Christmas Eve 2026: what people eat

Christmas Eve is Thursday 24 December 2026. Christmas Eve, 24 December, is the main meal of the Christmas season in much of Europe and Latin America. In Poland, the Czech Republic and Italy it is a meatless dinner built around fish; in Germany it is a simple supper of sausages and potato salad before the presents.

Source: Christmas Eve.

Also known as Heiligabend, Nochebuena, Wigilia, Vigilia di Natale, Réveillon de Noël, Julafton, Kūčios.

What people eat for Christmas Eve

Wigilia supper (borscht with uszka and carp)

Poland

The Polish vigil supper has no meat and traditionally twelve dishes. It opens with beetroot borscht with small dumplings (uszka) or wild mushroom soup, then herring, and carp as the main dish.

Source: Wigilia, Christmas Eve.

Carp and potato salad

Czech Republic and Slovakia

Baked or fried carp with potato salad is the traditional Christmas Eve dinner in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, after a day of fasting.

Source: Christmas Eve.

ArielKrakow

Würstchen with potato salad

Germany

In Germany Christmas Eve (Heiligabend) calls for a simple meal, most often sausages or a stew with potato salad, before or after the gifts. The big meal, roast goose or duck, comes on Christmas Day.

Source: Christmas Eve.

Bulgarian meatless table

Bulgaria

An odd number of lenten dishes, among them sarma (stuffed leaves), bean soup (bob chorba), stuffed peppers, nuts, dried fruit and a festive bread with a fortune baked in.

Source: Christmas Eve.

Kūčios and kūčiukai

Lithuania

The Lithuanian Christmas Eve meal has twelve dishes with no meat, milk or alcohol, among them kūčiukai, small biscuits soaked in poppy seed milk.

Source: Christmas Eve.

Our city guides where it is celebrated

GdańskPolandWarsawPolandKrakówPolandWrocławPolandPoznańPolandPragueCzech RepublicBratislavaSlovakiaCologneGermanyBerlinGermanyMunichGermany