Welcome to hypercone.com on July 10 2009.
This is an internet experiment running to monitor browsing habbits of individuals through wikipedia contents.

Badnjak

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Badnjak sales at Kalenić Market, Belgrade

The badnjak (Cyrillic: бадњак, Serbian pronunciation: [ˈbadɲaːk]), also called veseljak (весељак, [ʋeˈseʎaːk]), is a central feature in the traditional Serbian Christmas celebration. It is the log that a family solemnly brings into the house and places on the fire in the evening of Christmas Eve. The tree used for the badnjak, preferably a young and strait oak, is ceremoniously felled and stripped of its branches in the early morning of Christmas Eve. The burning of the badnjak is accompanied by prayers to God so that the coming year may bring much happiness, love, luck, riches, and food. The badnjak would burn on through Christmas Day. The first person to visit the family on that day should strike the burning badnjak with a poker or a branch to make sparks fly from it, at the same time uttering a wish that the happiness, prosperity, health, and joy of the family be as abundant as the sparks.

The ideal environment to fully carry out these customs is the traditional multi-generation country household. Since most Serbs today live in towns and cities, the log is symbolically represented by several leaved oak twigs that can be bought at marketplaces or received in churches. The origin of the badnjak is explained by events surrounding the Nativity of Jesus Christ. Scholars, however, regard the badnjak customs as practices inherited from the old Slavic religion. Some other Slavic peoples have similar traditions, but the custom that a family solemnly brings a log into the house and lights it on the hearth on Christmas Eve has been recorded in various parts of Europe.

The Serbian badnjak ceremony, originally performed only within the family, has gained a public dimension, too. The first instance of this was a custom that had developed prior to World War I in the Kingdom of Serbia: the badnjak was laid on the fire by soldiers at military barracks. In the succeeding Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the military badnjak ceremony on Christmas Eve was further elaborated and standardized through army service regulations. This tradition was ended by the outbreak of World War II. Since the early 1990s, the Serbian Orthodox Church has, together with local communities, organized public celebrations on Christmas Eve, in which the badnjak has a central role. Parishioners festively cut the tree to be used as the badnjak and bring it to their church, where it is consecrated by a priest and placed ceremoniously on the fire built in the church yard.

Contents

[edit] Familial celebration

[edit] Felling and preparing

The Serbian Orthodox Church uses the Julian calendar, as per which Christmas Eve (December 24) coincides with January 6 of the following year on the Gregorian calendar. On this festive day the head of household goes into a forest preferably before the sunrise, or at least before noon, to select and fell the tree whose log will be used as the badnjak for his household. He is usually accompanied by several male members of the family. When they set off from home to get the badnjak, they announce it by shooting their guns or small celebratory mortars called prangija. The Turkey oak is the preferred oak species in most regions, but other oaks are also acceptable.[1][2] In some areas of Montenegrin Littoral where oaks do not grow, olives, bay laurels, elms, or strawberry trees can be used. Young, strait, and undamaged specimens should be chosen for this purpose.[3]

Generally, one badnjak is prepared per household,[2][4] but regionally that number may be greater than one, in which case a separate tree is felled for each log.[1][3] In the northern Dalmatian region of Bukovica, three logs are prepared: two of approximately equal diameters and another thinner than the other two.[5] In Montenegro this number varies regionally: two, three, an arbitrary number greater than two, or the number of male members of household plus one.[1][3] The latter means that each of the males gets a badnjak associated with him, whereby the thickest one is associated with the head of household. The remaining badnjak is linked to the prosperity of the family, and it is the thinnest.

In the region of Grbalj, south-west from Kotor, the number of the logs is identical to the count of all household members. In this instance a terebinth is cut down for the badnjak associated with the woman of the house; it is called badnjačica, meaning she-badnjak.[3] This term is also used in other regions, where only a pair of oak logs is cut, badnjačica referring to the smaller one of the two. There are, however, places where they do not prepare the logs from felled trees, but pick dry oak branches from the ground, and use them as the badnjak.[2]

When the head of household finds a tree that he regards as suitable for the badnjak, he stands in front of it facing east. He throws grain at it, greets it, "Good morning and happy Christmas Eve to you," makes the Sign of the Cross, says a prayer, and kisses the tree.[1][3][4] He then cuts it slantwise on its eastern side, using his axe; some men put gloves on before they start to cut the tree. It should fall to the east, without being stopped in its fall by surrounding trees. The first splinter is picked up and later taken home to be placed where prosperity is especially desired, as in the hen roost, beside the beehives, or between milk basins in the dairy room in the hope that the coming year's kaymak will be thick. In some regions, if the tree is not cut down after the third blow of the axe, it must not be cut further, but pulled and twisted until it breaks off. This method is preferred over the cutting down, because the resulting badnjak has a so-called beard, the place on the trunk at which it broke off.[2]

The top of the felled tree is cut off; a badnjak should be of such a length that allows it to be carried on a shoulder, up to about 2.5 meters (8.2 ft) long.[2][3] Its branches may be lopped off in the woods right after the felling, or later in the house yard, depending on the regional custom. Brought home, each badnjak is leaned vertically against the house beside the entrance door.[2][4] In Montenegrin Littoral, each should be adorned with leaved bay laurel, olive, juniper, and rosemary twigs, which are tied to the trunk's top, middle, and base with ivy or red silken or woolen threads.[1][3]

[edit] Bringing in and burning

In the evening, a man of the family brings their badnjak into the house. If there is more than one badnjak, the thickest of them is regarded as the main, and it is brought in before the others by the head of household. Stepping across the threshold with his right foot first, the man greets the gathered family, "Good evening and happy Christmas Eve to you." The woman of the house greets him back, "May God give you well-being, and may you have good luck." She throws grain from a sieve at both the man and the badnjak he carries.[2][3] In Montenegro, two women stand on either side of the house door with lit candles during this ceremony.[1][3] In the west Serbian region of Rađevina, centered in the town Krupanj, one badnjak is prepared for one household, but it is cut into three logs prior to the start of the ceremony. The log that corresponds to the part of the trunk that has grown nearest to the ground, called dozemak, is the most important of the three; it is brought in first.[4]

The man, having entered, approaches the house's fireplace called ognjište. The hearth of an ognjište is without a vertical surround, so it is similar to a campfire. He lays down the badnjak, putting its thicker side on the fire. He does it in such a way that a short length of the log at its thicker end, which has been nearest to the tree's roots, is left outside the fire. He then moves it a little forward; this move is intended to summon prosperity for the household.[1][2] The other logs, if any, are brought in by males and laid on the fire parallel or perpendicular to the first badnjak.[3] In a family with the tradition of burning the badnjak and badnjačica, they are laid down on the ognjište one across the other; the males then kiss the former, and the females the latter.[2] In Bukovica, the two thicker logs are placed side by side each other, and the thinner one, called trinity, is placed parallelly onto the two logs.[5]

The head of the household takes a jug of wine and pours some on the badnjak; in some regions, he may strew wheat grains over the logs.[1][2][3] He then proposes a toast, "Grant, O God, that there be health and joy in this home, that our grain and grapevines yield well, that children be born healthy to us, that our property increase in the field, pen, and barn!"[2] or, "Hail, badnjak! I give you wheat and wine, and you give me every good thing and peace!" or similar.[3] The head drinks a draught of wine from the jug, after which the members of household pass it one to another and drink.[3][6] At the side of ognjište where the thicker end of the main badnjak is situated, the family puts a plowshare and a sieve containing grain, honey, cakes, wine, salt, prunes, walnuts, and apples. In some places that end of the log is coated with honey, and it is a custom that children lick it. The badnjak should not to be jumped over or trodden upon.[2]

The most festive moment is when the main badnjak burns through, whereby the length at its thicker end which has been left outside the fire gets separated from the rest of the log. Wine is poured over it again, and toasts are proposed. Men would go out and shoot their guns with joy when this happened in their home.[3][6] There is a custom that the head of household gives a reward to the one who was the first to notice this event. Following this, some families let the fire go out; in others men keep watch in shifts by the ognjište during the night to keep the badnjak burning. The thicker end of the log is, however, left at the side of ognjište where it has fallen after the burning through, and is not put on the fire.[2][3]

The badnjak will burn on through Christmas Day too, whether rekindled or kept burning from the Eve. The first visit the family receives that day is considered very important; the visitor is called polažajnik or polaznik. He will approach the ognjište and repeatedly strike the burning badnjak with a poker or a branch to make sparks fly from it, at the same time uttering a wish for the happiness and prosperity of the household:[1][2]

Колико варница, толико среће у овој кући.
Колико варница, толико у домаћинском џепу новаца.
Колико варница, толико у тору оваца.
Колико варница, толико прасади и јагањаца.
Колико варница, толико гусака и пилади,
а највише здравља и весеља.
How many sparks, that much happiness in this house.
How many sparks, that much money in the household head's pocket.
How many sparks, that many sheep in the pen.
How many sparks, that many pigs and lambs.
How many sparks, that many geese and chickens,
and most of all, health and joy.

After that the polaznik will throw a coin into the fire. The custom to use a domestic animal as a polaznik was kept in some regions until the first half of the 20th century.[2] In Rađevina the head of household would lead a sheep into the house, place it between himself and the ognjište, and utter the wishes while striking the badnjak with a branch cut from it. He would then add, "We passed one fire, we are not afraid of another." His wife would approach him, they would kiss over the sheep, and say, "May the sheep kiss their lambs as we kiss each other."[4]

According to a custom, men make crosses from the thicker end of the log, and stick them under eaves, on fields, meadows, vineyards, and apiaries. It is believed this will ensure the ensuing year be happy and fruitful.[2] In many regions, however, the thicker end is saved for next Christmas Eve, when it will be put on the fire together with the new badnjak.[3]

These ancient traditions have modern, reduced versions, since houses today usually have no ognjište on which to burn a badnjak. It is symbolically represented by several leaved oak twigs, some of which are burnt in a wood-burning kitchen stove, the others being placed beside it. Some people chop the badnjak into shorter logs, so that they can be put into the hearth and burnt there.[4] In a home where no wood-burning stove is used, these twigs can be placed at an appropriate location in the home as an ornament. For the convenience of people who live in towns and cities, they can be bought at marketplaces, or received in churches.[2]

The laying of badnjak on the fire would have been considered the least a Serbian family could do to show their devotedness to Serbian tradition. In Petar II Petrović-Njegoš's poem The Mountain Wreath, Voivode Batrić urges converts to Islam to return to Christianity and Serbdom: "[...] Lay the Serbian Christmas-log [badnjak] on the fire, paint the Easter eggs various colours, observe with care the Lent and Christmas fasts. As for the rest, do what your heart desires!"[7]

[edit] Public celebration

The badnjak ceremony, originally performed only within the family, has gained a public dimension, too. A custom had developed prior to World War I in the Kingdom of Serbia to lay the badnjak on the fire at barracks. This was done so that the soldiers and officers who remained at barracks during Christmas could feel the holiday atmosphere. In the succeeding Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the military badnjak ceremony was standardized through army service regulations. Under the command of a specially appointed officer, the representatives of military units of a garrison formed on Christmas Eve a festive procession on horses accompanied with music. Members of citizens' associations and other civilians of the garrison town usually joined the procession as it proceeded to the nearest woods to collect the badnjak. They felled a set number of trees, dedicated respectively to the Royal Palace, the military command of the town, the command of each unit of the garrison, its oldest officer, and its officers' assembly house. The procession brought the trees to the barracks, in whose yard an open fire was built. The commander of the garrison would place the trees ceremoniously on the fire and give an appropriate address.[8]

The number of state institutions, private firms, organizations, and clubs which joined the procession steadily increased from year to year. This celebration took on more and more of the character of a people's holiday. During the 1930s the laying of badnjak on the fire became a court ritual. It was performed, in the presence of the royal family, by representatives of the army in the Royal Palace's room with a fireplace. At the end of the 1930s in some parts of Yugoslavia, especially Vojvodina and Montenegro, the ending of the military badnjak ceremony was performed not in the barracks yard but at a square of the garrison town. An open fire was built at the square, and the badnjak was placed on it by an Orthodox priest, in the presence of soldiers and citizens. This tradition, symbolizing the unity of state, church, and people, was ended by the outbreak of World War II.[8]

In the succeeding Socialist Yugoslavia public religious celebrations were suppressed or discouraged, until the early 1990s marked the end of such policies. Since that time the Serbian Orthodox Church has, together with local communities, organized public celebrations on Christmas Eve. The course of these celebrations can be typically divided into three parts: the preparation, the ritual, and the festivity. The preparation consists of going and cutting down the tree to be used as the badnjak, taking it to the church yard, and preparing drink and food for the assembled parishioners. The ritual includes Vespers, placing the badnjak on the open fire built in the church yard, blessing or consecrating the badnjak, and an appropriate program with songs and recitals. In some parishes they build the fire on which to burn the badnjak not in the church yard but at some other suitable location in their town or village. The festivity consists of getting together around the fire and socializing. Each particular celebration, however, has its own specificities which reflect traditions of the local community, and other local factors.[8]

The going and cutting of the badnjak is the basic activity in the preparation part of the celebration. It can be performed by an individual, but it is usually a collective act, done by a festive procession which may include carriages and horsemen. After the tree to be used as the badnjak is cut down, it is adorned with straw, ribbons, oranges, apples, and sometimes with the Serbian flag. In some parishes more than one badnjak is used in the celebration, and a separate tree is felled apiece. Each badnjak is festively taken to the church gate; they are often transported on carriages. The carrying of the badnjak into the church yard can be done without any accompanying activities, but may include a litany in the presence of members of the local community, as is the case in Republika Srpska and the Bay of Kotor.[8]

The ritual is the central part of the celebration. Vespers vary from place to place with respect to the time of the beginning of the service, its length and structure. The laying of badnjak on the fire usually comes after the service, and is done by a priest or by a respected parishioner. In the case of more than one badnjak, the pieces of wood are placed in the shape of a cross. The consecration or blessing of the badnjak is performed by a priest: he strews wheat grains over the badnjak, censes it while singing the Troparion of the Nativity, and as he chants prayers, he pours wine and spreads honey on it. This rite happens generally after the placing of badnjak on the fire, though the converse sequence of the two rites may be used, in which case the consecration may be performed in the church itself or in its yard.[8][9]

After the ritual the priest delivers a short sermon, followed by the church choir singing Christmas songs; poems that praise the Nativity of Jesus Christ may be recited. In Montenegro, decasyllable folk poems are sung to gusle, a traditional Serbian stringed instrument. The final part of the celebration is the festivity. Parishioners gathered around the fire are treated with cooked rakia, wine, or tea, as well as food allowed during the Nativity Fast.[8] A parishioner may pick a twig from the badnjak and take it home to place in front of his icon or at another appropriate location.[9]

While public religious celebrations of the Serbs, as those of other peoples, were discontinued in Socialist Yugoslavia until the early 1990s, they continued to be celebrated among Serbian Americans. The public badnjak ceremony was held in Serbian Orthodox parishes in the United States during that period,[10][11] as it is today.[9]

[edit] Interpretation

The origin of the badnjak is explained by the events surrounding the Nativity of Jesus Christ. Mary Theotokos gave birth to Christ in a cave near Bethlehem, wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger located in the cave. According to the Gospel of Luke 2:8-20, an angel of the Lord appeared to shepherds, and told them that the Savior was born at Bethlehem. They went there and found the baby lying in the manger, as the angel described to them. By folk tradition, the shepherds brought firewood to the cave and built a fire to warm the newborn Christ and his mother. The burning of badnjak commemorates this event.[2] There is also a more symbolic interpretation. While blessing the badnjak, some priests chant the following prayer: "O Lord Jesus Christ, our God, who did plant the Tree of Life in paradise so that it might bestow upon us eternal blessedness, bless also now this tree which is a symbol of Thy cross and the Tree of Life in paradise, and which reminds us of Thy holy birth and of the logs which the shepherds of Bethlehem kindled to warm themselves when they came to worship Thee, the divine infant, and thereby prefigured Thy salvation-bearing cross."[9]

Scholars, however, regard the badnjak customs as practices inherited from the old Slavic religion. In the pre-Christian religion of the Serbs, as shown by Veselin Čajkanović, there were trees seen as dwelling places of spirits or divinities. Čajkanović argues that there were also trees seen as divinities per se. He considers the badnjak as a convincing example of the latter. Salutes, prayers, and sacrifices such as grain, wine, and honey are offered to him (the name badnjak is of masculine gender in Serbian); he is constantly treated not as a tree but as a personage.[12] Wilhelm Mannhardt holds that the log is an incarnation of the spirit of vegetation.[1] The sacrifices offered to the badnjak are meant to guarantee the fertility of fields, the health and happiness of the family.[13] Its burning symbolizes sunshine, and is intended to secure the vitalizing power of the sun in the ensuing year.[1] The burning of the log could be regarded as a fusion of tree worship and fire worship, which is attested in customs of other Slavic groups.[13] Čajkanović characterizes the badnjak as a divinity who dies by burning to be reborn. He compares it in this respect with Attis, Osiris, Adonis, and Sandan. The badnjak is preferably cut from an oak, the most respected tree in the old Slavic religion associated with the supreme god Perun.[12]

Sir Arthur Evans was a guest in a family of the Serbian highlanders in the region of Krivošije, Montenegrin Littoral. Analyzing the practices, he concludes that the badnjak customs are connected with ancestor worship. The lighting of the log on the ognjište can be seen as a solemn annual rekindling of the sacred hearth fire, regarded as the center of the family life and the seat of the ancestors. The belief that ancestral spirits dwell in the domestic hearth is attested among Slavic and other peoples.[1] Fire worship in the old Slavic religion was mostly transformed into the cult of domestic fire, and thus joined with ancestor worship. A sacrifice to the fire is the coin thrown into it by the polaznik after the ritual of making sparks fly from the badnjak.[13]

Vladimir Toporov propounds that the felling of the badnjak on Christmas Eve is a reenactment of the mythical battle in which Mladi Božić ('young god' in Serbian) slays his father Stari Badnjak ('old Badnjak').[14] Božić, the diminutive form of the word bog, meaning 'god', is also the Serbian for 'Christmas'; the terms Mladi Božić and Stari Badnjak can be found in old Christmas songs.[15] By Toporov, the latter personifies the last day of the Old Year, when the forces of Chaos are the most powerful, and the former personifies the first day of the New Year, the beginning of reestablishment of Cosmic Order. He regards Badnjak and Mladi Božić as originating from respectively the dragon and the dragon slayer of the Proto-Indo-European mythology. Badnjak would be related to both the Vedic serpent Ahi Budhnya ('the Dragon of the Deep')[16] killed by Indra, and the Greek dragon Python killed by Apollo. The words badnjak and budhnya are derived from the Proto-Indo-European stem *bhudh-n-, denoting bottom, foundation, depths, and related notions. Python is derived from the same root *bhudh-, carrying the general idea of depth.[14]

[edit] Similar traditions in Europe

The custom that a family solemnly brings a log into the house and lights it on the hearth on Christmas Eve has been recorded in various parts of Europe. In England a Yule log used to be festively kindled on the domestic hearth so "that sweet luck may come while the log is a-teending", as Robert Herrick, 17th century poet, wrote in one of his poems. In France the log had different regional names: chalendal, calignaou, tréfoir, and tréfouet. In Provence it had to be cut from a fruit tree; it was brought in by the whole family while they sang a carol praying for blessing on the house, that the women might bear children, the nanny-goats kids, and the ewes lambs, and that their grain and wine might abound. Before the log was placed on the fire, the youngest child in the family poured wine on it. Logs were devotionally laid on the domestic fire on Christmas Eve in various parts of Italy; in Tuscany Christmas is called Festa di Ceppo, literally 'feast of log'. In the Val di Chiana, the children of the family were blindfolded and commanded to beat the burning log with tongs. Traces of Christmas-log customs can be also found in Germany and Scandinavia. In Thuringia the family placed a Christklotz (Christ log) on the fire before going to bed, so that it might burn all through the night.[1]

In the Croatian tradition, objects of two different types are referred to as badnjak. The first type includes leaved branches cut from Turkey oaks or hazel trees, up to 2 meters long with as much catkins as possible. Such a branch used to be placed on Christmas Eve morning above the house door, under the eaves, or on the roof, and had an aesthetic role. The other type includes logs cut preferably from oak trunks. In the evening the family used to bring ritually three such logs into the house and burn them on the hearth. These practices are no longer performed, but in some places a modified form of badnjak is used: a cross is carved into the bark of pieces of firewood which are burned in kitchen stoves on Christmas Eve.[17] In Bulgaria the youngest man of the family goes on the Eve into a forest to cut an oak, elm, or pear tree which will be used as the badnik (бъдник). After the man brings it into the house, on one end of the badnik a hole is bored and filled with wine, cooking oil, and incense. The hole is plugged, and that end of the log is wrapped with a white linen cloth. The badnik is then festively burned on the hearth.[18]

In Greece a large log was lit on Christmas Eve on the hearth and kept burning or smoldering through the Twelve Days of Christmas. This was done as a protection against the demons called Kallikantzaroi, believed to be emerging from their dens at night during that period to attack people and damage their property. The fire and smoke from the log was supposed to prevent the Kallikantzaroi from entering the house down the chimney.[1] The ritual burning of logs on the Eve was also carried out in Albania. When the buzm, as the log was called there, was about to be brought into the house, a member of the family would go out into the yard, shout the name of the head of household, and proclaim that the buzm was coming and bringing all kinds of delicious things. The head of household would say, "You are welcome!" and the buzm would be ceremoniously brought in, greeted by the family and treated with great respect. The log would be placed on the hearth, and often a significant part of all food and drink in the house would be put on the log and burned together with it.[19]

[edit] See also

Holidays portal

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Miles, Clement A. (2008). "The Yule Log". Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. Forgotten Books. pp. 192-199. ISBN 978-1605068145. http://books.google.com/books?id=rsJNIGDbej4C&pg=PA192. 
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Vuković, Milan T. (2004). "Божићни празници" (in Serbian). Народни обичаји, веровања и пословице код Срба. Belgrade: Sazvežđa. pp. 77, 81-93. ISBN 86-83699-08-0. 
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Vukmanović, Jovan (1962). "Božićni običaji u Boki Kotorskoj" (in Serbian). Zbornik za narodni život i običaje Južnih Slovena (Zagreb: The Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts) (40): 491. http://www.rastko.org.rs/rastko-bo/ljudi/jvukmanovic-bozic.html. 
  4. ^ a b c d e f Đurđev, Aleksandar (1988). "Годишњи обичаји" (in Serbian). Рађевина: обичаји, веровања и народно стваралаштво. Krupanj: Aleksandar Đurđev. pp. 79-90. http://www.rastko.org.rs/rastko-drina/ljudi/adjurdjev-radjevina/index.html. 
  5. ^ a b Ardalić, Vladimir (March 1999). "Годишњи обичаји" (in Serbian). Буковица, Народни живот и обичаји. Project Rastko. http://www.rastko.org.rs/antropologija/ardalic_bukovica/ardalic_bukovica_3_c.html. Retrieved on 2008-12-09. 
  6. ^ a b Karadžić, Vuk Stefanović (2005). "Нарави и обичаји у Црној Гори" (in Serbian). Живот и обичаји народа српскога. Belgrade: Politika: Narodna knjiga. pp. 323-326. ISBN 86-331-1946-3. 
  7. ^ Petrović-Njegoš, Petar II (February 2000). "The Mountain Wreath, transl. by Vasa D. Mihailovich". Project Rastko. verses 859-862. http://www.rastko.org.rs/knjizevnost/njegos/njegos-mountain_wreath.html. Retrieved on 2008-12-09. 
  8. ^ a b c d e f Vučinić-Nešković, Vesna (January 2009). "Јавна прослава Божића" (in Serbian). New Review (Belgrade: Jat Airways). ISSN 0354-6705. http://www.jat.com/active/sr-cyrillic/home/main_menu/travel_info/jat_review/januar_2009/proslava_bozica.html. 
  9. ^ a b c d Marshall, Dan (1 January 2001). "Blessing of the Badnjak: Serbian Orthodox Christmas in Missouri". The World & I (Washington, DC: News World Communications). ISSN 0887-9346. http://www.worldandi.com/specialreport/2001/january/Sa21280.htm. 
  10. ^ "It's Christmas For Serbs; Midland Program All Set". East Liverpool Review (East Liverpool, Ohio: Ogden Newspapers, Inc.) 72 (61): page 1. 4 January 1951. "A flare parade and burning of the Yule Log Saturday night will touch off the three-day observance of Serbian Christmas at Midland. [...] Cars with lighted flares will parade through town before the burning of the log in Midland Heights. At 8:30, Very Rev. Fr. Milorad Dobrota will bless the Yule log at the Serbian National Home.". 
  11. ^ "Serbs plan Christmas". The Montana Standard (Butte, Montana: Janet Taylor): page 5. 4 January 1975. "The 200 local families of Serb descent, with their 700 members, will mark the longstanding traditions in their own way. [...] After that will come the Serbian yule log ceremony in old world tradition in the parish center, followed by a parish fellowship event.". 
  12. ^ a b Čajkanović, Veselin (1973). "Култ дрвета и биљака код старих Срба" (in Serbian). Мит и религија у Срба: изабране студије. Belgrade: Srpska književna zadruga. 
  13. ^ a b c Janićijević, Jovan (1995). "Sloveni" (in Serbian). U znaku Moloha: antropološki ogled o žrtvovanju. Belgrade: Idea. pp. 187-190. ISBN 86-7547-037-1. 
  14. ^ a b Watkins, Calvert (October 1995). "Python and Ahi Budhnya, the Serpent of the Deep". How to Kill a Dragon: Aspects of Indo-European Poetics. Oxford University Press. p. 461. ISBN 9780195085952. 
  15. ^ Karadžić, Vuk Stefanović (1841). "Пјесме од коледе" (in Serbian). Српске народне пјесме. 1. Vienna: Vuk Stefanović Karadžić. pp. 120-121. http://books.google.com/books?id=ylI9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA120. 
  16. ^ Griffith, Ralph T. H. (translator). "Hymn XXXIV Viśvedevas, verses 16-17". Rigveda, Book 7. Internet Sacred Text Archive. http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv07034.htm. Retrieved on 2009-07-09. 
  17. ^ Dragić, Marko (2008). "Drvo badnjak u kršćanskoj tradicijskoj kulturi" (in Croatian). Crkva u svijetu (Split: Katolički bogoslovni fakultet Sveučilišta u Splitu) 43 (1): 67-91. ISSN 0352-400. 
  18. ^ Komitska, Anita. "Бъдник" (in Bulgarian). Коледа. Asen Gramenov. http://balder.prohosting.com/asen/anita_4.htm. Retrieved on 2009-01-26. 
  19. ^ Elsie, Robert (2001). "Yule log". in Robert Elsie. A Dictionary of Albanian Religion, Mythology and Folk Culture. London: C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. p. 265. ISBN 9781850655701. 
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badnjak"
Personal tools
Visit joltnews for the latest headlines
Visit bloit.com for company information
Geed Media does computer consulting on long island.
This page viewed times. See Logs