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Celebrating Christmas in Croatia, *as told to me by my teacher at the Filosofski Fakultet
 Merry Christmas!
Sveti Nikola - Saint Nicholas Day
*December 6th is the Day of Saint Nicholas. It is a big holiday for Croatian children. Some days before the 6th, children write a letter to Saint Nicholas telling him what they want for a present. If they are good, Saint Nicholas fulfills their wishes. The night before Saint Nicholas Day, children clean their shoes and put them by the window. While the children sleep, Saint Nicholas comes and puts sweets and toys in the shoes. When they awake, the children find gifts in their shoes and are very happy and cheerful. Lydia and Ellie Beth wanted to celebrate this custom – I wonder why? We had a bit of misinformation and they put their shoes by the door instead of the window. Saint Nicholas still found them and filled them with some chocolate and a toy. They also got a nicely decorated switch since we heard that all the children get at least one switch in their shoe to remind them that they can always do better.
Sveti Lucija – Saint Lucia’s Day
December 13th is the Day of Saint Lucia. Wheat seeds are planted in a shallow dish of water and left to germinate. On Christmas Eve, the wheat is tied with a red, white and blue ribbon, the Croatian trobojnica. Sometimes a candle is put in the center of the wheat since Saint Lucia is the patron saint of eyes and eyesight. If the wheat has grown well and is tall and green, it is believed that the next year will be fruitful and good. Many people now just buy a dish of wheat planted in soil from the store or market since the wheat in water often smells bad.
Badnjak - Christmas Eve
 Walking to church
*Christmas Eve is the 24th of December. It is a fast, usually from meat and sweets. The family decorates the Christmas tree together. Some families put presents under the tree on badnjak and open them after the Christmas Eve mass, others wait for Christmas morning. Croatian families eat dried cod fish and doughnuts late in the evening and then some go to midnight mass – a very holy and solemn mass. People pray and sing Christmas songs. Afterwards they congratulate one another and wish each other a happy Christmas.
It started snowing on Christmas Eve Day and it was beautiful! We walked to our church in the falling snow. The tree branches glistened with ice in the streetlights and the ice under the fresh snow, crunched under our feet. It was incredibly peaceful and beautiful. It reminded me of Norman Rockwell paintings – except for the graffiti and Croatian signs. We did not understand much of the sermon but we joined in singing of Croatian Christmas songs, and recognized most of them. Lydia and Ellie Beth were in the children’s Christmas story play. They were part of the heavenly host and got to say, “Slava Bogu na visini a na zemlji ljudima koji ljubi” translated “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to all the people whom he loves.” After the service, we hung out and ate Christmas cookies, drank juice and visited. We even managed to get a late night conversation in with family from the States before we fell into bed.
Bozić – Christmas
*Christmas is a family time. On Christmas morning, some people go to a very early morning mass. They have a big family lunch. For lunch they eat turkey, mlince, French salad and cookies. For Christmas it is typical for the women to make many batches of small cookies starting in November. Christmas is now a nonworking holiday although under communism, it was just a regular working day.
Christmas morning we celebrated with our usual traditions but in the afternoon we drove over to our landlords, Dubravka and Stjepan, for a traditional Croatian Christmas dinner. The table was full! Dubravka had baked beef, turkey, and mlince, to go along with French salad, green salad and bread. After we finished the meal, Stjepan brought out a big cream cake and we sang “Sretan Rođendan (Happy Birthday)” to Dubravka’s mama – she was turning 85 the next day. After we ate a piece of cake, Dubravka brought out the cookies and said we could leave when everything was finished. We ate and talked in broken Croatian and English for five hours. It was a delightful afternoon.
 Christmas with Stjepan and Dubravka  Happy Birthday, Marija!  Ellie Beth tries chocolate coffee
Sveti Stjepan – Saint Stephen’s
*Saint Stephen’s is also a holiday and nonworking day. Families spend time together and visit friends and relatives, congratulating them on Christmas and giving gifts.
Day of Epiphany
January 6th is the day of Epiphany. Croatian families take down their Christmas trees and decorations. Priests visit their parishioners to bless their homes for the coming year. Christmas officially ends.
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