Manners and customs.

Troyanovitch,-Sima

Society-Serbs-Europe

General

No-date

In 'Servia by the Servians', edited by Alfred Stead. pp. 169-198. 
London: William Heinemann.

185

1909

the most popular are St. Nicholas, Michel the Archangel, St. John, 
etc. A couple of days before the Slava a priest comes to bless a vessel 
of water, which has been prepared for the purpose. After he has done 
so, he asperses with a bunch of Basilienkraut the Ikon of the saint 
who is the Slava's patron, and also the inmates of the house. On the 
eve of the feast the lamp hanging before the Ikon is lit, and must 
burn incessantly during the whole of the next day. A dish of boiled 
wheat (Koljivo) and a particular kind of cake (Slavski kolac) are 
prepared for the Slava. On that day they are incensed and blessed 
by the priest, who then pours wine over them, and, assisted by the 
master of the house or his son, cuts the cake. For the Feast of St. 
Elias and Michel the Archangel, Koljivo is not prepared, since it 
is an offering for the dead, and these saints are believed to be still 
living. A wax candle which has been lit by the priest burns till night, 
when it is extinguished by pouring wine over it; it must never be 
blown out. Of the visitors who come to the Slava, all the men embrace 
the master, and the women the mistress of the house. On entering, 
instead of the usual greeting, they say, 'Happy Slava!' The host must 
be on his feet all day, welcoming and entertaining his guests. A maiden 
serves them with Koljivo, of which everyone is obliged to take a spoonful, 
and then -- in the towns -- with jam, cakes, and whisky or wine, according 
as it is the forenoon or afternoon. Since the saint whose feast is 
celebrated is the patron of the house, his intercession with God is 
always solicited at prayers. After a man's death it is the same Slava 
which is kept by his sons, and they transmit it to their male offspring, 
and so on. In some regions families who keep the same Slava consider 
that therefore they are related, and do not intermarry. This may be 
justified, for often the same Slava is celebrated by a whole tribe, 
its members being all descended from the same stock. In South-Eastern 
Servian lands a priest must come into the house on the Slava day to 
conduct a memorial service for the dead, and he must light the candle 
which has been stuck into the Kolac. The Kolac (which is offered as 
a sacrifice for the departed), the commemoration of the dead, etc., 
all prove the reverence of the Servians for their deceased ancestors. 
Having ascertained that the Slava is held in token of respect toward 
the deceased -- especially the male ancestors, who kept the same feast 
-- we may also assert that the sacrifice (Koljivo) and the lighted 
wax candle and lamp likewise refer to the ancestors. A woman is almost 
a stranger in a family, for she comes from her father's Slava to that 
of her husband's ; hence she is not entitled to cut the cake or light 
or extinguish the wax candle, but must be content to take part in 
the ordinary

Regulation-Of-Marriage

562; 574; 582; 602; 668; 765; 775; 793; 796

DOC:2126