Croatia?s Christmas
Traditions

Christmas feast in Croatia

Since I was a kid I adored Christmas time. Maybe because I was over sensitive in the winter and instead of going to the kindergarten I usually stayed at my grandmas house. It was the best time ever. Since the beginning of the Advent she was baking all sorts of cookies, bishops bread (something like Weihnachtsstollen), "paprenjaci" (Pfefferkuchen) and whole house smelt of vanilla and cinnamon. It was the time for stories, singing songs and enjoying the warmth of old stove while snow was falling outside. At St. Lucia`s day I would help Granny to start growing wheat in small pots for this event. If the wheat is strong and green in this period, next year will be fruitful and joyful.

Few days before mom would wake me up and say the most awaited line: "Come on, it is time to pick up our tree". We would spend hours searching for the perfect one and of course during the search we would go to the coffee shop for a cup of hot tea and some pie. I felt so grown up.

Then came Christmas eve, we call it "Badnjak". Preparations for the evening would start early in the morning. First it was time to bring the tree in the house. Then the grownups would start preparing a special dinner - fish and salads - while my task would be to check all the decorations, sort them out and prepare them for decorating. Later in the afternoon daddy would say "It`s time" and I would rush to help him decorate the tree and the front door. As I became older that became my task. We would play some music, our old religious folk songs and start decorating. Our tree is a very traditional one, with candles and "licitari" (decorations made of special pastry colored red in different shapes like the hart, cross, cherries, horses, dolls etc.). All in red and green, it looked perfect. From: Christmas in Croatia By Andrea Janekovic.

CHRISTMAS FAST AND CHRISTMAS DINNER
It is a tradition to fast on this ocassion and to stay awake till midnight when it is time to go to church, as well as to prepare a plentiful dinner. People had to finish all of their household chores and prepare food and desert before the evening bells rang. While on this occasion people used to fast, on this Day there were always meat and cookies even in the poorest families.

We present to you two traditional Croatian recipes:

Fritule
1/2 kg of flour, 2 eggs, 2-3 dg of yeast, a little of rakija (brandy), a little bit of grated lemon peal, a little bit of salt, a spoon of sugar, and water if necessary. Mix the ingredients into a mixture twice as thick as pancake mix and leave to the side until it grows to twice its size. Afterwards, use a spoon to take some of the mixture out and fry in hot oil. Once finished, cover the "fritule" with vanilla sugar.

Zrnata salata, Salad
Take 10 dg of boiled corn, of soya, of wheat, of beans and of peas. Add salt, onion and 1 dl of apple vinegar, 1 dl of olive oil and 0,5 dl of white wine. Mix it and leave to the side for at least 5 hours.

Chrismas and New Year in Croatia
Experience the atmosphere of the Christmas and New Year?s holidays on the Adriatic or in the interior. Choose a hotel in Zadar, Dubrovnik, Opatija, Pula, Plitvice? Count down the last moments of 2009 and welcome in 2010 with us!

Seasons greetings and enjoy your meals!

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Croatia?s Christmas Traditions

Croatia?s Christmas
Traditions