Christmas in Orthodox Serbia | የገና እና ልደት በዓል በኦርቶዶክስ ሰርቢያ

💭 Orthodox Christians celebrated Orthodox Christmas Eve in front of the St Sava Church + Church of the Holy Emperor Constantine and Empress Helena

Christmas is celebrated on January 7 in Serbia, according to the Julian calendar. Orthodox Christmas is also celebrated by Russia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Egypt and Ethiopia.

During the Christmas Eve in Serbia, many of the believers were gathered at their Orthodox temples to celebrate the most joyous Christian holiday that follows – Christmas.

Christmas Eve is the religious holiday celebrated by the Orthodox Christians on January the 6th. The holiday announces Christmas – the day of Jesus birth. The name of the holiday comes after a Christmas tree (“Badnjak” on Serbian) that is cut and burned on that day. Christmas Eve is full of rituals and symbolism, and they are all connected to the celebration of family and hearth cult.

Badnjak firing symbolize light and warmth, it is a central element of the symbolism of the birth of the New Year, and the sparks that scatter in the direction of the sky symbolize the hope that the next year will be the fertile. Depending on the part of Serbia, different Christmas trees were selected. In eastern Serbia it is a cer, and in western parts are the oak or beech.

“Cesnica”, the Christmas bread, is usually flat, round bread, fat and yeast free. It is prepared early on the Christmas day, with few drops of holy water and with a coin inside, which symbolize the happiness and plentifulness in the year that follows. Cesnica is never cut, it have to be divided with hands during the family dinner. The luckiest among present ones get a piece of bread with a coin in it. There is a belief that the next year will be especially rich for him.

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