Serb traditions

The Serbian Orthodox Church uses the traditional Julian Calendar, as per which Christmas Day (December 25) falls currently on January 7 of the Gregorian Calendar, thus the Serbs celebrate Christmas on January 7, shared with the Orthodox churches of Jerusalem, Russia, Georgia, Ukraine and the Greek Old Calendarists.

Through the centuries, Serbian historical events such as the defeat at the Battle of Kosovo became sources for spiritual strength and patriotism.

It was not a coincidence that Gavrilo Princip assassinates the Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Vidovdan, triggering the First World War.

[1] Vidovdan has long been considered a date of special importance to ethnic Serbs and the Balkans, the following events each took place on Vidovdan, but are expressed here in the Gregorian Calendar: The Serbs celebrate Christmas (Serbian: Божић, romanized: Božić, pronounced [ˈboʒitɕ]) – diminutive form of the word bog, meaning 'god', it refers to Jesus seeing as he is the son of god) for three consecutive days, beginning with Christmas Day.

"[note 1] This holiday surpasses all the other celebrated by Serbs, with respect to the diversity of applied folk customs and rituals.

In the morning of Christmas Eve a Serbian Badnjak Oak (sacred tree) is felled, and a log cut from it is in the evening ceremoniously put on the domestic fire.

The main course is roast pork which they cook whole by rotating it impaled on a wooden spit close to an open fire.

The feast is also to commemorate Tsar Lazar, a national symbol and the King of Serbia who fought and died at the historical Battle of Kosovo in 1389 against the invading Ottoman Turkey.

A zapis (Serbian Cyrillic: запис, pronounced [ˈzaːpis], literally "inscription") is a tree in Serbia that is sacred for the village within whose bounds it is situated.