WILLIAMSBURG — Christmas Eve came early this year for the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Lithuanian community.
On Sunday, Dec. 10, a full two weeks before Christmas, more than 200 Lithuanian Americans gathered for Mass at the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Williamsburg, then walked to the Shrine Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel to celebrate Kucios (pronounced “koo-chos”), a traditional Christmas Eve meal.
The two churches were merged into one parish several years ago. The celebration was held at Our Lady of Mount Carmel because its gymnasium can accommodate large gatherings.
Kucios (Lithuanian for Christmas Eve) is a staple of Lithuanian life and features 12 meatless dishes — a specific number that has a double meaning.
The meal is meant to honor the Twelve Apostles, while at the same time symbolizing the 12 months of the year.
“It’s about the apostles but it’s also about the calendar and the hope that each month of the coming year will bring the family good luck,” explained Nida Stankunas Schmedlen, who lives in Connecticut but still travels to Brooklyn to attend Mass at the Church of the Annunciation — something she has been doing since childhood.
There were a lot more than 12 dishes on the table on Sunday, thanks to participants who brought their own homemade dishes.
The main serving table was laden with all sorts of mouth-watering dishes like filet of flounder, pickled herring, pickled beets, octopus, balandeliai (cabbage rolls), kugelis (potato pudding), and kuciukai, which are cookies made from dough and poppy seeds.
In addition to the food, the day was also filled with nonculinary traditions associated with Kucios.
Members of the Lithuanian Scouts (a subsidiary of the Boy Scouts of America) entered the gym with the candle that had been lit from the Peace Light of Bethlehem and was brought over to the U.S. The Scouts group, which included boys and girls, then lit candles at each table.
Also at each table, diners found nonconsecrated Communion hosts — called plotkeles — and exchanged pieces of the hosts with each other as a way of wishing each other well.
The Kucios celebration was jointly sponsored by Annunciation Church, the Lithuanian Scouts, and the New York Maironis Lithuanian School, where Lithuanian language and culture is taught Saturdays at Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
Lithuania is a predominantly Catholic country where 74.2% of its 2.7 million people are Catholic. And Lithuanians who immigrated to the U.S. brought their traditions, including Kucios, with them.
The local Kucios celebration is a way to keep Lithuanian traditions alive here in the U.S., said Monika Kungiene, the principal of the New York Maironis Lithuanian School.
“This is a tradition for our community. And we come all together, young and old, from all the whole community and we celebrate and share the food,” she explained.
For some, the Kucios gathering provides a way to reconnect with Lithuanian traditions that might otherwise have been lost to assimilation.
Andris Vizbaras’s parents were born in Lithuania, but chose to leave many of their traditions behind when they came to America, preferring to concentrate on building a new life.
“The traditions were very important for some people. And others were saying, ‘Let’s move on from the past.’ I think it’s fair to say my parents were in the latter camp, especially because Lithuania had been absorbed into the Soviet Union,” he explained.
“But Lithuania is now independent and things feel like they’re coming full circle,” he added.
Vizbaras believes very strongly in passing traditions like Kucios down to his children. His daughter, Jujija Vizbaras, a sophomore at Dartmouth College, has been coming to Kucios since second grade. She also attended the New York Maironis Lithuanian School when she was a child.
“It’s just a wonderful place to be able to speak the language and continue our culture,” she said.
The Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of the only churches in the tri-state area that offers a Lithuanian-language Mass, so consequently Lithuanian Americans come from all over to attend Mass there.
Vaclovas Salkauskas, Lithuania’s consul general in New York, was impressed with the turnout on Sunday. “There is a very strong Lithuanian community in New York,” he said.
Father Valdemaras Lisovski, parochial vicar for the parish, said that while the food is tasty, the central focus of the day is faith and family.
“We come to the table, we share experiences that we had and we ask for forgiveness if we offended somebody because Jesus Christ our Savior is coming and we need to be prepared,” he explained.
