Serbian Christmas Traditions - Twelve Days of Christmas

Twelve Days of Christmas

During the Twelve Days of Christmas (7 January – 18 January on the Gregorian calendar), one is to greet another person with "Christ is Born," which should be responded to with "Truly He is Born," or in Serbian: „Христос се роди“ (pronounced ) – „Ваистину се роди“ .

January 14 on the Gregorian calendar corresponds to January 1, New Year's Day, on the Julian calendar; this holiday is also called Mali Božić "Little Christmas". In some regions, the head and the right Boston butt of the pečenica are set aside at the Christmas dinner, and are served for dinner on this day. A part of this meal may consist of little round loaves made with cornmeal and cream. The loaves are named vasilica after Saint Basil the Great, because January 1 is also the feast day of this saint. People versed in scapulimancy used the shoulder blade of the Boston butt to foretell events concerning the family in the ensuing year. The snout cut from the head of pečenica could have been used in love magic. If a girl looked stealthily through the snout at a boy she wanted, who was not interested in her, he would supposedly go mad about her.

On the day before Little Christmas, especially in south-eastern Serbia, a group of young unmarried men went through the streets of their village and chased away demons by making a deafening noise. Sirovari, as these men were called, shouted as loud as possible two words, "Sirovo burovo!" accompanied by the noise made with bells, ratchets, and horseshoes strung on a rope. The group consisted of seven, nine or eleven members; it was said that if there were an even number of sirovari, one of them would die within a year. Moving through the village, they tried to make it impossible for anyone to count them. They constantly changed positions in the group, hid and suddenly reappeared. Villagers were glad to receive them in their homes, and treated them with food and drink.

The following custom was recorded at the end of the 19th century in the north Dalmatian region of Bukovica. Early in the morning of Little Christmas, children of the family spread Christmas straw from their house around the stake in the center of their village's threshing floor. The use of this stake was to tether a horse to it; the animal was then driven around to thresh grain by treading with its hooves. The woman of the house baked a big round unleavened loaf of bread with a hole in its center, inscribed with circles, crosses, hooks, and other symbols on its surface. The loaf was taken to the threshing floor, and fixed round the stake. The oldest man of the family would take hold of the stake with his right hand above the loaf. With his left hand he held the right hand of the next oldest man, and so on to the youngest boy who could walk steadily. Holding hands in this manner, they would run around the stake three times. During the running they would shout in unison as loud as possible, "Ajd ajde, koba moja!" meaning "Giddy-up, my mare!" – except for the man holding the stake, who would shout, "De! De! De!" meaning "Go! Go! Go!" They would then take the hollow loaf back home, and put it near the fireplace beside the remnant of badnjak. The woman of the house would "feed them fodder", i.e., prepare a meal for them, consisting of đevenica (a sort of dried sausage), roast pork, and the hollow loaf, plus rakia for the adults. Having eaten, they would go back to the threshing floor and repeat the whole ritual, only this time without the loaf. In the end, they would collect Christmas straw from the threshing floor; it was put in hens' nests to prevent them from laying eggs outside the nests. This custom was considered as especially joyful for children.

The last of the Twelve Days of Christmas, January 18 (January 5 on the Julian calendar), is the eve of the Epiphany. Its folk name is Krstovdan – the Day of the Cross. This is a strict fast day; the adults should eat almost nothing. It was believed that the north, south, east, and west winds crossed each other on Krstovdan. The wind that overpowered the other three, would be dominant in the ensuing year.

This twelve-day period used to be called the unbaptized days, during which the demonic forces of all kinds were considered to be more than usually active and dangerous. People were cautious not to attract their attention, and did not go out late at night. The latter precaution was especially because of the demons called karakondžula, imagined as heavy, squat, and ugly creatures. When a karakondžula found someone outdoors during the night of an unbaptized day, it would jump on his back, and make him carry it wherever it wanted. This torture would end only when roosters announced the dawn; at that moment the creature would release its victim and run away.