day until recently. Most churches have Christmas services on both official Christmas holidays, 25 and 26 December, with well-defined rituals. Going to church on Christmas Eve has become very popular. The services on 24 December are the most heavily frequented services of the year. In some areas with around a third of the population attending. There are no statistics of attendants at services in Denmark. Christmas lunches Throughout the Yule period, a range of Yule dinners or lunches are arranged. Before 24 December most workplaces, unions, schools, football teams, or extended groups of friends arrange a Julefrokost (Yule Lunch), but sometimes they are delayed until January. This typically involves plenty of food and alcohol, and often takes place on a Friday or Saturday night. After 24 December, usually on Christmas Day and the Second Day of Christmas which are public holidays, the extended families arrange a (Family Yule Lunch). This usually involves more food, and takes place from noon until evening. An average Dane usually attends three to four and one or two during Jul. A typical Yule Lunch involves much beer and schnaps. It begins with a variety of seafood dishes; open face sandwiches with pickled herring, shrimps and deep fried plaice filet with Danish remoulade. Sometimes gravlax or smoked salmon and smoked eel are offered as well. Pickled herring comes in many varieties, with white, red, curried and fried pickled herrings as the most common options, and it is served exclusively on rugbrød, a special Danish rye bread, based on sourdough and whole grains. Next will be a variety of warm and cold meats, such as fried sausages, fried meatballs, boiled ham, liver pâté and fried pork, served with red or green braised cabbage dishes. Desserts are usually cheeses, fruit (mostly orange, clementine and mandarin) and risalamande, a special rice dessert associated with Christmas. From time to time, someone calls out "Skål" to make a toast, and everyone stops eating to take a drink. Normally, everyone takes public transportation to the event, to avoid alcohol related traffic accidents on the way home from these parties. Christmas confectionery and sweet treats Throughout the Christmas month of December, various confectionery, fruits, cakes, beverages and sweet treats specifically associated with Christmas are widely available in the streets, in shops, cafés or in homes. This includes nuts (mostly hazelnut, walnut and almond), dried fruits (apricots, figs and raisins), oranges, clementines, mandarins, pigeon