Christmas in Ukraine is a special supper, called "Sviata Vecherya" (Holy Supper). Kutia (sweet grain pudding) is traditionally served at the Ukrainian Christmas dinner table. It is often the first dish in the traditional twelve-dish Christmas Eve supper (also known as "Svyaty Vechir") and is rarely served at other times of the year. At the end of the Holy Evening the family often sings Ukrainian Christmas carols. In many communities the ancient Ukrainian tradition of caroling is carried on by groups of young people and members of organizations and churches calling at homes and collecting donations. The Ukrainian song "Shchedryk" became the basis
A Christmas Eve deals heavily with the exploration of vanity, this time the vanity of a trashy prostitute and a young man obsessed with his dead sibling. And sharing a similarity with Boito's earlier work "The Body", the tale delves heavily into necrophilia, made only more disturbing with the connotations of incest, since Giorgio's obsession with Emelia is sexual. Since Giorgio is psychologically disturbed and suffering from a painful illness and delusional fantasies, "A Christmas Eve" can also be described an example of a short story with an unreliable narrator. A short film adaptation, updated to 1945 and titled "Christmas Eve '45" (in