Christmas Eve is the night before Christmas, when the whole family gathers at a festive dinner with traditionally uneven number of meatless dishes - the more the number is, the richest the year is going to be. After the dinner the table remains uncleared as it is believed that the dead come to the dinner and take care of the alive.
On the Christmas Eve start all festivities connected to the Nativity of Christ - one of the finest Christian holidays. It is believed that on Christmas the skies open and in a second it is lighted up - it is a thing that only righteous men can see.
Whatever one wishes on Christmas can become true. In the 20th century the Bulgarians add to the Christmas rituals they had for centuries another element, borrowed from Western Europe - the glowing Christmas tree, connected to a number of ancient mythologies and gradually becoming their image and symbol. Christ comes to people to light up their kingdom, bringing along a part of Heavens sanctity - the beautiful tree of Paradise, heavy with fruit. Therefore the Christmas tree is richly decorated, symbolizing the Christs nature - light, knowledge, purity, truth.