniest condition ever. :D What a weird animal... Having everyone around, she fell asleep after a good meal. So cute! Check it out:

The following post will have pics from actual carpathian celebrations and even a video with a funny tradition. Stay tuned! ^___~
...while I will get another slice of honey pie in the meantime. :)