About one month before Christmas this is the time called “Great Fasting”- the time when we eat no meat. That’s because we want to purge our bodies and souls for the greatest holiday of the year. Christmas Eve is the end of the Great Fasting. On Christmas Eve all the family has dinner together. The hostess prepares nine meals without meat. Some of them are: beans, vine or cabbage sarmi (vine or cabbage leaves stuffed with rice), stuffed peppers, pickles, walnuts, apples, honey, ushaf round bread etc. The stuffed peppers could be prepared with rice or beans. According to the old tradition the peppers before being stuffed are dried on the sun. The pickles are made of vegetables- carrots, cucumbers, cauliflower, small peppers, garlic, and celery, tinned in special sauce of vinegar, oil and salt. There are always walnuts for everyone in the family on the table. To predict what the year is going to be, everyone cracks a walnut. If it is good and delicious, the year is going to be lucky, if the walnut is empty- you can expect bad year. The ushaf is a traditional Bulgarian meal. It is prepared by boiling dried fruits. Each hostess bakes round bread. We put a silver coin in it for luck. The oldest man in the family gives a piece of the bread to everyone. Who gets the coin will be lucky during the forthcoming year. An old Bulgarian tradition s not to clear the table till dawn comes. It is believed that the souls of the dead members of the family come back. On Christmas Eve the great fasting finishes and we can eat meat again. Usually most of the Bulgarians eat pork steaks, kebap, sausages and other meals. The kebap is prepared by cutting in small pieces the pork stewed with onions and pepper. The sausages are made of home made minced pork. Christmas is the time when we think not only what meals to prepare but also how to purge our souls and open our hearts to charity and sympathy for those who are poor and hungry.