Many of you might be surprised to see a post about Christmas now, but no, I am not posing it with a delay, we actually celebrated Christmas Eve (day) today, and tomorrow we will celebrate Christmas. This is related to some of the Orthodox Chtistinas, but not all. You may wonder why is that, and how it's celebrated today instead of 24th of December. Actually, Christmas is at the same date for everyone, but our church use old (Julian) calendar, so the difference is 13 days.
In this post, I will show you some customs and how Christmas day/Eve looks like here. We call it "Badnji" day. This name comes from first custom, which is cutting "badnjak" tree (usually young oak or ash tree) in the morning and bringing it in front of the home,in home, and also some people put it on the cars, to bring good and prosperity, and defend from evil. Later in the evening, this tree is burnt. People who live in the city or can't go to cut the tree can buy it on the streets on this day or in the previous days. You can see trees everywhere and people buying them.
This morning was a very cold one, -8 C, so I admire all the sellers who were constantly standing in order to sell badnjak most of the day today. Beside badnjak you can buy many nice arrangements with it, such as shown in the photos. In these arrangements you can also see young wheat which symbolizes good year and should bring happiness, health and peace. Some of these were very nice, but the nicer they are, the more expensive they are.
This day is fast day, as it's the last day of the Christmas fast. Fast here means not eating animals or animal products, beside fish. There are some more strict ways of wasting, like "on water", which means food is not prepared with oil. So today most people have fish, and also white beans are popular meal while fasting, and it's called 'prebranac'.
It's also a custom to have some nuts and dried fruits on the table for today.
For dessert there is baklava. Sweet pie with sugar and wealnuts.
In the evening, badnjak is brought to the house and burned in the wood-burning stove while saying "as many sparks, as many coins", three times. Also, there are some customs with kids, when they search for presents under the table in the straw, but since we don't have young kids in the house, we don't do it now.
There is big burning of the badnjak organized in the church as well, and many people visit it. Because of the type of tree, there are many sparks the tree creates, and it's nice to watch it. Also, for whatever reason, this is followed by the fireworks (as well as at midnight). But, I guess, new times bring new customs. So in the first days of the New Year, till the 14th of January (when the New Year is celebrated by the Julian calendar), you can often hear fireworks and firecrackers.
Tomorrow I will share some how Christmas looks here.
All photos are original and taken using Samsung S20 phone, and edited using Snapseed application.
Thank you for reading my post ^^
Love&Peace
Have a great Christmas Eve and Merry Christmas tomorrow!
Thank you very much! ^^
hi, great pictures, happy new year
Thank you very much! Happy New Year :)
Para mí, es bueno conocer nuevas tradiciones y culturas, no sabía lo de la celebración de la navidad para estás épocas, pero, todo vale cuando se hace con amor. Saludos y feliz navidad 🎄
Muchas gracias🥰
Merry Christmas!
Much appreciated! :)
Thank you ^^
My pleasure
!INDEED
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