The biggest number of Serbs celebrate Saint Nikola but there are many more Saints celebrated by other families. Christmas in Serbia is aligned to the Julian calendar rather than the Gregorian one, meaning the key date for festivities is 7 January rather than 25 December. On the Saint day, the oldest male in the family goes to church early in the morning and brings with him bread, candle, wheat cake, and red wine for the priest to bless it. Image of grain, christmas, creation - 70244639

Česnica is a Serbian Christmas sweet-bread baked on Christmas Eve, which falls on January 6th in the Old Calendar. Known as Božićna pšenica, or Christmas Wheat, the wheat is normally planted on the 4th of December, St, Barbara’s Day, and is left to grow up until the holiday period. One of the Christmas traditions in Croatia is the growing of wheat on the run-up to the big day. In fact even Poland has a wheat berry pudding as a part of Christmas traditions.

In some families, it is made without eggs or dairy (and probably served for the fasting meal on Christmas Eve - badnje vece, others make a sweeter version with raisins, and yet others use strudel dough and nuts to make something akin to baklava.What remains universal is the silver coin that is baked inside. The Vasa’s cake is very old and legendary Serbian recipe since the year 1908 and represents one of the best and tastiest cakes ever.

Serbian customs, including some centuries old rituals and ceremonies that have been only slightly changed during the course of time, still have almost the same strength and importance. It is tall, round, and resembles a crown, celebrating the birth of Christ the King. Overview: also known as bozicni kolac, Christmas bread or money bread, is very subjective. Coming back to Serbian pudding, this is a traditional pudding served during Christmas,Slava (Patron Saints Day) and even a funeral. The recipe varies from house house but has commonly boiled wheat … Once a year, every family in Serbia celebrates their Saint. The bread also contains a coin which bestows a blessing upon the person who finds it. This simple, hearty dessert of cooked, ground wheat fortified with ground nuts and sugar is central to Serbian culture. Serbian heritage includes a number of traditions and customs that originate from ancient times and old pre-Christian belief systems surviving till this day. One crust layer and two different cream layers make this cake very rich on the eyesight, but not even to talk about the taste.

Another old tradition is sowing of pšenica (wheat seeds) in a bowl of water (usually on St. Lucy’s day), which will grow until Christmas and is then used to decorate the table on Christmas. Photo about Badnjak - Yule-log, mistletoe, fir branches, wheat, Serbian Christmas. So strictly speaking, Christmas is still kept on December 25, which just happens to fall 13 days later on the Julian calendar,” said Calin.