#kucios

I have a big family so we have big family gatherings and family is very important to us not just blood but the people we choose to call family at family functions growing up there were always at least half a dozen friends from high school and college or work or whatever but my family makes an effort to make everyone feel included and an equal member of the family (today I spent a good chunk of the afternoon hand embroidering names onto stockings for the new guests we’re having this year)

My grandma used to host holidays but she died last year and I took over (I volunteered/inherited it I like holidays the most so everyone knew I was going to do it)

BUT OH MY GOD THE ALLERGIES AND INTOLERANCES Jesus fucking Christ

This is the part that makes me sound like a boomer - when I was growing up we (as in my family) didnt have all these intolerances!!!! I’m not even kidding there are at least 8 intolerances I have to plan around this kucios and it’s literally killing me I’m making a cheese board but I have to get vegan cheese and gluten free crackers. We’re having salmon salad but we have to get egg free mayo. We can have chocolate covered nuts but no hazelnuts. No peppers on any of the dishes. And that’s not even all of them. I have spent literal months planning this and I wish people with dietary restrictions would just bring a dish they like and can eat. Ik that is a not very welcoming wish but I do it all the time for functions I can’t have eggs and I don’t eat pork so I just bring my own meals and no one has every complained and I know for a fact I won’t get sick.

Time to prepare for Kūcios and Kalėda!

Kūčios: from prehistoric times it is a family feast of 12 (solar months) or 13 ( lunar months) dishes without meat, with poppy seed milk celebrated on the longest night of the year, the winter solstice. It is prepared for all day and begins only after sunset. An extra plate and chair is kept and a window slightly ajar so that ancestors and loved ones from the spirit world are invited and can make easy entrance to join the living. There are countless traditions and fortune telling on this most magical of nights it is said that animal language can be understood by humans, but you are not supposed to listen to them because they are talking about you! Animals are often treated to a feast this night as well. As the longest night of the year it is when the spirit world is closest to that of the living. As the summer solstice is to the world of the living the winter solstice is the same for the spirit world, the highest apex. All are joined together in a family feast and blessings are made.

Kalėda: the first day of the return of the sun the day after the longest night of the year, when the days begin to grow longer. It is the time of the magical beast Elnias Devyniaragis , the nine horned one. You can learn more about these traditions with a google search and on Wikipedia (but please be careful because there is a lot of misleading or inaccurate information out there. Academic and scientific resources are the best.).