SHARING WINTER CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS

POLAND

Leaving an empty chair on Christmas eve

Poles are very proud of the traditional hospitality they may extend to a stranger who turns up at their door on Christmas eve (unlikely to happen, but not impossible).


We put some hay under the tablecloth where we lay the Christmas wafer, but the most beautiful and touching moment is when we share Christmas wafer with our nearest and dearest and wish each other from the bottom of our hearts.

GEORGIA

Christmas is celebrated with all Christmas alilos. Alilo tradition in Georgia has a long history.
 A choir of men came to the neighborhoods and sang Christmas greetings to the locals. The evangelist presented the evangelists with church bells, fruits and various products.
The men were later replaced by children. Money and other sweets were added to the gift along with Churchkhela.
In Georgia, Christmas and New Year table dishes are prepared in different parts of the holiday. However, the most distinctive to this day is the Christmas pie, the same Gurian pie. On this day, the Christmas fast is completed and most of the fasting people open it with a Christmas pie. When family members arrive at the temple to celebrate Christmas, at least one member of the family stays at home and begins to prepare the Christmas pie.
Added to Christmas traditions has recently been the lighting of candles on window sills on Christmas Eve, symbolizing the Savior’s birth.

GREECE

NORTH MACEDONIA