Christmas Eve: Fasting and Abstinence

 Coptic priest Gerges El Moharaky, left, celebrates a Coptic Christmas service in Berlin Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011. Christian Copts' Christmas services in Germany are under police protection following Internet threats against their places of worship, after about 21 Copts were killed in a weekend massacre at a church in their Egyptian homeland. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Christmas Eve (before the Vigil Mass) is a day of fasting and abstinence. The 1983 Code of Canon Law eliminated this fast altogether, but traditional Catholics still keep the fast, eating seafood (the Italians eat fish -- often seven of them!), noodles, other forms of pasta, etc. for the Christmas Eve Supper.

Note: This doesn't apply when Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday.

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