Christmas
Description:
The Nativity of Christ in Montenegro (the so-called Bozhich) is a holiday of parents and children. He is all imbued with care for the safety of the family hearth and the well-being of the house. It is no coincidence that the cycle of Christmas holidays lasts, together with preparation for it, more than a month. It begins on the day of St. Nicholas of Myrlicia on December 19, and ends on January 27, the day of St. Sava (Russians celebrate the memory of Archbishop Sava of Serbia two days earlier, January 25).
Two days before Christmas, January 5, a pig or lamb is slaughtered, and in some places a turkey or goose is slaughtered. On this day, children should not be punished - there is a belief that otherwise they will behave badly throughout the following year. This day is called "Tucindan".
Christmas Eve, January 6, is called “Badni Dan” in these lands.
On this day, before sunrise, the head of the family and his eldest son with a shotgun in front of the house announce a trip to the forest for the “bad man”. The family members who remain in the house at dawn start a fire and start roasting a specially fattened piglet for Christmas, the women prepare Christmas cake, cakes and other dishes.
On the night before Christmas, household members pray, sing the troparion "Your Christmas", congratulate each other on Christmas Eve and sit down at the table. Dinner should be lean.
On Christmas morning, all family members get up early, wash with ice water (water for washing on this day is sometimes taken from under the ice) and prepare for the first ceremony. Each man at home goes outside and takes two branches from the badnyak, then enters the house and congratulates the hostess on Christmas: “Give, God, health and joy in the house, let healthy children be born, let wheat and grapes be born, property is added and livestock is multiplied!”
At dawn, church bells ring, people put on festive clothes and go to church for the Christmas Liturgy. After the service, a prosphora is taken into the house. They say, “Christ was born,” and they say, “He was born.” This greeting is observed until the feast of the Epiphany (January 19).
Returning from church, the family sits down on straw (or sits down at the table), drinks raki – hot plum or fruit moonshine, snacking on dry fruits and walnuts and waiting for the arrival of the “greeter” – a person respected by all family members who will bring good luck to the house for Christmas and throughout the year. Entering the house, the layman takes a branch from the badnyak and leads it around the hearth or in the stove, trying to lift as many sparks as possible into the air, repeating: "How many sparks - so much happiness, how many sparks - so much money, how many sparks - so many pigs and lambs, and most of all health and joy, amen, God, give!" It symbolizes the Magi who, following the star in the east, came to worship the newborn Christ. The hostess sprinkles the guest with wheat and gives gifts.
All family members are treated to hot rakia and dry fruit in anticipation of Christmas dinner. Then the owner brings the liver to the table. The liver should bring health and well-being to the home. From dishes to the table are served sauerkraut, stewed with smoked pork meat, cake with kaimak (this is very tasty cream or sour cream, flaked like cheese, kaimak is made only in the countries of the former Yugoslavia), "prebranac" - boiled beans with vegetable oil and onions, etc.
The climax of Christmas celebration is the refraction of "pogachi" - a homemade Christmas flat cake made of unleavened dough. The hostess mixes the cake dough in the morning and puts a gold or silver coin in it. After the cake is ready, the hostess puts it on the table, which will be served Christmas dinner. The owner cuts off the left part of the liver, takes the heart out of it and distributes it in pieces to all family members who immediately eat it. Before the beginning of lunch, the owner of the house lights a candle that stands on the table, or censers and surrounds the icons and all those present with them, and the children circle the censers around the house. Then everyone sings the festive tropar or "Our Father."
Then it's time to break the crap. It is first turned in a circle, then made an incision in the form of a cross and in the resulting cut poured wine, only after that it breaks. After breaking the pogacha, everyone congratulates each other on the holiday. Everyone gets a piece of cake, and whoever has a coin in it will be happy for a year.
In cities where there are no open hearths, stoves and badnyak, on the markets and on the streets are sold before the holiday small “buckets” of oak branches, tied with a bundle of straw. On the eve of Christmas, this bundle, together with the spittel, is brought into the house and placed under the icon of the saint - the patron of the family, at the eastern wall of the house or apartment. A candle and lamp are lit, which is a symbol of fire and hearth. Then the house is surrounded by Kadil with Tamyan, prayers are said, the whole evening is accompanied by spiritual music. On the third day of the holiday in the evening, straw is taken out of the house, which is then fluttered over fields and meadows. This is how Christmas ends.
After Christmas everyone feels grace, full of love and kindness. The Nativity of Christ is in many ways a children’s holiday, since on this day, in the words of the Serbian protodeacon Lubomir Rankovich, “the most beautiful and holy child in the history of mankind” was born. The festival continues on the day of St. Epiphany (January 19), on the day of St. John the Forerunner (January 20) and St. Sava of Serbia (January 27).
The great Serbian poet, secular and spiritual lord of Montenegro Petar Njegos rightfully wrote: “Nem is given without a face-to-face appearance, thread right to Glory without God” – “Daylight does not exist if you do not see it with your eyesight, and no holiday can be compared with Christmas.”