{"id":3579,"date":"2021-03-18T12:19:14","date_gmt":"2021-03-18T12:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/babamim.com\/?page_id=3579"},"modified":"2021-03-18T23:32:44","modified_gmt":"2021-03-18T23:32:44","slug":"page-3","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/babamim.com\/index.php\/page-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Page 3"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Christmas Customs........<\/h1>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Mir Bozji, Hristos se Rodi!\u00a0 Vaistinu se rodi!<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>

\u041c\u0418\u0420 \u0411\u041e\u0416\u0418\u0408\u0418, \u0425\u0420\u0418\u0421\u0422\u041e\u0421 \u0421\u0415 \u0420\u041e\u0414\u0418!<\/span><\/em><\/span>
<\/span><\/strong><\/div>

\u00a0Peace of God, Christ is born!\u00a0 Indeed he is born!<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>

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American Serb kids always considered themselves so lucky, because they had\u00a0“TWO”<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0Christmases (and if you were lucky enough to have\u00a0Sveti Nikola<\/span>\u00a0as your\u00a0Slava<\/span>, it was like you had\u00a0THREE!<\/strong>)<\/span><\/p>

How’s that? Well, in our house, we celebrated what we called\u00a0“American”\u00a0Christmas on Dec. 25<\/span><\/span><\/span>with most of the other people of the world.\u00a0 To us, it was Santa Claus, a decorated Christmas tree and presents that we opened in earnest.\u00a0 Only six days before on\u00a0Dec. 19<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0however, we also got a present of sorts: a long heavy-duty cotton-nylon stocking filled with apples, oranges and nuts and a silver dollar at the bottom that came from St. Nicholas.<\/p>

But our\u00a0“REAL”<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Christmas, we knew, the celebration of the\u00a0Birth of Jesus, was on January 7<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0We never went to school that day, nor on our Slava! We went to church, and celebrated the great day with our larger Eastern Orthodox Christian family!<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Milana Karlo was excused for 1 day, being absent Dec. 19, 1956, the “Remarks” section showing she was celebrating a\u00a0Serbian holiday<\/span>!<\/span>\u00a0 Her reporting teacher, Mr. Fred W. Schmidt, signed her in on Dec. 20th.\u00a0 Other instructors had to sign it too!\u00a0 The educators at South High School in Pittsburgh knew about Serbian customs, as “special teachers” were invited to celebrate with the family!<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Old Postcard from Facebook 11\/5\/11<\/div>
HRISTOS SE RODI!<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>
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Is Serbian Christmas still celebrated?<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Jocey braiding the \u0106esnica (Kolach) for Christmas under the watchful eye of her Baba Mim.<\/p>

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Yes, American Serbs are STILL celebrating their unique heritage guarded so jealously and handed down from generation to generation.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Mir Bozji, Hristos se Rodi!<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>

Peace on Earth, Christ is Born, glorify Him!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

\u00a0We celebrate the Nativity of our Lord in two different ways:\u00a0<\/p>

(1) A secular festival like that mentioned above with the happy sounds, smells and sights of Christmas, bringing a spirit\u00a0 of human warmth and friendliness to our hearts.\u00a0\u00a0This brightens up life and brings a measure of joy to the earth.\u00a0\u00a0Nothing illustrates this better than the communal fellowship of the Serbian Yule Log ceremony seen below.\u00a0<\/p>

(2) And a religious observance. The whole Advent Season is a reason for discipline and fasting.\u00a0 Some people “fast” for 6 weeks, other Serbian Orthodox Christians for a week before taking Confession and Communion.\u00a0 This fast asks that no meat nor dairy products are consumed during the fasting period.\u00a0 This is a time that draws us nearer to God, a time for deepening our Faith, and for increasing the vitality of our prayers as we await the celebration of the birth of the Christ Child, the true reason for the season.<\/p>

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Badnji Dan (January 6th) in Aliquippa, PA.<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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On the way to the St. Elijah Picnic grounds in Aliquippa, PA to retrieve the Yule Log. There is usually a large caravan of cars waving red, blue, white Serbian ribbons or flags, with the horns beeping to let people in the community know that the Serbs are getting ready to celebrate their Christmas.<\/p>

The young oak tree, the\u00a0“Badnjak”<\/span>\u00a0or\u00a0Yule Log<\/span>\u00a0is loaded into the truck after the St Elijah Choir sang\u00a0“Rozdestvo”<\/span>\u00a0and the V.Rev. Fr. Stepanov blessed the tree especially planted for just his occasion.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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