Christmas

Christmas is a specia holiday in Bulgaria. Ita a continuation of the

Christmas Eve, which is on the 24th December. All the family
gathers around the table on which you can find meatless meals
such as beans, vine or cabbage sarmi (fried rice in vine or
cabbage leaves), stuffed pepper, nuts, fruit, honey and bread with
a con in it. The person who finds the coin in his piece of bread is
expected to be lucky and to have a lot of money during the year.
When the dinner is over, the table is not cleared until the following
morning because it is believed that there will be plenty of food
during the coming year. Another belief says that the food is for the
dead members of the family whose spirits come at night.
According to the tradition at midnight on Christmas Eve young
boys and unmarried men called Koledari go around the houses to
sing to the hosts for wealth and health. They wear traditional
clothes and are awarded money and food by the hosts.
Christmas is celebrated all over the world. Different countries
have different traditions. For example in France, Christmas is
always called 'Nol. Everyone has a Christmas tree, sometimes
decorated in the old way with red ribbons and real white wax
candles. Fir trees in the garden are often decorated too, with lights
on all night. In te USA the children put stockings on the mantle of
the fireplace, then go to bed early so that they will find presents in
the morning. They are told that at midnight Santa will come,
bringing a huge bag of toys. He will come down through the
chimney, leave candy in the stockings and presents under the
Christmas tree. In Russia Christmas can be openly celebrated either on December 25th; or more often on January 7th. This
unusual date is because the Russian Orthodox church uses the old
'Julian' calendar for religious celebration days. Special Christmas
food includes cakes, pies and 'meat dumplings'.