Christmas evening

In Bulgaria every christmas evening the whole family sits on the table. The table is filled with food but the most important is the small flat loaf which is broken into pieces from the oldest member from the family as it follows :
1-st piece is for God and isn't touched from anyone
2-nd piece is for house so it will on its place when you wake the next day
and the next pieces are distributed from the oldest to the youngest BUT the person who broke the loaf gets the last piece. In the loaf there is a coin. Whoever gets it will be the one who will control the money in the family for the next year.
Nobody can leave the table until they tried at least one bite from everything. On most tables you will find warmed rakia as well.
And from what you could understand as well you can't leave the table without full stomach.


So what is the tradition in your country and which country is that ?

Woh!!! That sounds alot more traditional and more like christmas.

Here in the U.S we lost the true meaning of christmas.

this is basically how it goes now:

1. Waist all your money buying presents for.... yourself. (except parents)
2. Stay up and peak at the presents under the tree.
3. Wake up early, and rush your parents so you can open yoru gifts.
4. Rip them open, grab your present and run!
5. Spend the day using your gifts instead of having family time.

Yes.. its sad...

Oturan wrote:Woh!!! That sounds alot more traditional and more like christmas.

Here in the U.S we lost the true meaning of christmas.

this is basically how it goes now:

1. Waist all your money buying presents for.... yourself. (except parents)
2. Stay up and peak at the presents under the tree.
3. Wake up early, and rush your parents so you can open yoru gifts.
4. Rip them open, grab your present and run!
5. Spend the day using your gifts instead of having family time.

Yes.. its sad...

No wonder my family hates it...

Hates christmas, or U.S? XD

Hates christmas!!XD
not really hate..They say why wait for a b-day or holiday to get something when I can get anything i want now.

Lol, I hate my whole family but what we do is, open presents and stuff in the morning then feast in the evening then all go out somewhere together that night, usually a movie or bowling.
(Mid-West U.S.)

well just to add something the next 2 days we go to the other members of the family ( even if you don't like them ... ) and do the same with them ... get drunk and eat like pig Oh and we don't touch anything on the table until the next morning so God could it his meal . Besides that I don't see anything traditional

wow, Bulgarians sound rather religious, and know know how to celebrate xmas.

here in england its pretty much the same as in the U.S.

in Italy on xmas the tradition is normally
go visit family, have xmas dinner which consists of maglialeto a rosto ( baby pig cooked on the BBQ ), w/e is on the table, get smashed on beer/martini/mirto/sambuca/champagne. open prezzies ( before getting smashed ), then stumble home and sleep. then have a relaxed xmas lunch with the other side of the family

Well there are some that are religious but most of us are just doing what we can to be happy at least for 2-3 days + new year

Being happy for 2-3 days is out Xmas tradition. A tradition is something done the same time and time again. We all get up aroung 9ish in the morning, head off to the parents house, open presents when everyone arrives, dinner is about another hour after this, dinner is always massive and is always followed by a double dessert, then we pretty much watch our Xmas Received DVD's etc (Basically, use what we got) before going to bed at the end. It isnt an overly active Xmas tradition, but it is tradition nonetheless.

CoCo it may be so but the 2-3 days here in Bulgaria can only be on Xmas because everybody is working the other time ... you could be happy with your friends but it is something else when your happy with your family ... this is something psychological and emotional ... and in Bulgaria the times are hard ... My father is working without being paid ... The bills are too high compared to the payment my mother + my father get ... soon I won't be able to talk freely because the politics are trying to put a law that allows them to read every single of my usage of SMS or Skype or MSN or this forum ... I belief you can see now why I mentioned the 2-3 days happiness :P



I forgot to mention that all that stress is coming to the house and that means fights and a lot of them ... and mostly I am involved in them

What it comes down to is that tradition is based on ones availiabilities. Obviously, those who are restricted, upto a point, are going to have alternative traditions to those who aren't so witheld. That is the only thing tradition is based on, oh, and the fact that christmas holds its own stories which apply to everyones traditions aswell.

Based on the fundamental abilities of a human being my answer will be simple ... True

Well, here in D.R. we wake up early, lik 9am-11am and open all gifts with all the people in the house, take some photos, give thanks, then... all the day bored watching TV!! (-.-)

haha. same XD

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