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Croatia’s Christmas traditions in the past and nowadays!
Christmas and New Year 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
Christmas. If the wheat is strong and green for Christmas, 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
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 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 2006 and welcome in 2007 with us!
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CHRISTMAS FAST AND CHRISTMAS DINNER
It is a tradition to fast on Christmas Eve and to stay awake till
midnight when it is time to go to church, as well as to prepare a
plentiful dinner on Christmas. People had to finish all of their
household chores and prepare food and desert before the evening
bells rang on Christmas Eve. 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.
Seasons greetings and enjoy your meals!
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Chrismas in Croatia
Croatia weekly, Zagreb, December 24, 1998
Chrismas in Croatian history and culture
Croatia weekly, Zagreb, December 31, 1998
Family of dance -
Cultures meld in 'Christmas in Croatia' production
The Columbus Dispatch - Dec. 12, 1998
Three
wise-men and Croats
Vecernji list, December 20, 1998.
A Croatian Chrismas The World & I, December 1998 Fourth Generation American Keeps Tradition Alive
The Zajednicar, November 26, 1997 |
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Croatian Christmas Customs
The Zajednicar
December 18, 1996
 TORONTO,
Ontario, Canada - The Feast of Christmas is celebrated around the
world in so many different ways, depending upon geography, language,
culture and religion. One needs only to mention the Huron Indian
Carol where the Christmas story is adapted to the cold of Canada.
The Christ Child lies not in a manger of hay, but is wrapped in
rabbit skins, the three Kings are 'Chiefs' from afar and the
shepherds are 'Indian Braves'. Some Croatian customs go back to
pagan times; others are of more recent orign and adaptation to
urbanization - as it is in other countries. Sadly, today
is frequently submerged in crass commercialization, as can be seen
by the plastic 'decorator trees' in shopping malls, the vulgar use
of traditional carols as back-up jingles in advertising, the
replacement of St. Nicholas by Santa Claus (a marketing invention of
Macy-Gimbles in New York in the early part of this century) - all of
these enticing us to buy, buy, buy, to demonstrate our love. I
mention these issues as it is important to emphasize that Croatian
Christmas is essentially centered on religion and the family. Many
of the customs were not recorded, albeit preserved in some format,
despite rejection in Croatia's recent past as part of ex-Yugoslavia.
Today, there is a resurgence of interest and respect for "narodne
obicaje" (customs of the people), often amongst second and third
generation Croatians in the land of their forefathers. However, as
there are so many variations of Christmas traditions in Croatia, it
is pertinent, today, to restrict information to the customs of
Eve-Badnjak, as well as a few preliminaries to this most
joyous of celebrations. Keep
on reading....
The creche, that is placed
under the tree is a reminder on the event that is being celebrated -
the birth of Christ. The creches used to be made of plaster, clay or
wood and could only be found in churches. It was a matter of
prestige to have the largest and most beautiful creche. According to
documents, the first life size creche was made by St. Francis in
1223. Since the 19th century, creches can also be found in homes.
New Year
2007
Welcome New Year 2007 in hotel or
apartment in Istria, Dalmatia, Zagreb or Kvarner. Enjoy New Year
celebration on town squares with concerts, fireworks and inevitable
countdown until New Year on Sylvester. |
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