What is the Lithuanian tradition for the
Eve of Winter Solstice?
-Kūčios!
(pronounced:Koochios)
The solemn feast of Kūčios unites the living with the dead as well as all forms of life: people and animals. Animals partake in the ceremony by eating the same food that people eat. When people and animals used to live under one roof, everybody fed their household and farm animals from the table. On farms in Lithuania today, the family still feed their animals with the leftovers from Kūčios, and also share the food with bees and fruit trees. Kūčios is followed the next day by Kaledos, now called Christmas which focuses more on life and the living.
For Kūčios, the house requires special preparation at least 2 weeks prior.
The family hangs up an iconic "grove:" birds made of wood- straw or egg shells surrounding a straw sun. This grove as well as a multitude of burning candles invokes the souls of the dead (vele) who sit at a small table with bread, salt, and Kūčia on it. The Kūčia contains many traditional grains which symbolize regeneration: cooked wheat, barley, peas, beans, rye, poppy seeds, hemp seeds, etc. mixed with nuts and honey water. Other dishes represent fertility, abundance, health and remembrance of the ancestors.
The Kūčia feeds the souls of the ancestors as well as the living. The living sit at a table, covered with hay and a table cloth on top. An extra place is set for the ancestors. In earlier days, hay also used to cover the floor. Hay is a symbol of the life force, which sustains the human world and so decorates the main table. Decorations include a bundle of unthrashed rye, which the family used the next day to bind around its apple trees.
In Lithuanian tradition, before Kūčios, it is customary that the house requires special preparation. As for cleaning, most Lithuanians will clean their house thoroughly before Christmas Eve – no skipping behind the books and sofas! In fact, it is very common to try and complete all outstanding work: settle all debts; make up with relatives, neighbors and enemies; forgive those you can‘t make up with; and ask for forgiveness if you've been acting inappropriately in order to reach the New Year with peace of mind. As with cleaning, it is believed that you should not carry over any dirt, misunderstandings, or untidiness into the next year.Should you wish to ignore those rules, you are thought to experience financial and personal troubles throughout the next year.
The fire rituals are observed in all Lithuanian calendar and family holidays. Two of the most important holidays, Kūčios and Kaledos, the eve of Winter Solstice and the day of Winter Solstice, mark the end of the year, when the world returns to darkness and non-existence. However, as death begets birth, these two holydays also herald the rebirth of nature and the return of the sun. The Lithuanians distinguish the two subsequent days, now celebrated on 24 and 25 December with a variety of traditional ritual customs. As the Dear Sun spins her golden rays, spinning is forbidden during this time lest you make the Goddess angry and delay her return.
Although Lithuanians are now predominately Catholic/Christian, Lithuanian customs continue to preserve her own traditions in various ways, under the disguise of a Christian celebration. The Lithuanian Kūčios tradition is one such tradition that survived under the guise of Christianity. Winter Solstice Eve was a very important Baltic celebration. Lithuanians simply altered certain customs to appease the Catholic Church but continued to carry on with their celebrations in the same Pagan custom! Good trick really! :)
For example:
*The straw under the table cloth that used to traditionally represent the harvest and the Gods of the Rye, is now said to represent the straw in the baby Jesus manger.
*The 13 different dishes at the Kūčia represented the 13 Lunar months but under the compromise,13 dishes became 12 and now said to represent the 12 apostles!
*The apples that symbolise harvest and the Earth Goddess, now represent the folly of Adam and Eve.
The list of replacements is really quite long but the core Pagan customs still continue, largely unchanged, to this day
Among other Kūčios customs, participants exchange wishes for each other by pouring grains into the hearth fire. The hearth becomes the sacred fire of the home. Each single grain sown in the fire grows and prospers.
Representing the old year, the family ritually burns a birch wreath, stump, or log in the hearth(some may know as the Yule log). The participants can also destroy evil by burning splinters they invest with meaning.
On Kūčios, as during many other Lithuanian feasts, people practiced divinations. Wedding themes and charms to encourage the health, productivity and fertility of animals are most common. Many of these rituals involve the maidens in the house.
I celebrate Kūčios every year with my loved ones and enjoy increasing my dalia(allotment) by adhering to the customs of my ancestors by observing the same seasonal celebration as they did. I do Kucios as an affirmation of my Baltic faith. I hope you found my article refreshing to your Soul and can find more information on my own celebrations of Kucios on my blog.
http://stevekryzius.blogspot.com.au/
