Christmas dinner most Poles spend the day feasting with their family. The Christmas meal is elaborate, served in the evening on 24 December, offering large quantities of food. This Christmas Eve meal is called Wigilia. After the first star appears in the sky, everyone shares the Christmas wafer (opłatek) and wishes good things for the coming year. Then supper begins. The meal is meatless, honouring Catholic tradition. Many households also prepare a great variety of special Christmas dishes, typically numbering 12 in honor of the 12 apostles. Dishes include: stuffed carp, fried carp, herring in wine sauce, herring in cream sauce, fruit
Christmas in Romania in the morning of December 6 or late at night on December 5; traditionally, the gifts are put in their laced up boots. Children are usually given sweets or books; if they have been naughty, they get wooden sticks. On December 20, Saint Ignatius Day, Romanians start last preparations for Christmas. On this date, they cut pigs for the Christmas Eve supper. Around this date, people usually buy their Christmas trees from public markets or supermarkets. On December 24, it is "Noaptea de ajun", the day children usually start caroling their neighbours. On the same date, women bake traditional cookies