Bonn

Real Christmas stories: Staff members of the Deutsche Welle from around the world tell about their Christmas. So does Vytenė Stašaitytė from Lithuania, who is guest of the culture department. About herring and meat is her story.

Although I do not live in Germany, I have been here on exchange programmes a few times and have a German boyfriend. That is how I know how the Germans celebrate Christmas. I am looking forward to spending Christmas in Hamburg with my boyfriend’s family. The dinners are completely different than at home, where on Christmas Eve we have to have a large table covered with lots of food. According to tradition it has to be at least twelve courses and one of them must be a herring dish.

Catholic Christmas in Lithuania

Tradition and the family have very high status in Lithuania. And almost everyone in Lithuania is Catholic. That means that the people go to church at Christmas and Easter. I usually go on Christmas Day, but many people in Lithuania attend the midnight mass. What is very important to us and a big difference to Germany is that we do not eat meat on Christmas Eve. It is an absolute taboo and is related to the old Catholic idea of the Body of Christ. Though, after midnight we are allowed to drink alcohol and eat sweets.

However, I ate fondue on Christmas Eve in Hamburg – I am not so strictly religious. Christmas day was very quiet, but on Boxing Day there was another family gathering – and a goose.

No meat this year

Among the Lithuanian Christmas specialities for example is kūčiukai. This is a pastry made without any butter that is not very sweet and quite hard. We also cook a sort of dessert soup made of poppy seeds and water. And then there is kissel – a fruit beverage thickened with potato starch and potato powder. We drink it warm or cold. Not to mention cranberries. One unique speciality is wafers as large as Advent cards with lovely pictures on them, for instance with shepherds or the tiny Christ child in straw. We buy them at church, bring them home and distribute them to the family before dinner.

I will spend this Christmas in Hamburg again. My boyfriend’s mother took the matter of meat to heart, although I don’t mind it at all. I will bring along a few tins of herring because my boyfriend likes them and his mother looked up a few fish recipes. So, there will be no meat on Christmas Eve.