My daughter-in-law Michelle shares her family's Croatian Christmas traditions, many of which continue to this day. It's a lovely personal account and gives insight into the strength and unity in that community.
"On November 25th, my grandma would remind us that we're in the Christmas season...it's the feast of Sveta Kata (St. Catharine) and like Lent, no weddings, baptisms, parties were allowed until Christmas Eve!
In early December, my grandma would get a plate & plant Bozicna psenica (Christmas Wheat) & it would be on our table until Christmas. You would want the wheat to grow very tall...the taller the more luck you would have the next year.
Before going to bed on December 5th, we would leave a boot by the front door so that Sveti Nikola (St. Nicholas) would bring us chocolates if we were good...a stick if we were bad (we would get both lol). In some regions of Croatia, they have Sveti Nikola & Krampus (kind of like the devil but in a funny way if that makes sense).St. Nick brought the goodies & Krampus would bring the sticks.
December 13th is Sveta Lucija (feast of St. Lucy). From that day on, we would keep track of the weather & each day would represent a month for the next year...our version of the Farmer's Almanac. For example, if that day was cold & snowy, January would be cold & snowy. If the 14th was mild, then February would be mild, etc.
Christmas Eve (Badnjak) is when you would get a tree & decorate & have a party! We always decorated our tree during the first week of Advent, but when my parents were kids, they did it on Christmas Eve. Going to Midnight Mass was a tradition & then you would drop by your family's place for a drink & a quick bite. One particular region of Croatia (think of it as our Newfoundland lol) has a tradition of having a bonfire on Christmas Eve & staying up until dawn to welcome Christmas...many of them still do it...right here in Hamilton!
Christmas Day was spent with family...lots and lots of food!
Stjepanje (Feast of St. Stephen/Boxing Day)...you went to Mass & celebrated with family even if you didn't have a Stephen in the family!
Ivanje (Feast of St. John)...celebrated by our family because it was both my grandpa & cousin Johnny's feast day! Yes, we had 3 days in a row of family & food.
Sveta Tri Kralja (Epiphany). We celebrated on January 6th...we went to Mass & took down our tree...no big party, but it marked the end of Christmas!
I'm sure there are other traditions that different regions had but those are the ones that we had in our family!"
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