In Croatia and Slovenia, the Roman Catholic version of Saint George's Day, Jurjevo is celebrated on 23 April by the Gregorian calendar.

[5][6] It is also celebrated by the Slavic Muslim community of Gorani in Kosovo, and by members of the uncanonical Montenegrin Orthodox Church.

Celebrations are closely associated with pagan rituals and festivities associated with the awakening of nature and arrival of spring, dominant in the Balkans but also present in Europe.

A popular tradition on St. George's eve is decorating home gates and houses with greens and flowers, this is particularly done by families whose patron saint is St.

[9] In Serbia, the celebration is linked to the end of Turkish rule, recollecting the days when fighters made plots and plans in woodland hideouts.

[9] In the past, the date was used by the fighters for gathering and organizing their units for campaigns, leading to battles up until the end of November when they disbanded and returned to their villages to await the arrival of spring again, when trees turned new leaves.

Other traditions in some parts of Serbia include the ritual sacrifice of lamb, bathing children in spring flowers and blossoms or nettles and herbs.

Peak is a festival which has been organized since 2000 in the village of Vrtovac and includes prayer, national dances, local cuisine contests and other cultural events.

[10] The traditions of the Roma Durđevdan are based on decorating the home with flowers and blooming twigs as a welcoming to spring.

It also includes taking baths added with flowers, washing hands with water from church wells and cracking painted eggs.

[15] In Croatia, the feast day of Jurjevo is celebrated on 23 April by the Roman Catholic Croats mainly in the rural areas of Turopolje and Gornja Stubica.

In Turopolje, Jurjevo involves a Slavic tradition where five most beautiful girls are picked to play as Dodola goddesses dressed in leaves and sing for the village every day till the end of the holiday.

[17] The holiday's widespread appeal, beyond the Orthodox Christian groups, in the Balkans, is evidenced in Meša Selimović's novel Death and the Dervish, where the pious Muslim protagonist views it as a dangerous pagan throwback, but where it is clearly celebrated by all ethnic groups in the unnamed city of its setting (widely considered to be Sarajevo).