In the old days, the polozajnik would take a branch from the badnjak and stir up the fire in the hearth. The more sparks representing God's blessings for the family he or she created, the better. Radmila Milivojevic, of Chesterton, Ind. She has fond memories of Christmas in Serbia. My sisters and brother stood behind him as he knocked on our front door. My mother would ask, 'Who is this coming? Father would lay the straw on the floor, and we would cover it with a tablecloth and have our Christmas Eve dinner, but not before walnuts were tossed in the four corners of the room.
The straw would remain in the house for three days and on the fourth, it was swept up," Milivojevic says. Because her father had a store in Serbia that sold ornaments, her family had a Christmas tree with real candles clipped to the branches, walnuts wrapped in colorful tinfoil, sugar cubes, and candies in the images of saints, in addition to the traditional badjnak. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content.
Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. On her way back home, the girl who carries strong water picks several cornel or willow twigs, with which children are gently struck that morning. This is intended to strengthen their health. This visit may be fortuitous or pre-arranged. People expect that it will summon prosperity and well-being for their household in the ensuing year.
A family often picks in advance a man or boy, and arranges that he visit them on Christmas morning. If not, they send word to him not to come any more in that capacity. At the same time he utters these words or similar :. How many sparks, that much happiness in this house. How many sparks, that much money in the household head's pocket. How many sparks, that many sheep in the pen. How many sparks, that many pigs and lambs. How many sparks, that many geese and chickens, and most of all, health and joy.
Having said that, he moves the log a little forward and throws a coin into the fire. In the moment when he sits down, they try to pull away the stool beneath him, as if to make him fall on the floor. When they gather in the circle he catches a rooster, whose head is then cut off by him or the head of household on the house's threshold. The rooster will be roasted on a wooden spit as a part of Christmas dinner.
He is gifted a round cake with an embedded coin, and a towel, shirt, socks, or some other useful thing. Several oak twigs, which symbolically represent a badnjak , are put on fire in a wood-burning kitchen stove. A sheep, ox, swine, or calf was led into the house on Christmas morning. In the region of Bihor, north-eastern Montenegro, a round loaf of bread with a hole in its center was prepared; four grooves were impressed into its surface along two mutually perpendicular diameters of the loaf.
After an ox was led into the house, the loaf was put on his horn, and some grain was thrown on him. Yanking his head, the ox would throw off the loaf; having fallen down, it would break into four pieces along the grooves. The pieces were picked up and distributed among the family members.
This custom was preserved up to the s even in some Muslim families of the region. It used to be killed on Tucindan , the day before Christmas Eve, by hitting on the head with a lump of salt. Its throat was then cut, the blood being collected and mixed with fodder. Feeding cattle with this mixture was believed to make them thrive. The pig is now usually slaughtered on the same day when it will be cooked. While it is kneaded, a golden or silver coin is put into it.
Some people put also little objects made of cornel wood, representing chickens, oxen, cows, swine, bees, etc. Before baking, a Christogram is impressed on its upper side with a wooden seal. For each male member of the family a round loaf named ratarica is made — the biggest one for the head, and the smallest one for the youngest boy.
As for the female members, for each of them a pletenica is prepared, a loaf shaped like a three-strand braid — the biggest one for the woman of the house, and the smallest one for the youngest girl.
A set of little loaves is baked with a different symbol inscribed on the upper side of each of them, representing: a vineyard, barrel, hoof, ox, cow with a calf, sow with a piglet, ewe with a lamb, mare with a foal, hen with chicks, plow, hand of a sower, goose, or pigeon.
Christmas dinner is the most celebratory meal a family has during a year. In the early afternoon the family members sit down at the table. When the head of household gives a sign, all rise. He lights a candle, incenses his family and house, and prays the Lord's Prayer. After that, they all kiss each other on the cheek saying, "The peace of God among us, Christ is Born. In some regions, a half of this festive loaf is set aside and eaten on New Year's Day as per Julian calendar, i.
January 14 on the Gregorian calendar. During the dinner, the head of household proposes a toast to his family with a glass of wine several times. After Christmas dinner, the remaining food should not be removed from the table — only the used tableware is taken away. The food is covered with a white cloth, and eaten in the evening as supper. The koleda is a custom that a group of young men, masked and costumed, goes from house to house of their village singing special koleda songs and performing acts of magic to summon health, wealth, and prosperity for each household.
The members of the group are called koledari. The koleda is carried out from the Feast of Saint Ignatius Theophorus five days before Christmas up until the Epiphany. Regarded as pagan and discouraged by the Serbian Orthodox Church, the koleda ceased to be performed among most of the Serbs during the 19th and 20th centuries.
Koledari prepare themselves during several days before the start of the koleda : they practice the koleda songs, and make their masks and costumes. The masks can be classified into three types according to the characters they represent: the anthropomorphic, the zoomorphic representing bear, cow, stag, goat, sheep, ox, wolf, stork, etc.
The main material from which they are produced is hide. The face, however, may be made separately out of a dried gourd shell or a piece of wood, and then sewn to hide so that the mask can cover all the head.
The moustache, beard, and eyebrows are made with black wool, horsehair, or hemp fibers, and the teeth with beans. Zoomorphic and anthropo-zoomorphic masks may have white, black, or red painted horns attached to them. The costumes are prepared from ragged clothes, sheepskins with the wool turned outside, and calf hides.
Strings of little bells and ratchets are fastened around the waist and the knees of the costumes. An ox tail with a bell fixed at its end may be attached at the back of them. The leader of the group is called Grandpa. The other koledari gather at his house on the eve of koleda , and at midnight they all go out and start their activities. Walking through streets of the village they shout and make noise with bells and ratchets. Most are armed with sabers or clubs. One of them, called Bride, is masked and costumed as a pregnant woman.
He holds a distaff in his hand and spins hemp fibers. St Nicholas is the day when the Christmas wheat is put in wet dishes to start sprouting.
You need the right temperature and the right amount of water… But you can always choose the easier way and buy a prepared decoration, as many busy people actually do nowadays.
Three weeks before Christmas, or rather: on three Sundays before Christmas, we celebrate these three holidays. They are an important part of the Serbian Christmas traditions and they bring lots of laughter and fun to our homes. On this day in the early morning, parents take some rope, a ribbon or a scarf, to tie their children before they wake up. Then children have to redeem themselves by giving small gifts, drawings, reciting or singing a song to their parents. On this day the children will tie their mother, grandmother, aunt and any other woman in the family.
She will give them previously prepared gifts to redeem herself. Mothers and grandmothers usually love this holiday and make sure to prepare treats and gifts for their family, especially children.
Fathers are usually most fun to play with. On this day, the father must be prepared, but can also play with children, not letting them catch him easily. He will run away from a loose rope and usually play a hard nut. But in the end, after a good laughter, he will finally submit and offer presents to buy his freedom. Detinci , Materice and Oci are movable holidays, so sometimes they coincide with another holiday.
The truth is, we never fasted much — so that was the only fasting day for us. Because my other grandmother never allowed us not to fast on this day, and on Great Friday before Easter. She was a sweet, religious, hardworking lady, who taught us most of what we know about the Serbian traditions.
The day before Christmas goes by in preparations. Mothers are cooking and preparing the food for the evening and the great holiday the next day. Fathers are getting the Serbian Christmas tree — badnjak — and usually roasting a pig, if they live in the countryside. For Christmas, we actually have a different kind of tree. In the early morning, the head of the family goes to the forest to cut off a young oak tree.
I know my cousins do it with their sons. If you want to learn details about the old Serbian Christmas tradition of cutting the Christmas oak tree or badnjak, and other very old rituals and beliefs around Christmas, I recommend this post on the blog Old European Culture. Today, in the cities, we actually buy some less impressive branches.
A few days before the Serbian Christmas in January, you can see the stands selling badnjak-bouquets in every town. During Advent, some people fast and they don't eat food that comes from animals meat, milk, eggs, etc. The countries of Serbia and Montenegro share many Christmas traditions.
It is the last day of the Christmas fast. Christmas is a very religious holiday and most people go to the Christmas Services. There are a lot of old Serbian traditions associated with the countryside, which have now lost their meaning because more people live in towns and cities.
On the morning of Christmas Eve, the father of the family used to go to the forest to cut a young oak called the 'Badnjak' Christmas Eve tree but today people just buy one.
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