This document provides information on winter festivals celebrated in several European countries. It discusses New Year's traditions in Bulgaria, including cutting vasilopita cake for good luck. Trifon Zarezan day in February honors the patron saint of wine. Christmas Eve involves carolers going door-to-door. In Romania, children receive gifts from Saint Nicholas on his day based on their behavior. Christmas Eve features caroling. Poland's Christmas Eve called Wigilia involves extensive preparations. Epiphany honors the Three Wise Men. Turkey celebrates a quiet New Year and Republic Day honors Atatürk. Italy's Carnival precedes Lent and involves masks. New Year's Eve dinner includes lentils and pork. Christmas

1. Winter festivals around Europe

2. BULGARIA
• New year
• Trifon Zarezan
• Christmas day

3. BULGARIA (NEW YEAR)
• Bulgarians celebrate the first day of the New Year, New
Year’s Day and Vasilyovden On New Year's Day families cut
the vasilopita to bless the house and bring good luck for
the New Year. This is usually done at the midnight of New
Year's Eve.. At midnight the sign of the cross is etched with
a knife across the cake. A piece of cake is sliced for each
member of the family and any visitors present at the
time, by order of age from eldest to youngest.
• Next morning, very early, the little children with their
sourvaki gather in groups of 3 or 4 and go around house to
house. They tap lightly on the backs of the heads of house
with their beautifully decorated twigs, wishing them
health, long life, and good luck in the family and business
matters.

4. BULGARIA (Trifon Zarezan day)
• FEBRUARY is the month when Bulgarians
celebrate wine and its patron saint Trifon, also
known as Trifon Zarezan. For vine-growers and
wine-makers Trifon Zarezan has become so
popular that it is celebrated both in
accordance with the old and the new religious
calendars. February 14 has become the day of
Trifon Zarezan

5. BULGARIA (Christmas Eve)
• Koledari, or Christmas carolers, go from house to
house through villages. These groups of carolers
are typically made up of young men dressed in
traditional costumes which vary from region to
region. Some preparation goes into the koledari's
performances, which begin at midnight on
Christmas Eve.

6. ROMANIA
• Saint Nicolas day
• Orthodox easter
• Christmas day

7. ROMANIA(Saint nicolas day)
• Saint Nicholas come with two baskets: one
filled with candy and other goodies and in
the other he brings twigs. Every child must
put a shoe or a boot next to the door and
weather they had been good or bad they
would receive candies or twigs.

8. ROMANIA (Christmas eve)
• Christmas carols and the practice of caroling
both feature heavily in Romanian Christmas
traditions. The act of going through the
village, or from house to house, singing carols
dates to pre-Christian times.
Today, Romanian carolers are most often
children who may carry a staff topped with a
representation of the Christmas star.

9. Polonia
• Christmas day
• The three wise men

10. POLONIA (Christmas)
• The Christmas season in Poland starts with the
end of Advent (Christmas Eve) and finishes with
Candlemas on Feb. 2.
• Wigilia (from the Latin term vigilare meaning "to
await") is the Polish name for Christmas Eve.
Much work must be done, including
cooking, baking, and all the housework. This
way, the two holidays that follow can be devoted
to praying, caroling, eating, relaxing, and
eventually visiting. This special day is associated
with several beliefs and customs.

11. POLONIA (The Epiphany or Feast of
the Three Kings )
• On Twelfth Night, Jan. 6, Poles take small boxes
containing chalk, a gold ring, incense and a piece of
amber, in memory of the gifts of the Magi, to church
to be blessed. Once at home, they inscribe the date
and "K+M+B" with the blessed chalk above every
door in the house to provide protection against illness
and misfortune for those within. For 2011, it would
look like "20 K+M+B 11." The letters, with a cross
after each one, stand for names of the Three Kings -Kaspar, Melchior and Balthasar. They remain above
the doors all year until they are inadvertently dusted
off or replaced by new markings the next year.

12. TURKEY
• New year
• Atatürk commemoration day

13. TURKEY (NEW YEAR’S DAY)
• The morning of January 1 is usually quiet.
People who celebrated the New Year’s Eve in
out-of-town locations generally start returning
home in the late afternoon. It is also common
for people to visiting relatives and friends who
were not around them on December 31 and
for people to exchange small gifts to each
other.

14. TURKEY (Atatürk DAY)
• Many people in Turkey celebrate Republic
Day on October 29 by attending
performances and participating in traditional
processions with flags and musical bands.
The Turkish Republic’s founder Mustafa
Kemal Atatürk proclaimed Republic Day as
Turkey’s most important holiday.

15. Italy
• carnival
• New year
• Christmas day

16. Italy (carnival)
• Carnevale, also known as carnival or mardi gras, is
celebrated in Italy and many places around the world 40
days before Easter, a final party before Ash Wednesday and
the restrictions of Lent.
• Masks, maschere, are an important part of the carnevale
festival and Venice is the best city for traditional carnival
masks. Carnival masks are sold year round and can be
found in many shops in Venice, ranging from cheap masks
to elaborate and expensive masks. Walking through the
streets of Venice, it's a pleasure to view the variety of
masks on display in shop windows. People also wear
elaborate costumes for the festival and there are costume
or masquerade balls, both private and public.

17. Italy (NEW YEAR’S EVE)
• La Festa di San Silvestro is celebrated December
31 on New Year's Eve. As with most Italian
festivals, food plays a major role. Families and
friends get together for a huge feast. The star of
the dinner is lentils, symbolizing money and
good fortune for the coming year.
Traditionally, the dinner in many parts of Italy
also includes acotechino, a large spiced
sausage, or a zampone, stuffed pig's trotter. The
pork symbolizes the richness of life in the
coming year.

18. Italy (Christmas eve )
• Serving a multi-course seafood dinner on
Christmas Eve (La Vigilia) is a wonderful
holiday mealtime tradition that originated in
Southern Italy. Known as the Feast of the
Seven Fishes, the tradition is a celebration of
the vigil awaiting the midnight birth of the
baby Jesus

19. Lithuania
• New year
• San casimiro’s day
• Christmas day

20. lithuania(NEW YEARS DAY)
• In certain regions of Lithuanian New Year's
Eve was known as "the little Christmas Eve".
Foods similar to those of Christmas Eve were
prepared, except that the dishes could
contain meat and straw was not placed under
the tablecloth. People stayed up on New
Year's Eve at least until midnight to greet the
new year. If an individual sleeps through such
an important moments his entire year will go
badly - he'll be groggy and laz

21. lithuania(CHRISTMAS EVE)
•
•
Supper started when the sun went down and the first stars appeared in the sky.
When everyone was assembled by the table, the head of the family said a prayer
of thanksgiving for the blessings of the past year and added a wish that the family
would stay together and would be present at next year’s Christmas Eve supper.
Then he (she) broke and shared his (her) Christmas wafer with everyone present
and wished them a merry Christmas, and they, in turn, shared their wafers with
each other and exchanged Christmas wishes. Now it was time to eat.
The meal served on Christmas Eve did not include meat, milk products or eggs.
Even so, the meal was memorable. It consisted of twelve dishes, one for each
Apostle. Typical dishes were beet soup, mushroom-filled dumplings, herring and
other fish, bread, boiled or baked potatoes, cooked sauerkraut, mushrooms, dicesized hard biscuits with poppy seed “milk”, cranberry pudding, and whole wheat
with honey. Food was washed down with homemade cider. The meal was eaten
leisurely and solemnly. Everyone was expected to eat some of each dish served; it
was considered unlucky to skip a dish. Leaving the table before everyone was
finished eating was also considered unlucky.

22. Lithuania (St Casimir’s Day)
• St. Casimir’s Day remembers the patron saint
of Lithuania. Kaziukas Fair, an enormous
crafts fair, takes place on the weekend
nearest to this day in Vilnius. Gediminas
Prospect, Pilies Street, and side streets are
packed with vendors from Lithuania and
nearby countries as well as people who come
to shop for handmade and traditional goods.

23. Spain
• Christmas day
• New year
• St.Valentine’s day

24. Spain (CHRISTMAS EVE )
• Spanish Christmas dinner is never eaten until
after midnight. It is a family feast, and often
highlighted with "Pavo Trufado de Navidad"
(Christmas turkey with truffles; truffles are a
mushroom-like delicacy found underground).
After the meal, family members gather around
the Christmas tree and sing Christmas carols
and hymns of Christendom. The rejoicing
continues through the wee hours of the
morning.

25. Spain (NEW YEARS’ EVE)
• The Twelve Grapes (Sp. Las doce uvas de la suerte, "The
twelve grapes of luck") is aSpanish tradition that dates
back from at least 1895 but became established in 1909.
In December of that year, some alicantese vine growers
popularized this custom to better sell huge amounts of
grapes from an excellent harvest.
• The tradition consists of eating a grape with each bell
strike at midnight of December 31 with our families.
According to the tradition, that leads to a year of
prosperity. In some areas, it is believed that the tradition
wards away witches and general evil.
• The twelve grapes are linked to the Puerta del Sol tower
clock, where this tradition started and from where the
change of year is always broadcast

26. Spain (St valentin’s day)
• Valentine's Day is celebrated on 14th
February, the feast day of St. Valentine. It is a
traditional celebration in which
lovers, partners and married couples express
their love and affection for each other. In
some countries it is known as The Day of
Lovers or The Day of Love and Friendship .