Božić / Christmas
these trees would also host assem- blies, such as the one under the fa- mous Takovski grm [Takovo ‘bush’] oak, where the decision was made to launch an uprising against the Ot- toman Turks in 1815. All ancient customs of the Proto-Slavic com- munity were fused with Christian mythology and ritual practises ven- erating the cult of ancestors. This represented the widespread Slavic belief that the worlds of the living and the dead intertwine. “Contact between ancestors and the living wasn’t possible at just any time, but rather only on special days. One such day was ‘Badnje evening’ [Christmas Eve], when the ances- tors prepared a festive dinner dedi- cated to the founders of the family and their lineage, whose spiritual sustenance in that other world was the joy generated by the gathering of descendants as numerous as the sparks of a burning oak or badnjak, which went on to become the cen- tral symbol of this Christian holi- day. This burning of the holy oak
The sacred oak How many sparks, that much good fortune Many ancient specimens of oak used to be considered deities, while today the ornate branches of this sacred tree, which burn with a swarm of sparks on the hearth and heat the home during Christmas night, represent a symbol of Christmas
I n accordance with Christian beliefs, the badnjak symbol- ises the firewood brought by shepherds to the Bethlehem cave where Jesus was born, and which Joseph burned to warm the Virgin Mary and the infant Je- sus, which they proclaimed with the sparks that flew skywards. On the other hand, ethnologists and an- thropologists note that the vener- ating of the sacred tree dates back much further and represents an ex- tension of ancient Slavic customs
related to the cult of the Sun, where divinity, embodied in the form of an oak, is burned in the circle of the hearth in order to be revived from the flames. Travel writers of antiquity also described the Slavs as a people who respect forests and water, while they mention the oak as their holiest tree, with a divine spirit. On holidays in the summer months, people would gather under ancient oaks through- out Serbia, where prayers were re- cited and sacrifices offered, while
92 | Badnjak » Badnjak
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator