The Macedonians, like many other nationality groups, have
special days and celebrations throughout the years. The origins of these
celebrations were the orthodox Christian holidays. We cannot describe them all
but we will explain those which are most important and include preparation of
special foods. Some of the practices on these days will also be explained as
they are religiously symbolic and many are beautiful as well as interesting.
All members of the same family or community observe
together a day set aside to honor their family protector saint. The Saint
remains unchanged from the father to the son as a tradition of inheritance. This
celebration originated in pre-Christian times, when each family had its
particular family God. Later, when the Macedonians became Christians, they
transferred this observance to the Christian Saints, selecting some Saint with
special meaning to the family or the Saint whose cele- bration day was nearest
the day when the family accepted Christianity. Unlike previous pagan family
gatherings, the christian Slava is characterized by bloodless practices.The
Christian symbols of the Slava are the candle (svekja), wheat (pchenica) and
bread (poskura), with a religious motif on its top obtained by pressing the
poskurnik (shown on the picture here) on the dow prior to its baking. Since
every part or Slava ritual describes the life, passion and resurrection of Jesus
Christ, bread and wheat were naturally the first elements of the bloodless
sacrifices. Wheat (panagija) was established as the most holy and symbolic
secret of nativity life. Everything is born from seed. So, in the nativity, the
mystical commandment of God is fulfilled. The single wheat grain obtained its
name, panagija (All Holy Mother, giver of birth) from the Greek Panagion. Also,
wheat was the main source of existence. Even today, the Slava ritual still
involves a series of beautiful symbols in the blessing of the wheat and the
breaking of the bread.
In Europe and America, there are many different ways of
celebrating the Slava, depending on the particular region, but the basic idea is
the same everywhere: worship of the Patron Saint with a bloodless practice. The
most common way of celebrating is in this manner: the host goes to the church to
attend the holy liturgy. He takes to the church a Patron's Saint Cake (Poskura),
a bowl or cooked wheat sweetened with honey or sugar (pchenica) and the
"Book in Memoriam" (citulja) from which, during the Holy Liturgy, the
priest reads the names of the host's deceased relatives. The Priest also cuts
and blesses the Patron's Saint Cake, according to a prescribed rite. Pchenica is
prepared only in commemoration of patron saints who died. The Holy angels and
Saint Elijah did not pass through death. Therefore, pchenica is not prepared for
them.
Meanwhile, at home, the table is prepared for the
celebration. Returning from church, the host places the cake and wheat on the
table and lights a candle which burns all day. Later, relatives and friends
gather at the home of the celebrant to share in the festivities and partake of
the celebration dinner. The host (always the male head or the household) prays
to God and his Patron Saint and then serves his guests. (The host is never
seated during the dinner.) Every guest receives a small portion of the Patron's
Saint Cake as well as of the wheat. In many regions, it is the custom to invite
the priest to perform the Cutting of the Patron Saint Cake as well as the wheat.
The Christmas celebration begins on January 5th, the
evening, known as kolede. Children go from door to door singing Christmas carols
and receiving fruits, nuts and sweets from the people. Later in the evening, the
elderly gather around a fire outside, and engage in a conversation about the
past year, and about the year to come. The following evening is the Christmas
Eve, when traditional oak log (badnik) is brought to the family hearth. This log
is cut by the male head of the household and the older son, while the table is
being set for the Christmas Eve Fast supper (Posna Veccera). The log is cut into
three pieces, representing the Holy Trinity, and each piece is brought into the
house by the father. A son, or some other member of the Family receives each
piece and places it on the fire. As this is done, the son and the father
exchange a greeting: "Good evening and happy Christmas Eve" (Dobra
Veccer i Vesel badnik). While the log is being placed on the fire, the mother
and the grandmother gather the children together and, from the outside, enter
into the room where the supper is to be served. Each person carries a bundle of
straw and the mother leads the children in spreading around the room the straw
on the floor. The house is decorated with oak branches with their leaves on,
representing the wish of the family for long and healthy life, "with health
strong as oak, and with a life log as that of the oak."
Then the fasting supper is served on the same table that
the Christmas candle is burning. The fasting supper is composed of strict
vegetarian recipes, such as cooked vegetables, nuts, bread (pokacha) and dried
fruits. In the bread, a coin is being put while before it was baked. The
traditional belief is that whoever gets the coin in his/her piece, will have a
particularly successful year to look forward to. The Christmas candle is then
lit, and everyone sings a Christmas hymn. Very early Christmas day, people
attend the first morning church service. After the family returns from church,
the first guest arrives. This is usually a man who is a dear friend of the
family, and he is especially honored during the celebration. When he first
arrives he goes to see the yule log fire. He is then met by the host, who kisses
him and gives him this special greeting: "CHRIST IS BORN" (Hristos se
rodi). The guest replies: "INDEED, HE IS BORN" (Navistina Se Rodi).
These greetings are exchanged throughout the three days or Christmas. After the
exchange or the greetings, the guest shakes the burning oak log and when the
sparks fly up, he recites his best wishes for the family. He usually does this
in rhyme, mentioning the Special desires of the family.
The Christmas dinner usually consists of roast suckling
pig and other festive dishes; the very festive meal begins and the celebration
continues for three days.
This is in memory of the day Jesus was baptized. In some
places, there is a procession from the church to the nearest body of water, such
as a river or a lake. The water is blessed by the priest and a cross is thrown
into the water. People then rush into the water and get the cross. He whoever
gets the cross is believed to have a very exiting year coming up. Since Epiphany
always takes place in winter, getting of the cross from the water is usually
done by young people. Interestingly enough, as cold as it may be outside, there
has not been a case of a person that got into the blessed water of getting ill.
Some of the blessed water is taken home in small containers as a symbol of
purity and protection from illness, and is kept near the family Icon.
The most interesting Epiphany Festivities in Macedonia are in Skopje in the
Stone Bridge over the river Vardar and in Ohrid on the Lake.
These days commemorate the triumphal entry of Christ into
Jerusalem, after performing the miracle or the resurrection of Lazarus. In
memory of this, on Saturday afternoon there is a procession of children carrying
banners, crosses and little bells. A special hymn is sung. Green branches of a
willow, representing the palm branches are placed on table in the church and
remain there until the next day, Palm Sunday. The priest blesses the branches
and distributes them to the congregation, along with the blessed bread (nafora),
on Palm Sunday. The willow is taken home and placed behind the family Icon.
This is the most important holidays celebrated. There is
a great preparation for this day, and activities the week before follow a
schedule made by the housewife. On Thursday before Easter eggs are dyed. The
eggs are colored red, symbolizing the coming happiness in the resurrection. In
some homes, beautiful designs are scraped on the service of a dyed egg with a
sharp instrument. This unusual technique is the traditional Slavic Orthodox
Christian style of decorating eggs. The first egg to be dyed is put aside and
called "Protector of the House" (Chuvarsko Jajce). It is placed beside
the family Icon and saved until next Easter, where the mother of the house
burries it in the garden while nobody sees her.
Some baking is done on Thursday, so that nothing but only
essential duties are performed on GOOD FRIDAY. On Good Friday, the family
observes a strict vegetarian fast and attends church, where they kiss the a
grave of Christ. (Plashtenica). Even fish and oils are omitted from the menu on
Good Friday and only nuts, fruits and vegetables are eaten.
On Saturday, the house and the food for the coming day
are prepared. There are traditional dishes for the Easter meal. A typical menu
includes lamb, lamb soup, sarma (stuffed cabbage), salad and delicious cakes.
Members of the family, and each guest who comes to the house, are offered eggs
on Easter morning, with the greeting "Christ is risen" (Hristos
Voskrese) and the response is always "Indeed he is risen" (Voistinu
Voskrese). Eggs are taped, end to end, and if your egg is broken by another
person's, you must give it to him/her.
Holy Trinity Day is celebrated the l5th day after Easter,
in memory or the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost, which appeared to the disciples and
enabled them to teach the gospel to all people of different languages. The day
of this appearance was the first day the Christian congregation was organized,
and it was also the day the first harvest or the year was celebrated. In in
memory or this, the custom or celebrating the 'first harvest" is preserved
in the Orthodox church today. After the Holy Services thanksgiving prayers are
given by the priest and the church is strewn with field grass. During the
prayers the people kneel and each one shapes the field grass into three wreaths,
representing the holy trinity. These wreaths are then taken home and placed
beside the family Icon.
Saint
Nikola. One of the most popular and most beloved saints in the Orthodox Calendar
is St. Nicholas, who was born toward the end of the third century. He is patron
of the mariners, merchants, travelers, as well as of many countries. Among the
Macedonian people he is widely honored as a family patron.
Macedonians who celebrate St. Nicholas as their
Slava,being mindful that the holiday occurs in the midst of the Christmas-Advent
Fast, observe the holiday in the traditional religious manner and, prepare only
fast meals on this day. This is as it should be, because the Slava is primarily
religious observance, honoring the patron saint of the home, saint is a best
honored if the celebrants properly observe teachings and ordinances of the Holy
Church as the saint himself did.
His fame has come down through the centuries and legends
have grown around his life. He was known for his kindness and many acts or
charity, which he preferred to do anonymously. He loved children and the
children revered him-thus the connection with children to this day.
Throughout his life he retained the bright and guileless
manners of his early years, and showed himself the special protector of the
innocent and the wronged. He died in 342.
The Imenden is the day the person who bears a name of a
Saint celebrates his/her patron Saint, who protects him/her, and whose name
he/she bears. For example, the imenden for marija and marijan is St. Mary's day
in August, the Imenden for a Dimitar, Dimitri, Mite, Mitrush, Dime, Mitko is
Mitrovden, on October 8th, the Imenden for Cvetan.Cvetanka is on Cvetnici etc.
The Celebration while it is significantly more modest than all the other ones,
consist of inviting the closest friends and relatives for a gathering.
Before all important church days, on which prayers
(parastos) are said for the deceased, a candle is burned and graves are visited
and decorated with flowers. Sometimes a family gathering takes place on the
grave of a deceased family member, and a modestly small lunch is eaten,
remembering the beautiful times spent with the deceased family member. It is
believed that the deceased family member joins them in the lunch, by being alive
through their conversations again.
The four most important fasting periods are: before
Christmas and Easter, and St. Peter and St. Mary Holy Days, and Wednesdays for
women and fridays for men (with the exception of the "regular weeks").
The Regular Weeks are the period from January 7th to
17th, from February 20 to 26th, from March 6th to 12th, May 1st through 7th, and
June 19 to 26th. The reason why these weeks no fasting is observed is because
they are "weeks of happiness for Christianity."
Fasting before taking Holy Communion is compulsory and is
usually four days in duration for the children and one to six weeks for adults.
The morning of the communion nothing, not even water, is to be taken. The
specially chosen foods for fasting are for the purpose of cleansing the body and
the soul. Fasting included the omission from the diet of all those things which
are derived from animals and fowl. On fasting days dishes are prepared with oil
or vegetable oil, instead of butter or lard.
On the wedding day the bride is taken from her home by
the "bride's guard", accompanied by a band or orchestra. They drink a
toast to the bride and groom and the couple are allowed to see each other
briefly, as the toast is drunk. They all leave for the church and the band plays
a traditional song on the way. In the church the wedding party marches to the
altar, accompanied by choir music, and there they go through a brief betrothal
ceremony in which the bride and groom are given their rings. The wedding party
then marshes to the center of the church, where there is a table bearing the
Bible, a cross, a cup or wine and two crowns. The priest gives the instructive
sermon, asking the participants specific questions pertaining to their free
wills. Then, the priest ties the right hands or the participants together,
symbolizing the one-ness or the marriage. Next, the crowns are placed on their
heads, representing the coronation of glory with which the husband and wife hope
to be blessed with in their future lives. After this, the formula of the wedding
is pronounced as the priest says, three times, "Oh Lord, our God, crown
them with glory and honor." There is then a reading or the gospel and the
bride and groom are given the cup of blessed wine symbolizing the mutual life in
which they will accept the good with the bad, the bitter with the sweet,
together in blessed love and understanding. Finally, the wedding party, preceded
by the priest, walks three times around the table, signifying the eternal path
of marriage. The newlyweds are congratulated by friends and, on the way out or
the church, the best man (kum) throws cions in the couple's path, to wish them
good luck and prosperity. Then, the wedding party goes to the bride's home, or
some other suitable place to celebrate. There the guests dance the oro, toast
the bride and groom, and (instead of presents) give money to the honored couple.
This is done to give the couple good start (financially) on their new life.
Later on the bride is taken to the home or the groom to meet the small children,
whom she kisses three times. This symbolizes the bride's desire for children of
her own. The bride's mother-in-law' gives her wine and bread to symbolize the
wish for harmony and happiness between them.
A large candle and christening clothes are provided by
the godfather (kum). The godfather presents a silver or gold coin to the child,
as its first possession. The priest performs the christening at the family's
home or in the church. This is an important day and there is much celebrating.
The godfather becomes the spiritual member or the family and this relationship
is perpetuated throughout succeeding generations.
Saint
Nikola. One of the most popular and most beloved saints in the Orthodox Calendar
is St. Nicholas, who was born toward the end of the third century. He is patron
of the mariners, merchants, travelers, as well as of many countries. Among the
Macedonian people he is widely honored as a family patron.
