Serbians and other followers of the Eastern Orthodox Church use the Julian calendar, which places their Christmas on January 7th instead of December 25th.
Here's some fun stuff to learn about it:
On Christmas Eve, families gather and all families fast and don't eat food that comes from animals. 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. Under the table there should also be some straw as a symbol of the stable/cave where Jesus was born.
At Christmas a special kind of bread is eaten. It's called 'cesnica' and each member of the family gets a piece (and the house does too). There is a coin hidden in it and whoever gets the coin will be particularly fortunate in the next year!
Nifty huh?
So, on behalf of my Serbian side of my "family" (Hi Theron!), CPEЋAH БOЖИЋ!
Note: I'm still working on my monsterous JRA post, so look for that soon.
1 comment:
Cryptic, eh? Cyrillic isn't cryptic!
The main Serbian Christmas greeting is Христос се роди, or Hristos se rodi, which literally means "Jesus is born." The reply is Ваистину се роди, or Vaistinu se rodi, meaning "He has been born."
I remember visiting my family and breaking bread with everyone at meals when I was little.
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