A week ago, I was with my Macedonian friends when one of them said to me “Chloé, I invite you to my Slava”. And of course, coming from France, I had no idea what it was, and maybe some of you don’t know either. So let me introduce you to this holiday, which has been celebrated in the Orthodox religion for centuries in Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and elsewhere. This traditional religious holiday is celebrated within the small family unit and passed down from father to son. It brings family and friends together at a unique time of year. 

Slava is a traditional feast day in the Balkans and the Orthodox Church. Each family chooses a patron saint as protector of the home and celebrates him once a year. There are no specific rules for choosing a family’s patron saint. Some families choose a saint at random from the calendar they wish to celebrate, and may even ask the priest to choose for them. Others celebrate the saint according to the name of one of the family members. In Serbia, tradition dictates that the family chooses the patron saint according to the day of your baptism. 

The earliest evidence we have of Slava celebrations dates back to the 11th century, which also explains why it’s one of the most respected and important feasts in the Orthodox Calendar. Some research has shown that after these countries converted to Christianity, they began to celebrate Slava. Other studies explain that Slava was also inspired by the pagan era when Slavic families worshiped a protective deity in the Slavic pantheon. The chosen god, personified as an ancestor, was in the collective consciousness a protective figure against evil. 

For centuries, Slava has been celebrated in the home of the head of the family. The house is considered the central element of the family’s social organization. As I said earlier, this tradition is handed down from father to son, so a woman must honor her husband’s patron saint, but if she still lives in her family home, she will celebrate her family’s patron saint. This custom enabled families and friends to maintain their social relations and gather around a meal on a festive day. It’s the time of year to reconnect with people you don’t usually see. It’s all based on a very conventional system: the invitation. The tradition is to be invited only once, and then to come back every year to celebrate Slava. 

Even, if Slava is really popular among the people in the Balkans and it’s something that you inherit from your family, there are fewer and fewer people who celebrate slava every year. The reasons why this is happening can be multiple such as financial status, and moving abroad, but one of the most present reasons is the religious breakdown, which means that there are less and less religious people every year, which results with less people celebrating slava. 

But what do we do during Slava? We share a meal, talk, sing, and even dance. There are several traditional dishes, and main ingredients, such as  wheat, first boiled, then ground, and finally baked. A lot of bread is also eaten, sometimes filled with white cheese, and various salads are laid out on the table. The presence on the table of meat, fish, or animal products depends on the fasting period in the orthodox calendar. And of course, wine – and especially rakija, since we’re in the Balkans – is part of every Slava. As this is a religious festival, the priest comes in the morning before the meal to bless the ceremony and the meal, and light the candle on the Slava altar.

In conclusion, the Slava has been a marker of collective identity for centuries in the Orthodox religion and is an essential element of the social bond. It’s also one of the most respected traditions in Balkan families, and a way of bringing people together to enjoy a wonderful meal cooked for hours by the host. In 2014, Slava was inscribed on Serbia’s “Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity”, a way of protecting this ceremony. I can’t wait to go, and to celebrate it with my friends for the first time… and maybe other times in the future, who knows?

Chloé Le Cair

Source:

Cairn – « Ko Slavu slavi tome Slava mu i pomaze », Le courrier des pays de l’est

Fooddrink magazine – Macedonian Traditions – Celebrating Saints Day “Slava”

Unesco – Slava, celebration of family saint patron’s day

Macedonian cuisine – Slava -Celebrating the Slava’s Glory