Serbian Christmas, as celebrated in my family

The Serbs, who are 85% Orthodox, celebrate Christmas according to the Julian calendar. Therefore, January 6th is Christmas Eve, and January 7th is Christmas Day and National holiday (official day off).

Depending on each person’s area of origin, family traditions and own beliefs, a variety of customs are observed in preparation and celebration of Christmas, ranging from the more traditional approach, including fasting & attending church, to the western-world inspired Christmas tree decorating and presents exchanging version of the same holiday.

I would like to share with you Christmas as observed by my family  - which has both its typically Serbian traits, but also some elements that are representative exclusively to us – so do not judge all of Serbia based on this.

My mother would fast, in a loose sense (no meat) for approx. four weeks before Christmas as required by the church tradition. Very commendable, but hard to follow when one goes out to celebrate the New Year’s Eve and culinary and alcoholic temptations spring up everywhere.

On BADNJI DAN, Christmas Eve, my father and I go out early to the forest that starts just at the back of our home and search for the perfect branch of oak tree, to become our BADNJAK. Supposedly, the BADNJAK symbolizes the wood that the sheperds brought to the barn where baby Jesus was born, and kindled a fire with, so the new born can be warm. So cutting the tree branch comes along with a small prayer and the sign of the Cross. We actually do not fell just one branch, but two, one bigger, one smaller, the male and female versions of the BADNJAK. We then take them home and lean them on the wall of the house, near the entrance door.

The rest of the day is dedicated to the preparations for the Christmas lunch...we men play an important part, as we are the ones that go out, slaughter a suckling pig or a lamb or both (depending on how tight the budget is for that respective year or not) and then set it up on a spit and roast it to perfection...a lot of rakija is consumed in the process and we do some tasting too,  to verify the quality of our work (so you see, fasting would have a lot of disadvantages J ).

The women of the house, my mother and my wife, would be in charge of cleaning the house spotless and preparing the rest of the goodies – a humble, fasting meal for the evening of January 6th, and a copious lunch to be shared with all close family members on Christmas Day.

Typical dishes that are served for the Christmas Eve dinner would include: a special bread for this occasion (BADNJI KOLAC), fish, prebranac beans, noodles with ground wallnuts and other fasting dishes.

As for the Christmas Day celebrations, they say that the richer the meal, the richer the coming year, so you are supposed to eat large quantities of many courses. The menu will normally include: any number of cold cuts and cheeses, salads & bread spreads (ruska salata, urnebes, ajvar, etc) CESNICA (a special Christmas Day bread), PECENICA (cold cuts from the roasted pig and/or lamb), SARMA (ground meat, rice and spices filled sauerkraut leaves), sauerkraut, mashed potatoes and other side dishes, and of course, deserts (my personal favourite is BAKLAVA with ground wallnuts and raisins).

In the evening, on BADNJE VECE, we go to town – depending on each place, either in front of the local church, or in front of the city hall or on the main square, we have the burning of the BADNJAK – a ceremony accompanied by a church service (vespers) made by the local priest, Christmas songs, food and drinks shared with the participants.

As for the children, in other culture, on this day they would probably be joyously decorating the Christmas tree and excitedly awaiting Santa Claus to make its appearance with many presents, but Christmas – Serbian style does not involve presents at all. Actually, the winter holidays are much different in terms of reaping presents and money rewards for the children. Serbians have no Halloween for candy treats, no St Nicholas for little presents put in clean little boots lined up by fireplaces, neither neatly wrapped Christmas presents under the festive tree, brought by either Father Christmas or the Christ Child.

With us, both centuries old traditions related to our orthodox beliefs, as well as the influence of communism during the reign of Marshall Tito&co lead to a different set of  customs.

In the weeks leading up to Christmas, we have what is called the MATERICI and the OCEVI. Observed the second Sundays, respectively first Sunday before Christmas, these old customs imply that the children have to tie up their mother’s, respectively their father’s feet, and only cut them free upon receipt of a small gift or pocket money.  

Then we put up the Christmas tree, shortly before the New Year’s Eve, although this is a custom copied from the Western world. It is during the school festivities at year end, before winter vacation, or at New Year’s Eve in the homes, when DEDA MRAZ (in a literal translation, Father Frost) comes to deliver „PAKETICI“ to well behaved children. The PAKETIC is a literally a package, a small set of pre-packaged presents, usually consisting of an assortment of candies, chocolated, maybe a few books and toys.

Luckily for my daughters, my wife is Romanian and she insists we celebrate Christmas according to the Gregorian calendar too – this time with the routine that she grew up with – and that includes a proper Christmas tree, carolling, rich food, and a lot of presents for the children and all other family members.

Coming back to Christmas Day a la Serbia, BADNJI DAN...

We greet the birth of Christ with a lot of noise to show our joy at the news...firecrackers sound everywhere, and in more traditional households guns can be fired too.

On this day, and the whole following week actually, we greet eachother with: MIR BOZIJI, HRISTOS SE RODI (God’s peace on Earth, Christ was born), the standard answer to which is VAISTINU SE RODI (He was truly born)

It is generally considered lucky if a man (called POLAZNIK) will be the first to enter your house on Christmas Day – some families might even arrange with someone to drop by on purpose. The POLAZNIK himself, or a male member of the family (in my case) is the one who will kindle the fire with a BADNJAK little branch, shaking it as he does that, thus setting of may sparks. While he does this, he utters a small incantation meant to bring good luck and prosperitity for the host family („How many sparks, that much happiness in this house; how many sparks, that many sheep in the stall“, etc). He is rewarded with a gift: new socks or a new T-shirt seem to be the favored gift in my family, and one can sure always use those.

There are many superstitions related to Christmas Day. In my family, before noon, it is compulsory to take a shower and put on clean (and preferably brand new) clothes – a fresh start for a new year. Also, we have to work something – to be hardworking and successfull till next Christmas. And of course, the BADNJI DAN lunch (more of a brunch, really) must be started before 12:00noon too.

My father, the head of the household, says a small prayer, then makes the sign of the Cross over the CESNICA bread and cuts it in four (in our case). Four members of the family (the adults), get one piece of bread each, and then seek inside the bread their fortune for the coming year. When making the bread, a small item was hidden in each quarter, and what you find defines your life until the bext Christmas: a coin (means money, of course), a bean (means sheep), a twig of cornel (means health), piece of wood (means house), and other things, each with its meaning (which may also depend on each household and region in Serbia).

Finally, we sit down for the big meal, toasting with a glass of red wine.

Christmas Day is spent with your family or even extended family, in harmony (well, about that, you all know what it is like to spend holidays with your family :) ). The next day is generally dedicated to good friends – and a lot of visits take place, with more eating and drinking.

So all in all, this is Christmas a la Serbia, a la Ilic family...

I will try to post more about Serbians and their traditions, but it would be a bigger pleasure to have you come visit our country and spend the holidays like a local...if you need help with your arrangements, you know where to find me: www.tours2serbia.com.

MIR BOZIJI, HRISTOS SE RODI!