Holy Eve is a traditional Christmas Eve dinner with the whole family at the table. On Christmas Eve, usually only meatless dishes are prepared, since the Nativity Fast is still going on. There should be exactly 12 dishes on the table. Why exactly this amount? The 12 dishes for Christmas represent the twelve apostles and the number of months in the year.


Dishes for Christmas
The main dishes on Christmas Eve are kutia and uzvar, while others can vary depending on the preferences of the hostess.

Kutia
Uzvar
Lean dumplings with potatoes or cabbage
Vinigret with beans and sauerkraut
Fish with vegetables
Herring
Borscht with ears
Lean borsch with crucian carp and mushrooms
Fish, fried or aspic
Cabbage, mashed with butter and millet
Mushroom ear
Garlic
Marinated mushrooms
Stewed cabbage with mushrooms
Bread, kalach or kocherun
Lean cabbage rolls
Porridge
Crumpets
Mushrooms
Peas
Kites with honey
Pea cuttings
Beans
Pancakes (for borscht)
Buckwheat porridge
Millet porridge with mushroom dressing in vegetable oil
Lean pies with cabbage, plums, pears, etc.
Beetroot and herring salad
Sauerkraut or cabbage and onion salad, seasoned with vegetable oil
Dumplings with plums and pears, cherries


Also, there is a certain sequence according to which food is consumed on Christmas Eve. First they eat kutya, and then stuffed cabbage, dumplings, fish, cabbage, etc., and washed down with uzvar. Usually, the children bring the holy supper to the godparents, as well as to the grandparents.

Kutia. Kutia is the main dish on the table on Christmas Eve. Almost every housewife knows how to cook kutya for Christmas Eve. Every woman can have her own recipe for kutya for Christmas. On Christmas Eve, a meal was usually started with kutia. Wheat kutia is the most traditional, but there are options for barley kutia, bulgur kutia and rice kutia. Grain in kutya symbolizes abundance and eternal life, resurrected life, and honey is a symbol of purity and the word of God. Poppy symbolizes martyrdom, innocent blood shed. After dinner, kutya is left all night on the table for the souls of the dead, since kutya symbolizes unity with God and the world of the dead.