The tradition of Christmas customs in Croatia
per Josip Vujinović
The tradition of Christmas customs in Croatia is long, rich and diverse. Each part of Croatia has its own specificities and thereby contributes to the richness of our cultural and spiritual heritage and tradition. That is why Christmas is considered the most beautiful time of the year. We celebrate the birth of Jesus in peace, and Christmas customs are diverse, both in Croatia and around the world.
CHRISTMAS EVE
Christmas Eve is actually a tree stump. It would be circled around the house, carried by the oldest member of the family, placed on the hearth in the house and blessed with baptismal water. The stump was often seen as a living being, sprinkled with grain, watered with wine and given food.
The lit Christmas tree would smolder all the way to the Holy Three Kings, and the ashes would then be sprinkled over the fields, vineyards and orchards. It was believed that it would bring a fruitful year, and the house where the stump goes out will be in trouble.
There is also a custom to bring three tree stumps into the house on Christmas Eve, symbolizing the Holy Trinity. Fruit or food was placed on them, and the fire symbolized peace and prosperity. Along with the stump, straw was often brought in, which was a sign of Jesus’ birth on straw. In Croatian Zagorje, the host or owner of the house brought straw into the home and blessed the family and the entire household.
On Christmas Eve, there was always vigil and waiting for the birth of Jesus. Without electricity, it was necessary to light the rooms with candles. Special candles were made, the so-called candlesticks, and often three candles were associated with the Croatian tricolor. As such, they became symbols of new life and hope.
There are many customs for the purpose of well-being, good harvest, health and progress. From Christmas Day to Three Kings, there was a Christmas cake on the table – a round Christmas cake with a hole in the middle and various decorations. In Dalmatia, if there were several Christmas trees, they would be placed on top of each other, and an olive branch, ivy or candle would be placed through the hole in the middle.
In Slavonia, it was customary for women to get up early on Christmas Eve and clean the house in time and prepare lean food, while male children visited the houses in the neighborhood and wished for a fruitful new year. The fastest would get sausages and sweets as a gift. Also, it was customary to give a male child as a gift on Christmas Eve, and before the start of the dinner, the host would bring a krizban (pine tree), straw and horse harness, which would be placed under the table.
In Podravina, but also in other parts of Croatia, on the feast of St. Lucia, wheat was planted, which was placed under a pine tree on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve, a fasting breakfast was eaten, and the pine tree was decorated with apples and decorations made at home. The house was decorated with decorated evergreen branches. Houses in Podravina were not cleaned until New Year’s, and great care was taken not to put out the fire in the hearth on Christmas Eve.
At the end of Christmas Day and midnight, young girls wanted the most because the guys gave “Christmas apples” to the girl they liked the most.
The word “Badnjak” itself is connected with the words “wake up” (Old Slavic word “evil”) and “razbadriti se” which means to wake up and be awake. Croatian linguist Dr. Radoslav Katičić believes that the renewal of life until the beginning of spring begins with Christmas Day.
According to him, the word Christmas comes from the Sanskrit name for the snake that lies under the roots at the base of the tree of life. The tree of life is a common and important symbol that appears in many European pre-Christian myths. It is possible that the custom of decorating the Christmas tree is connected with the Tree of Life. The sacred trees of the ancient Croats were oak and linden.
CHRISTMAS TRADITION
On Christmas morning, the first visitor comes to the house, the congratulator – the so-called. ˝participant˝ or ˝požar˝. It was believed that it must be a young, cheerful and strong person because it brings good luck. Whoever comes to your house first – that will be your year. Often, families have arranged the “random” visitor in advance so as not to cause an accident.
One of the rare, and perhaps the only, old Croatian Christmas customs that is cherished today is the sowing of wheat. Wheat is sown on the Feast of St. Lucia and grows until Christmas.
According to tradition, grain is decorated with the colors of the Croatian tricolor at Christmas, so that a red-white-blue ribbon is tied around it, and a candle is placed in the middle. For the wheat to germinate, such would be the crop in the field the following year. Wheat is considered a symbol of fertility, renewal and new life. After Christmas, it is given to the birds because nothing sacred is allowed to be thrown away.
It was customary for the host to bring straw into the house where the children were playing. The table was decorated with the most beautiful fruits, money and wheat so that everything would be abundant in the new year. Also, for Christmas we stayed with our family at home and did not visit. As a sign of Christmas, the straw lasted much longer than the stumps. The moment of bringing straw into the house, which was done by the host, marked the official start of the Christmas celebration.
Already at the end of November, Dalmatians were choosing the lamb they would treat for the holidays. They decorated their tree with nuts, apples, gingerbread and candles. The host would light the Christmas candle, and after the family lunch, extinguish it with a crust of bread soaked in wine.
Also, they would put a coin in the Christmas bread, which would be broken into pieces and distributed to the household. The one who got a piece with a coin was predicted luck, health and wealth in the coming year.
There is another interesting Christmas custom in Dalmatia. On Saint Lucia’s Day, girls would write the names of the boys they want on 11 pieces of paper, and leave one blank. Every day until Christmas, they would burn a piece of paper, and the last one left would bear the name of the future husband. If a girl was left with a blank paper, it would mean that she would not marry.
The Christian world has been celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ since ancient times, and the day of Jesus’ birth was considered the beginning of the new year. At the time of the restored Western Roman Empire, the beginning of the new year was on Christmas almost in all of Europe. The Church only accepted January 1 as the New Year in 1691.
Three masses have been celebrated on the Christmas holiday since the 5th century: the midnight mass, the dawn mass or the midday mass, and the midday mass (midday mass). Christmas is followed by the feasts of St. Stephen, John, the Innocents or Mladenci, and the Old Year. Christmas, as a Christian holiday, is celebrated in every nation in its own, special way as part of ethnographic heritage.
In the southern parts of Croatia, at Christmas time, it was customary to choose a king, between Christmas and the Three Kings. The king or prince had a staff and a crown. The election of the village king was similar, but that part of traditional culture began to be lost in the first half of the 20th century. The election of the village king is a remnant of the ancient Croatian tradition related to the memory of the election of national rulers.
In Crni Dabr on Velebit, the residents of that and neighboring villages gathered on Christmas Eve, which had been cut off from the world for six months due to deep snow. Together they told stories about their ancestors, ate cod and bean salad, drank Pag wine and shot guns and holsters. After 1976, no one lives in the village anymore. They permanently moved to other parts of Croatia.
Christmas cakes are usually of different shapes, decorations and names. Around Sinj, in southwestern Bosnia and eastern Herzegovina, bread was baked and fed to sheep and donkeys with a little wine from Bukhara. Buns were baked for domestic animals in Slavonia and Srijem. Buns were made for eating, and later honeydew brandy was drunk.
On Christmas Eve, walnuts, hazelnuts, carobs, almonds, figs and apples are traditionally on the table, depending on which side succeeds. Fish, beans and honey dishes were usually eaten. Favorites were honey with garlic, fish in various ways, brodet with polenta, and from cakes, fritters, fanjki, gibanice and badnjača (a type of bread).
The dishes were lean, without meat and fat. Before Christmas, a candle was lit and prayers were said. Somewhere on the table stood a bowl with various grains, in which were placed a Christmas candle, Christmas apples and blessed water, and on the table were placed tools and implements: ploughshare, ruler, yoke, prosciutto, whip, bag, chains, and pitchforks .
In recent times, the advent wreath woven from evergreen twigs has become more and more common. There is no beginning and no end to symbolize eternity. Four candles are inserted into the wreath to mark the four divisions in human history: creation, incarnation, redemption, and the end. On the first Sunday of Advent, the first candle is lit, and so until Christmas, all four.
In Croatia, the Christmas tree was not decorated until 1850, although it had been a custom in Germany since the 16th century. There were also paper decorations. In some parts of Croatia, the whole house was decorated, and in others only the main beam in the house or the hearth. Also, cribs were made of wood. Gilded walnuts and hazelnuts were jewelry used to decorate the tree, and candles, symbols of hope and deities, were also often placed. Then pieces of cotton wool, wax or paper were placed to symbolize the snow on the tree.
After dinner on Christmas Eve, the gathered people would still sit and talk, sing or pray, and then they would gather in the streets and go to the midnight mass, one of the most solemn masses of the year. Christmas carols are sung for the first time at midnight, which are an integral part of the service. After midnight, the gathered believers congratulate each other with ‘Merry Christmas’ and return to their homes. Many meat dishes, Christmas cakes and drinks are often eaten then.
After Christmas, he eats in many Croatian homes roast with horseradish, cold meats, homemade sausages, cool, bacon, prosciutto with cheese and olives for breakfast. The women prepared the Christmas menu the day before, and the lunch was festive and rich, and the whole family gathered at the table. If it rained on Christmas Day, it was believed that everything that was dug with a hoe would bear fruit.
Christmas lunch included soup, meat – various roasts with vegetables, cold meats, cabbage rollsstewed sauerkraut, sauerkraut, potatoes, various types of bread (Christmas cake, česnica, kršnica, Christmas tree, kruznica), pastries, fruit and many other dishes. Sweets included cakes, walnuts, poppy seeds, walnuts, carobs, cheeses, dry small cakes, pepperoni, figs, gingerbread, men and works.
At Christmas, we often went to three masses: midnight mass, early morning dawn mass, and noon (day or high mass). The girls came to the mass in various festive dresses and folk costumes.
On the first day of Christmas, he usually stays at home, and on the second day of Christmas, St. Stephen’s Day, we go to visit relatives and neighbors. Caroling or congratulation was spiced up by singing traditional Christmas carols, and often congratulators and gifts were given.
Boys gave girls decorated Christmas cards as a traditional Christmas present. It was customary to throw an apple into the well before Christmas, and take it out on New Year’s. If the apple remained red and healthy, it meant that the family would be in good health. On the second day after Christmas, the blessing of homes and families begins.