Adults begin their preparation for Kucios and Kaledos by placing a cherry twig in water on the day when bears start to hibernate, which is the first day of winter according to folklore. The twigs sprout roots in time for the holiday. Children play games symbolizing the planting of crops such as the one wherein girls imitate sowing by strewing hemp seeds, which prompts dreams about future husbands.

Indo-European cultures traditionally greet the New Year with rituals and tales that re-enact and relate the creation of the world. In Lithuania, an elderly mendicant called Senelis Elgeta retells everything that has happened since the creation of the world.

The solemn feast of Kucios, continuing the celebration of Velines, unites the living with the dead, as well as all forms of life: people and animals.

The house requires special preparation. The family hangs up an iconic "grove": birds made of wood, straw or egg shells surrounding a straw sun. This grove as well as a multitude of burning candles invokes the souls of the dead (veles) who sit at a small table with bread, salt, and Kucia on it. The Kucia contains many traditional grains which symbolize regeneration: cooked wheat, barley, peas, beans, rye, poppy seeds, hemp seeds, etc., mixed with nuts and honey water. The Kucia feeds the souls of the ancestors, as well as the living. The living sit at another table, covered with hay and a table cloth. In earlier days, hay also used to cover the floor. Symbols of the life force, which sustain the human world, decorate the main table. This includes a bundle of unthrashed rye, which the family used the next day to bind around its apple trees.

Kucios, an exclusively nocturnal celebration, begins when the evening star appears in the sky. Before gathering at the ritual table, everybody bathes in saunas, makes up with their neighbors, and forgives their enemies. In olden days, the head of the household, wearing high black boots, a large black juosta (sash used as a belt), and a prominent black hat, used to circle the farmstead three times. He would approach the house door after everybody else had entered. To the question, "Who is there?", he answered "Dearest God, (Dievulis) with the Kucia begs admittance."

Once the family gathers, the eldest member (man or woman) says a traditional invocation and breaks the Kucia bread, which everybody gives to each other. According to the sixteenth century historian Pretorius, every member of the family, placing a loaf of bread on the floor, prayed: "Zemepatis (God of the homestead), we thank you for the good bread you give us. Help us work the fields while blessing you, that Zemynele (Mother Earth Goddess, sister of Zemepatis) would continue to give us your good gifts." Then everyone, raising the bread to the sky, concluded with: "Nourish us."

After the exchange of the Kucia bread, each person sips some beer, spilling a few drops onto the floor for the veles, the souls of the dead. Dinner follows.

Kucios traditionally required 13 different foods, which echoed the 13 lunar months of the year. Under the influence of the solar calendar, the number changed to 12. The foods may not contain any meat or milk. The meal consists of Kucia (mixed grain dish described above), Kisielius ( a type of cranberry jello), hot beet soup, mushroom dumplings, cabbage, fish and seafood. Dessert includes Slizikai (sweet poppy seed cookies), poppy seed milk, apples, nuts and other sweets which evoke wishes for a sweet new year.

Animals partake of the solemnities by eating the same food that people eat. When people and animals used to live under one roof, everybody fed their household and farm animals from the table. On farms, families still feed their animals with the leftovers from Kucios. The families also share the food with bees and fruit trees.

After dinner, while everyone remains at the table, the children and young people pull straws of hay out from underneath the tablecloth. A long straw represents a long and prosperous life. The adults too would tell their won fortunes in a variety of ways.

After dinner, participants exchange wishes for each other by pouring grains into the hearth fire. The hearth becomes the sacred fire of the home. Each single grain sown in the fire grows and prospers. The family also ritually burns a birch wreath, stump, or log in the hearth, representing the old year. The participants can also destroy evil by burning splinters they invest with meaning.

The merry rituals of Kaledos celebrate the rebirth of the sun, called Saule Motule (Mother Sun). In folklore, Kaleda symbolically represents the sun, returning home with a crown of pearls: "Look, holy Kaleda returns/The great Kaleda., for it is the day of Kaleda/Iron wheels, silk lashes/The great Kaleda, for it is the day of Kaleda." Nine-horned reindeer also symbolize the sun in addition to embodying the unity of the three worlds.

People carry images of the sun through the fields and the towns, wishing everybody prosperity. Greetings and wishes, expressed during Kaledos, possess a potency which guarantees their fulfilment. Metamorphosed beings such as the old man of Kaleda (Santa Claus) or humans dressed as animals, especially goats, cranes, bulls, steeds and bears, also wander about. A 'Juodas Kudlotas', representing the power of harvest prosperity and richness, accompanied these wanderers. People going around during Kaledos, called Kaledotojai, sing Kaleda songs to every person they meet and every house they visit: "We go to sing Kaleda, Kaleda."

The traditional meal includes pork and other meats, cakes, and ashberry juices.

During the day, a special group of wandering Kaledotojai known as the Blukininkai--men and women, young and old--drag a log called a Kaleda or a Blukis from house to house around the entire town. The Blukis symbolizes the old year. They sing, dance, play music, and play tricks under way. In the evening the Blukininkai gather together to burn the log. In Latvia, this tradition took place Kucios evening, which the Latvians call "Bluka vakars."

According to the renowned Lithuanian scholar of mythology, A.J. Greimas, Lithuanian Kucios and Kaledos do not have anything in common with Christianity, which usurped or destroyed all aspects of the traditional Lithuanian celebrations. Both feasts, in all of their aspects, celebrate solidarity, encompassing not only the nuclear and extended families, but also the entire community of the living and the dead, and all of life, itself.

Author's note: The customs in this article narrate "composite" Kucios and Kaledos rituals actually celebrated by Lithuanians. The specifics of these spiritual family and community traditions differ from place to place. As in Judaism and in Hinduism, solemn and merry family and community celebrations constitute the essential rituals of Lithuanian religion. In contrast, the separation of the secular from the sacred in Christianity has relegated religious ritual and celebration to church buildings.