Kūčios is Lithuania’s traditional Christmas Eve meal featuring 12 meatless dishes.
The Kūčios supper is held on the evening of 24 December. The meal traditionally includes 12 dishes, commonly understood to represent the 12 Apostles, although older interpretations also connect the number with the months of the year.
Foods may include kūčiukai, small poppy-seed pastries, herring, mushrooms, grains, legumes, and other plant-based dishes. Meat is traditionally excluded, and families may place hay beneath the tablecloth as a reminder of the manger.
Customs vary between families and regions, and contemporary meals may adapt the menu. Kūčios combines Christian meaning with older Lithuanian seasonal practices, making it more than a simple Christmas dinner. The name refers specifically to the Christmas Eve observance, not to Christmas Day itself.