Christmas celebrations around the world - 4

Christmas in Lithuania and Poland

It 1. with Advent and 2. on Candlemas Day on 2nd February. Advent starts

four Sundays before Christmas. Every day there is an early mass which begins in almost 3.

darkness just before sunrise. People bring candles with them, which are lit

during a certain part of the mass. When the service is about to end,

sunrise increases the amount of light even more. On Christmas Eve the house must be 4.

5. , in fact the 6. begins a week before. All the bed linen is

changed and all family members must have a bath and put on clean clothes before the

evening meal. The table for the Christmas Eve dinner is 7. as follows: hay is

spread on the table to remind people that Jesus was born in a stable and put in a manger

on hay. The table is then covered with a pure white tablecloth, and 8. with

candles. Supper on Christmas Eve is 9. and 10. . Twelve 11.

dishes are 12. to 13. the twelve apostles or the twelve months of the

year. All of the dishes are 14. i.e. they contain no meat and there are

no milk 15. . There is always an extra chair and plate in case

a 16. comes to the house. Everyone 17. around the dinner table as soon

as the first star 18. in the sky. If the night is 19. , the meal begins

when the father or grandfather 20. it is time to eat. Both Lithuania and Poland

are in the grip of winter at Christmas time. There are a lot of superstitions in Lithuania and

Poland 21. with the weather. A 22. sky means that the new year

will be good, the hens will lay many eggs and the harvest will be large.

Snow after supper means that the cows will give lots of milk.

However only a white Christmas is 23. real so everyone is

happy when there is snow outside.