Easter

The Easter service in the Serbian Church begins in monasteries at 3-4 am, and in parish churches at 5-6 am. Easter is celebrated for 2-3 days.

Serbs, like Russians, “christize” and greet each other, exclaiming “Christ is Risen” – “Truly Risen.”

Great attention was paid to the Easter meal. It started with prosphora or eggs. On the table there was bread, wine and boiled spittle - indispensable attributes of the Easter meal. Sometimes the eggs were specially baked into talons.

On Easter evening, folk festivities begin, they take place right in the churchyard. Amateur or gypsy orchestra plays music, and people lead a huge dance - colo. In Bosnia, such a festival is called in the Turkish way - Taferich, in Serbia and Montenegro - Varos or Narodni Sabor.

The second Sunday after Easter was called "young". On the Monday of the second week, mostly women went to the cemetery. Eggs were also painted specifically for this. They brought as many eggs as their ancestors remembered. Special attention was paid to the first colored egg. He was called the “guardian of the house”, necessarily left in the house, put on the goddess. It was believed that it protects the house from various natural elements - thunder, lightning, etc. If there was mourning in the house during Easter, the eggs were either not painted at all, or painted black.

The feast of Christ’s Resurrection of Easter in Serbia is called “Vascres”. The word "Easter" to the Serbs is almost . Until recently, there was debate about how to pronounce "Vascres" or "U"Scres" (Croatian and Western Serbian interpretation), but eventually the authority of the Church-Slavic greeting "Christ Risen" prevailed, and Easter was established as "Vascres".