Christmas In Croatia

Introduction

Croatia is an intresting country and in this website I will be showing you about how it celebrates christmas.This will show their traditions,customs,foods and more.Hope you will learn something about how Croatia celebrates Christmas.

Preperations and Decorations

People in Croatia like to make or use different things as decorations but first is the wreath.In Croatia over 85% of the population are catholics which means that Advent is an important time for them and a traditional advent wreath which is made out of straw or evergreen twigs.The wreath has 4 candles which symbolizes different parts of history and life like the wreath symbolizes endlessness:

First Candle(purple):creation-hope
Second Candle(purple):embodiment-peace
Third Candle(pink):redemption-joy
Fourth Candle(purple):ending-love

There is also sometimes a fifth candle added to the center and lit on Christmas Day.Next is the christmas tree.The christmas tree's are very popular in Croatia and are normally decorated on Christmas Eve but some people put them up and decorate then on St Nicholas Day.It is traditionally decorated with ornaments in the shape of fruits.Before they used to be real fruits or preserved candied fruits that were sometimes covered in gold!Now it is a yule log which is called a badnjak(also the word for Christmas Eve).The log was traditionally brought into the house and lit on Christmas Eve but not many people have fireplaces these days.Also people often have a paper advent calender.

Customs and Celebrations

There are a bunch of customs and celebrations so here they are:

4th December-St Barbara Day
5th December-St Nicholas Eve
On the 5th December children clean their shoes/boots and leve them by the window/St Nicholas would then leave the good kids chocolates and small gifts in their shoes/boots and the naughty children get a golden twig to remind them to behave but it is a monster with horns called Krampus who sometimes travels with St Nicholas.
6th December-St Nicholas Dat
13th December-St Lucia/Lucy Day
On the 13th December Croatians often sow wheat onto small plates.The grassy sprouts that grow which are called Christams wheat are put underneath the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve.
Another thing is that many people like to go to Midnight Mass and also on Boxing day friends and extended family visit each other.

Food

On Christmas Eve,most people eat dried-cod which is called a bakalar or some other kind of fish since this day is considered as a meat fast(so you cant eat meat).On Christmas Daythe main meal is often turkey,goose or duck and a popular side dish is sarma which is a cabbage roll filled with minced pork meat.There are also always lots of small cookies and cakes to eat with donuts being very popular!There is also krafne which are filled with jam,jelly,marmalade or chocolate.Also fritule which are flavoured with lemon and rum.

Extra Facts

An old tradition is that young men give their girlfriends a decorated apple on Christmas Day
Preperations start on the 25th November which is also St Catherines Day
In rular parts of the country

Conclusion

So know you know how Croatians celebrate Christmas and all the unique things that Croatia do that are different from other countries.Hope you have learned something and hope this has helped aswell.

By Sara Chishti
With the help of Zarrar and Sadia Chishti