Christmas culture in Serbia, USA and Barcelona

_Elsa_

In Serbia the main Church is the Orthodox Church and they still use the old 'Julian' Calendar, which means that Christmas Eve is on 6th January and Christmas Day is on the 7th January! Advent in the Orthodox Church starts on 28th November and lasts for six weeks.  On Christmas Eve (called 'Badnji dan' during the day and 'Badnje veče' after sunset), families gather and many people fast and don't eat food that comes from animals. It is the last day of the Christmas fast. Christmas is a very religious holiday and most people go to the Christmas Services.  On Christmas Day the dawn is greeted with church bells ringing and sometimes people firing guns into the air! The first person to enter a house on Christmas Day is called a polaznik and it's thought to bring luck to the house and family. The polaznik is often pre-arranged. But if the family don't have a good year, they don't ask the same person back!

In the USA there are many different traditions and ways that people celebrate Christmas because of its multi-cultural nature. Many customs are similar to ones in the UK, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland and Mexico.  Some Americans use pop-corn threaded on string to help decorate their Christmas Tree! Making gingerbread houses is also popular to make and eat at Christmas!  Many Americans, especially Christians will go to Church to celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas. Many churches have special Christmas Carol services and events where the story of Christmas is told.  People in America like to decorate the outsides of their houses with lights and sometimes even statues of Santa Claus, Snowmen and Reindeer. Some cookies and a glass of milk are often left out as a snack for Santa on Christmas Eve!  Towns and cities often decorate the streets with lights to celebrate Christmas. Perhaps the most famous Christmas street lights in the USA are at the Rockefeller Center in New York where there is a huge Christmas Tree with a public ice-skating rink in front of it over Christmas and the New Year.

In Barcelona, though Spain celebrates many of the same holiday traditions as the rest of Europe and the western world.  Many of theirs are uniquely Spanish, and in Barcelona, you can also find special customs specific to Catalonia.  Christmas trees, lights, and mistletoe are all part of the holiday decorations. Although the people of Spain are most passionate about their nativity scenes, known as belenes or pesebres, in Catalonia the tradition is taken to the next level. They have a slight obsession with one of the figurines that no nativity scene would be complete without—the caganer, literally the shitter.  It depicts one of the village folks dropping his pants and relieving himself among the other townspeople and animals present at the birth of Christ. He is so popular and plays such a key role in Christmas tradition, that he can be found everywhere throughout the month of December.

You can find out some traditional Christmas cultures for other countries by checking out the link here. 

The best was saved for last!  While reading about Barcelona and Spain I got very curious about the “caganer”. 

What kind of figurine was it and did they really have them out for sale throughout the month of December?  I was writing to @Lola_Pop at that time, so I asked her if this was true.  She told me that “yes” it was true and shared some pictures with me.  So now, you can follow along to find out more about it here.