Bulgarian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas Eve

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church marks one of the biggest holidays – the Christmas Eve on Tuesday. Christmas Eve is the day before Christmas Day, a widely celebrated holiday commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. It is a culturally significant celebration for most of the Western world and is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation of Christmas. In Western culture, Christmas Eve is celebrated on December 24. 

On the morning of December 24th, women clean the entire house early and start preparing the meals. According to the custom, people prepare an odd number of vegetable dishes. Today is the last day of the 40-day fast which ends on the Christmas Eve. The Christmas Fast is the second longest after the seven-week Eastern Fast.

His Holiness Bulgarian Patriarch and Sofia Metropolitan Neofit will serve a festive mass on the day before Christmas at St. Alexander Nevski Cathedral in Sofia. The liturgy will begin at 6.00 pm local time, press centre of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church announced.

Source: OCP Orthodox Cognate Page