Heritage
Unlike most customs that are common for an entire people, each family separately celebrates its own saint; of course, there is quite a bit of overlap. It is inherited from the head of the household—normally the father—to sons. Daughters inherit the slava only if they stay in the home, while married women normally celebrate their husbands' saint.
Each household has one or two celebrations per year (depending on the saint in question, for some have two days devoted to them). Yet, only one is the main day of the patron saint feast (and not necessarily the same of the two days for all families); the second celebration is referred to as "Little Slava" or Preslava.
Some families may also celebrate yet another saint to a lesser extent (for example, when the wife is the only descendant of her kinship so the tradition of her slava would otherwise be lost).
Should a particular household move far away, with the father's permission, a son might celebrate the Slava in his own home; usually, however, for as long as a family patriarch is alive, his sons should celebrate under his roof.
Actually, the sons should celebrate slava with their father only if they live together. If they have separate households, and they do not live together, then they should celebrate separately. Of course, if the father is alive, the son is asking for his permission. The son will then celebrate for the last time with the father, and he will get a half of the slavski kolac to start celebrating in his own home. There is some confusion about this. Not long ago, all sons lived in the same household with the father so, it was obvious that they will celebrate together. But, as Serbian society started changing, a lot of members of the family moved to cities and started living separately. Today, there are no more large families like before, father with sons and grandsons in one home.
Read more about this topic: Slava
Famous quotes containing the word heritage:
“Flowers ... that are so pathetic in their beauty, frail as the clouds, and in their colouring as gorgeous as the heavens, had through thousands of years been the heritage of children—honoured as the jewellery of God only by them—when suddenly the voice of Christianity, counter-signing the voice of infancy, raised them to a grandeur transcending the Hebrew throne, although founded by God himself, and pronounced Solomon in all his glory not to be arrayed like one of these.”
—Thomas De Quincey (1785–1859)
“It seems to me that upbringings have themes. The parents set the theme, either explicitly or implicitly, and the children pick it up, sometimes accurately and sometimes not so accurately.... The theme may be “Our family has a distinguished heritage that you must live up to” or “No matter what happens, we are fortunate to be together in this lovely corner of the earth” or “We have worked hard so that you can have the opportunities we didn’t have.””
—Calvin Trillin (20th century)
“There are some things which cannot be learned quickly, and time, which is all we have, must be paid heavily for their acquiring. They are the very simplest things and because it takes a man’s life to know them the little new that each man gets from life is very costly and the only heritage he has to leave.”
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)