The Catholics and the Orthodox Christians who follow the Gregorian calendar celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on December 25. This evening, the faithful go to Church to attend the liturgy held on Christmas Eve, IPN reports.
The Catholics, as the Orthodox Christians, are fasting before Christmas. In the Catholic Church, the fasting period is called Advent and lasts for four weeks. On Christmas Eve, they eat only products allowed when fasting.
On Christmas Day, after going to church, the Christians return home to the holiday meal. The table is covered with a white tablecloth and a free place is left at the table in sign of hospitality. For example, in Poland they eat beet soup with dumplings. In the Czech Republic, they eat carp as a symbol of happiness in the family. In the UK and in the U.S., they eat roasted turkey. In Austria, they do not eat poultry as this is a bad sign, but eat cakes and cookies instead.
In Moldova and Romania, groups of children and young people on Christmas go from home to home and sing carols, staging scenes of the birth of Jesus Christ.
In the past, Christmas was celebrated on January 6 together with Epiphany. The celebration date was changed to December 25 (January 7) only in the fourth century.
