''Kūčiukai'' (''šližikai'', ''prėskutė'') also called Christmas cakes - is a traditional Lithuanian dish served on Kūčios, the traditional

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipati ...

dinner in Lithuania. They are small, slightly sweet pastries made from leavened dough and

poppy seeds Poppy seed is an oilseed obtained from the opium poppy (''Papaver somniferum''). The tiny, kidney-shaped seeds have been harvested from dried seed pods by various civilizations for thousands of years. It is still widely used in many countrie ...

. There are variations in sweetness, it is usually eaten dry but can be served soaked in

poppy milk Poppy milk (''aguonų pienas'') is a traditional Lithuanian drink or soup, one of the 12-dish Christmas Eve supper Kūčios. Usually it is eaten together with '' kūčiukai'', another traditional Lithuanian Christmas Eve dish. It is also an i ...

or with cranberry

kissel Kissel or kisel ( et, kissell, fi, kiisseli, Livonian: ''kīsõl'', ltg, keiseļs, lv, ķīselis, lt, kisielius, pl, kisiel, rus, кисель, r=kiselʼ, uk, кисiль, , , ) is a cold-solidified dish with the consistency of a thick ge ...

. Initially they were made as small loaves of bread served for the spirits - vėlės.

History

Kūčia - is a dish once made from various

grains A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legumes ...

and eaten with honey and poppies. Lithuanians named the shortest day of the year and the longest night after this dish, that is why it called Kūčios (engl.: Christmas Eve). The word 'Kūčia' comes from the ancient Greek word 'kokka' - stone, grain, seed. But scientists believe that this word came to Lithuania from the Slavs. During the Christmas Eve people were leaving one seat at the table for all the spirits/souls which somehow relates or are important to the family. Formerly the dish was first given to the dead, by putting the food in an empty plate, in place which was left for them, and giving the minute of silence for spirits to come back for one evening, sit with their family and eat Christmas Eve dinner, and just after that everyone else can start eating too. And sometimes it is left over night, for spirits to enjoy. Some Lithuanian families still follow this tradition every year on Christmas Eve. The ancient dish Kūčia was made from

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ;