According to a long tradition, the celebration of Christmas begins the day before the holiday. On January 6, the Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas Eve, when believers purify their soul and body and prepare for the celebration of the Nativity of Christ. During the day, they go to church on this holiday, and in the evening, after the appearance of the first dawn, a twelve-course dinner is served, for which the whole family gathers.
During the first three centuries, Christians did not have a separate feast of the Nativity of Christ. For the first time, Christmas began to be celebrated only in the IV century. The date of the birth of Jesus is not mentioned in the Bible, so the holiday of the birth of God's Son was tied to the pagan holiday of the birth of the Sun - December 25, which the Christians endowed with a new meaning. Most of the world's churches now celebrate Christmas on December 25 in the modern Gregorian calendar. However, some churches, including the UOC, celebrate the holiday on December 25 according to the old Julian calendar. But in the Gregorian calendar on this day the date is January 7 due to the divergence of the calendars in 13 days.
At dinner, you can not quarrel and leave the table until it is over. If one of the relatives is not at home or he has died, they also put a plate and a spoon on the table. If someone comes to visit on Christmas Eve, he should definitely be fed.
After dinner at night, the girls spend fortune-telling on the suitors. And children go to neighboring houses at night and carol. It is also customary to visit godparents with a gala dinne