Lithuania Edition
Noche Buena leads today's complete edition for Lithuania.
Daily Edition
Official observances, world days, local context, and everyday celebrations for people who need something worth reading, sharing, or talking about today.
The real Christmas. Families gather, the Viejito Pascuero (Santa Claus) leaves gifts under the tree, and the pan de Pascua and cola de mono flow. The meal is late, the conversation is long, and at midnight everyone hugs. Christmas in Chile is Noche Buena. December 25th is just the aftermath.
The real celebration is the 24th, not the 25th. The whole family gathers at midnight for vitel tone, pan dulce, and sidra. The heat is brutal, the fan is on high, and someone always sets off fireworks in the street. At midnight, the toast happens and kids run around with globo lanterns.
The most important family evening in Lithuania, and the celebration includes 12 meatless dishes (one for each apostle), hay under the tablecloth (symbolizing the manger), and the sharing of a single wafer (plotkelė) among all family members. The wafer is white and thin, and each person breaks off a piece and gives it to every other person, with a wish for the coming year. The 12 dishes include herring, mushroom soup, beet soup, dumplings, cabbage rolls, poppy seed milk, and dried fruit compote. The table is set with an extra plate for a family member who is away or a traveler who might come to the door.
You witness the resplendent quetzal in cloud forests, the pink river dolphin in the Amazon, and the jaguar prowling through diverse ecosystems. You find that Colombians commonly keep dogs and cats as pets, with many also keeping birds like parakeets and canaries. ACADA celebrates the world's pets, and helps assure better care.