The most important of all is the Bogovitsa – also called the God’s round bread, "bozhichnyak" or a saint who was dedicated to the home and to God. The women who kneaded the bread for Christmas Eve would dress festively in a new long shirt and recite blessings for health and prosperity for the home. We learn more about the festive Christmas Eve table of Bulgarians in the past from ethnologist Dr. Anelia Ovnarska.

The ritual bread was made with silent water, brought in complete silence from the well, water that no one drank from and no one touched, but also with the purest and finest wheat flour, which was carefully sifted at least three times through silk sieves. In some regions, the lucky person who got the coin from the round bread had to spend it on the house. And if a person from outside the family got the piece with the coin, the owner had to buy it back so that the good luck would remain in the house.

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The second bread that is present on the festive table is related to everyday life and the farming activities, we learn from Dr. Anelia Ovnarska:‎

‎"This is a very interesting "pita" - a ritual round bread that has a rich plastic decoration. It is usually dedicated to farm animals, to stables. It is related to agriculture and animal husbandry. There we have images of a plow, ears of wheat, a sheep, a sheepfold and other animals. And the third type of bread was usually prepared by the unmarried girls in the family. These are the special so-called kolatsi, or a type of folded bread that was given to the "koledari" (male carol singers).

In the past, these breads were everywhere throughout the ethnic Bulgarian territory, especially the one with the plastic decoration and repeating the life of the people with the depiction of agriculture and fertility," explains Dr. Ovnarska.‎

Before the family sits at the table on Christmas Eve, the oldest family member says a prayer and incenses the home and food, and the dinner begins with the ritual breaking of the ceremonial bread. But where does the symbolism of the odd number of dishes on Christmas Eve come from? Dr. Anelia Ovnarska explains this tradition as follows:

"It is widely believed that the dishes should be an odd number of 7 or 9. But the number 12 is often mentioned. From the perspective of folklore, the odd number has its incompleteness and is associated with life, while the number 12 itself, which is even, refers to the 12 months of the year. But I have my own view on things and dare to say that this oddness should be viewed as something countless, i.e. the more, the more. In general, the foods that are put on the table on Christmas Eve are always chosen as the best, or at least everything that was produced in the fields and was specially kept for this ritual evening. These are the best pumpkins, the best apples. The best flour was used for the ritual bread. In this sense, this is a gift for a gift. We give everything, we give countlessly, we want it to be more, so that we can receive more and better!" says Dr. Anelia Ovnarska in an interview for Radio Bulgaria.