Christmas in Serbia
Going to celebrate Christmas in Serbia is a great idea for fans of an inexpensive vacation, the quality of which can be sure «top five». Ski slopes and beautiful nature, traditional Balkan hospitality and mineral healing springs, unpretentious architecture and mild climate, all this makes the country quite competitive among European tourist neighbors.
Oak branch
Christmas in Serbia is celebrated on the same day as in Russia. On Christmas Eve, according to custom, the head of the family went to the forest and cut down an oak branch there with three blows. It was burned on the morning of the coming Christmas, and the sparks from the flame symbolized fun, good luck, profit in the house. Such a branch is called badnyak, and the tradition goes back to the gifts of the Magi. They brought a log to warm the manger in which the Savior was born.
Today's Serbs prefer to buy a composition of oak branches and install it at home as a token of remembrance for the customs of their ancestors. But in every church on Christmas Eve in Serbia, badnyak is brought into our days..
Towns and villages in the country are beginning to prepare for the bright holiday in advance. Houses are decorated with wreaths and spruce branches, garlands are hung and Christmas trees are decorated. Serbs' tables in festive decorations are literally bursting with food. Traditionally, they serve garlic - Christmas bread - and lamb meat with vegetables and homemade cheese.
Cultural program
To visit Serbia on a winter vacation means to get acquainted with the historical past of a European state, which has passed a difficult path over the long years of its existence..
The capital Belgrade is a city where the main cultural and architectural sights are concentrated. Travelers here go to the Old Palace and the Ethnographic Museum, get acquainted with the collection of paintings of the National Gallery and make trips to the Brankovich fortress in the suburb of Smederevo.
The town of Kragujevac is famous for its Byzantine cathedral, and Subotica is famous for the Gothic Cathedral of St. George and Hungarian cuisine in restaurants, the dishes of which appeared here due to the proximity of the neighboring country.
At Christmas in Serbia, a trip to the gorge of the Morava River, where the monks built the Trinity complex, called the Serbian Athos, will seem especially exciting. Monasteries, like swallows' nests, are located here on the mountainside.
Just a few hours of flight, and hospitable Serbia will be at your feet with all its secrets, mysteries and natural beauties. The country of good traditions, which its inhabitants carefully carry through the years, is waiting for its guests and promises them an excellent rest and a sea of positive impressions..
