Easter in Serbia
Easter is a big deal in Serbia. With most of the population (about 85%) belonging to the Eastern Orthodox Church, Easter in Serbia means a 4-day long weekend of egg-coloring, quality family time, fasting, and feasting.
1. Veliki Petak
During Lent for Orthodox Christians, you are supposed to fast, meaning no meat, eggs, dairy, or oily foods. Thus, for Veliki Petak (Good Friday), I joined my host family for a feast of fish and veggies.
Afterwards, I joined my friend for the main event of Serbian Easter - egg coloring. While lots of people celebrate Easter in the U.S. by coloring eggs, the process does not compare to the ceremony and detail that it gets in Serbia.
Usually, eggs are colored on Veliki Petak and the first egg you color, I learned, is always colored red to symbolize Christ's blood. That egg is then stored away somewhere in the house for the rest of the year (my first question was whether it would start to smell after a while, but I was assured that it does not) as the "protector" (čuvarkuća) of the household from evil.
Something else new for me was the lengthy preparation for the coloring of the eggs. Due to the fact that eggs here are brown, I'm guessing, the egg coloring dye has to be heated up first on the stove. I guess just dropping them into plastic dye cups like we usually do isn't as effective when you're dealing with brown eggs.
Beyond that basic step, decorating the eggs is a creative art form here on the level that pumpkin carving can be for some people in the States. You can see what I mean here.
We decorated ours with Serbian politicians. (Take note of the shininess - that's the power of cooking oil! Who knew?)
I got to keep the most powerful Serbian Easter Egg politician of them all - Uša Zecević.
2. Velika Subota
On Saturday, I visited a Roman Catholic church for the Easter Vigil to see how their celebration differed from ours back home. Besides the fact that everything was in Serbian (or maybe even Croatian based on what I think I heard), the service turned out to be pretty similar. I was surprised that I had to buy my own candle for the beginning of the vigil, where the congregation "receives the Light of Christ" from a bonfire outside. Not that it was expensive, but I'm used to them being passed out for free at the entrance by the usher.
The mass was very nice though and the brick Church of St. Anthony (Svetog Ante) was gorgeous.
3. Uskrs
On Easter (Uskrs) Sunday, I was greeted by my host family with a hearty "Hristos Vaskrese!" (Christ is risen!) to which the response is "Vaistina Vaskrese!" (He is risen, indeed!). After exchanging a few of our skillfully decorated eggs, we visited the nearby Orthodox church of St. Jovan Vladimir.
We had missed the morning Easter service, but the church was still bustling with people coming in and out to light candles and pray in front of the icons. The atmosphere was very jovial with cheerful music blaring through speakers at the entrance of the church and balloons and cotton candy being sold out front.
After stopping at the church, we went for Easter lunch with my host mother's side of the family, who live in the same neighborhood. Once again we exchanged eggs and selected our weapon for the traditional Easter egg crushing battles.
My family usually does this on Easter morning as well, but in Serbia, "tucanje jaja" is serious business. Earlier in the week, I met someone from the town of Mokrin, who told me about the Egg Striking World Championship, "Tucanijada" which is held every year in her village on Easter.
Apparently, they also host the world championship of goose fighting, Gusanijada.
After the egg striking and a celebratory shot of rakija, we sat down to a traditional Easter feast of lamb, soup, bread, and an assortment of delicious salads.
While I can't say I didn't miss the Easter bunny, jelly beans, and egg hunts that go along with "American Easter," I had a great time learning about and taking part in Easter celebrations in Serbia. I'll definitely be fashioning myself an egg housekeeper next Easter when I'm back in the States!