Traditions & holidays

Lesson opening

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Traditions and holidays: the calendar people live by here

On 25 December Belgrade works as usual, yet on 7 January the city stands still. A week later the squares boom with music: New Year again. And in November a small violet flower appears on a colleague’s lapel, and everyone knows what it means.

The year: why Christmas is on the seventh of January

The state runs on the Gregorian calendar; the Serbian Orthodox Church keeps the Julian calendar, which lags behind by exactly 13 days. The church’s 25 December falls on the civil 7 January, and its 1 January on the 14th.

Nova godina and Srpska nova godina

The civil New Year is the loudest winter holiday: an open-air doček “welcoming”, ponoć “midnight”, vatromet “fireworks”. The tree is a novogodišnja jelka, a New Year tree, and Deda Mraz, Grandfather Frost, gives children a paketić, a bag of sweets. The main presents come at New Year, not at Christmas. Also poklon “present”, čestitka “greetings card”.

Gde dočekuješ Novu godinu? Where are you seeing in the New Year?

Thirteen days later it all repeats on a smaller scale: on the night of 13–14 January comes Srpska nova godina. It is a working day, but the squares fill up, and many people prefer this doček.

Božić: Badnje veče, česnica and the first guest

Christmas is quiet and homely. It follows a forty-day fast, božićni post, kept in different ways: strictly, only in the last week, or not at all. Presents are also given on the three Sundays before it, Detinjci, Materice, Oci: the children, the mother and the father are playfully tied up and buy their freedom.

6 January is Badnji dan, and its evening is Badnje veče, Christmas Eve. The badnjak is brought in, a young oak; in town people more often take home a bundle of oak twigs from the church, while the big badnjak burns in the churchyard. Supper is meatless, posna trpeza. At the next day’s lunch the centrepiece is the česnica, a round loaf with a coin baked in: it is broken, not cut, and whoever gets the coin is lucky all year. Beside it is pečenica, roast suckling pig. The first visitor is the položajnik: he stirs the fire, and the more sparks, the more happiness in the house.

Cheat sheet

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Traditions and holidays

The Church keeps the Julian calendar, 13 days behind: the church’s 25 December = 7 January. Customs vary by family and region.

Calendar

What happens

Slava

Greetings and replies