Ortodox Christmas Eve

Today it is Ortodox Chrismas Eve for people who use old calendar, so I will tell you a few cuatoms that we have here for today. First thing is getting 'badnjak'in the morning from the woods. This is custom for people who live in the villages or subaras, those who live in the city can buy it in the steeets in the previous days. Badnjak is the biggest symbol of Christmas Eve day, and here it's even called 'Badnji dan' meaning 'day of badnjak'. I will add photo to show you how it looks. People usually put it on the house, but also small branches can be taked inside, or even put on cars.

Today we also fast, which means no animal or animal product should be eaten, expect for fish. Some part of todays feast is shown on the photo.

The biggest event in the evening is seting badnjak on fire, and i will add couple of photos of how its done in the church after liturgy.

Also, there are fireworks after it, which is mostly for younger childern and looks nice, but it's way too loud and I am against it inngeneral.

These are just some basic things about celebrating Christmas Eve here, there are many more customs.

Thank you for reading my post ^^