Badnjak (Serbian)

Scholars regard the tradition as inherited from the old Slavic religion. They interpret the badnjak as an incarnation of the spirit of vegetation, and as a divinity who dies by burning to be reborn, to whom sacrifices and prayers were offered for the fertility of fields, the health and happiness of the family. The burning symbolized sunshine, securing the vitalizing power of the sun in the coming year. Other South Slavic peoples have similar traditions, and the custom that a family brings a log into the house and burns it on Christmas Eve has also been recorded in other parts of Europe. ==Family celebration==

Felling and preparing Traditionally, the badnjak ceremony begins on Christmas Eve, but there are many regional variations surrounding the details. Early in the morning the head of each family, usually accompanied by several male relatives, selects and fells the tree from which a log will be cut for their household. The group announces its departure by firing guns or small celebratory mortars called prangija. The Turkey oak is the most popular species of tree selected in most regions, but other oaks are also chosen. Beech, pear, quince, hornbeam, and plum trees are used in eastern Serbia, although less frequently than oak trees. The badnjak may be more valued if it is felled stealthily in someone else's rather than in one's own woods. Generally, each household prepares one badnjak, although more are cut in some regions. Depending on the local custom, Orthodox Montenegrins and Montenegrin Serbs may fell two, three, an arbitrary number greater than two, or the number equal to the male members of household plus one. The latter means that each of the males has a log associated with him, with the thickest log representing the head of household and the thinnest linked to the family's prosperity. If there is only one man in the household, three rather than two logs are prepared. The logs may be cut from different species of tree. In Grbalj, south-west of Kotor, the number of the logs is equal to the number of people in the household. A terebinth is cut down for the badnjak associated with the woman of the house, called the badnjačica (), meaning she-badnjak. In other areas dry oak branches are collected from the ground, and used instead of a log. Immediately after the badnjak has been brought in, or immediately before in some places, an armful of straw is spread over the floor. The straw is usually brought in with the same greetings and throwing of grain as the badnjak. The person spreading it may imitate a hen clucking to call her chicks, "Kvo, kvo, kvo", with the family's children imitating chicks, "Piju, piju, piju", while they pick at the straw. In the Bay of Kotor, the ceremony is accompanied by the words "Kuda slama, tuda slava"—"Whither straw, thither celebration." A common custom is to scatter a handful of walnuts over the straw. It will be collected and taken out of the house on the morning of the second day after Christmas. Some of the straw may be set aside and used in apotropaic practices in the coming year. At the side of ognjište where the thicker end is situated, the family may place a plowshare, a round loaf of bread, a glove filled with wheat, sugar, or a sieve containing grain, honey, cakes, wine, salt, prunes, walnuts, and apples. The badnjak should not be jumped over or trodden upon, and blowing on its fire is avoided. It should not be moved when about to burn through, lest the log break at the place most consumed by the fire, which is usually strongest at the center of the fireplace; the separation of the log should be a result of the fire only. None of the family members should fall asleep before the log splits, otherwise some of them may die in the coming year, without warning. Petrović-Njegoš describes the holiday atmosphere that surrounds the burning badnjak on Christmas Eve through the words of Abbot Stefan, one of the mains characters of The Mountain Wreath: ==Public celebration==

, Belgrade The badnjak ceremony, originally performed only within the family, became a more public celebration. A custom developed before World War I in the Kingdom of Serbia to lay the badnjak on a fire built in military barracks, so that the soldiers stationed there over Christmas could share in the holiday atmosphere. In the succeeding Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the military badnjak ceremony was standardized in army service regulations. On Christmas Eve, under the command of a specially appointed officer, the representatives of military units of a garrison formed a festive procession on horses, accompanied with music. Members of citizens' associations and other civilians of the garrison town usually joined the procession as it proceeded to the nearest wood to collect the badnjak. They felled a set number of trees, dedicated respectively to the Royal Palace, the military command of the town, the respective commands of units of the garrison, its oldest officer, and its officers' assembly house. The procession brought the trees to the barracks, in whose yard an open fire was built. The garrison commander then placed the trees ceremonially on the fire, and gave an appropriate address. After the ritual the priest delivers a short sermon, followed by the church choir singing Christmas songs; poems that praise the Nativity of Jesus may be recited. In Montenegro, decasyllable Serbian epics are sung to an accompaniment played on the gusle, a traditional Serbian bowed string instrument. The celebration ends with parishioners gathered around the fire, served with cooked rakia, wine, or tea, and the food allowed during the Nativity Fast. Parishioners may pick a twig from the badnjak and take it home to place in front of their icon, or at another appropriate location. Although Serbian public religious celebrations, as those of other peoples, were discouraged in Socialist Yugoslavia until the early 1990s, they continued among Serbian Americans. The public badnjak ceremony was held in Serbian Orthodox parishes in the United States during that period.{{cite journal ==Interpretation==

of the Nativity. The Theotokos and the Christ Child, who lies in the manger in the cave, are at the center. Two shepherds are on the right, one of them sitting and playing music for his flock. The origin of the badnjak is explained by the events surrounding the Nativity of Jesus. According to the Gospel of Luke 2:1–20, the Theotokos gave birth to Christ at Bethlehem, wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger. By Holy Tradition, the manger was located in a cave near that town. German scholar and folklorist Wilhelm Mannhardt holds that the log represented an incarnation of the spirit of vegetation. Its burning symbolized sunshine, and was intended to secure the vitalizing power of the sun in the ensuing year. In people's words, fire should not be given lest the luck be taken away from the house, or for better crops, or because of bees. Referring to the latter explanation, Čajkanović argues that, in the old religion of the Serbs, the bees were regarded as pure and sacred insects, in whom ancestral spirits could dwell. Božić, the diminutive form of the noun bog, meaning god, is also the Serbian for "Christmas". The characters of Stari Badnjak and Mladi Božić are found in old Serbian Christmas songs, where they are not explicitly referred to as father and son, and no fight between them is mentioned. By Toporov, the former personified the last day of the Old Year, the climax of the power of Chaos, and the latter personified the first day of the New Year, the beginning of reestablishment of Cosmic Order. He regards Stari Badnjak and Mladi Božić as originating from respectively the dragon and the dragon slayer of the Proto-Indo-European mythology. Stari Badnjak would be related to both the Vedic serpent Ahi Budhnya ("the Dragon of the Deep") killed by Indra, and the Greek dragon Python killed by Apollo. The words badnjak, budhnya, and python stem from the Proto-Indo-European root *bhudh-, denoting bottom, foundation, depths, and related notions. The notion of a quarrel between Nikola and his "dad" is present in a number of legends. The connection between the father–son pairs of Stari Badnjak–Mladi Božić and Nikola's Dad–Nikola is corroborated by the fact that, in many East Slavic regions, practices characteristic for Christmas have been transferred to the Feast of Saint Nicholas. There is, however, an inversion in the comparison between these two pairs. In the former pair, the first stems from the mythical dragon, and the second from the dragon fighter, while in the latter pair it is vice versa. This inversion explains, by Uspensky, the fact that in some areas Nikola's Dad is celebrated on the day after his son's feast, rather than on the eve of it. In that way, the "dragon" (Nikola) comes before the "dragon fighter" (Nikola's Dad), as is the case with Stari Badnjak and Mladi Božić. Serbian ethnologist Petar Vlahović has proposed that the noun badnjak and the related adjective badnji (attributive "Christmas Eve") are derived from the root of the verb bdeti ("to be awake"), referring to a custom of staying awake through the night before Christmas Day. The same etymology of the adjective badnji has also been proposed by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić, 19th-century Serbian philologist, systematizer of oral literature, and ethnographer. ==Similar European traditions==

from the Chambers Book of Days The custom that a family solemnly brings a log into the house and lights it on the hearth on Christmas Eve has been recorded in various parts of Europe. In England, a Yule log used to be festively kindled on the domestic hearth so "that sweet luck may come while the log is a-teending", as described by 17th-century poet Robert Herrick. In France, the log had different regional names: chalendal, calignaou, tréfoir, and tréfouet. In Provence, it had to be cut from a fruit tree; it was brought in by the whole family while they sang a carol praying for blessing on the house, that the women might bear children, the nanny-goats kids, and the ewes lambs, and that their grain and wine might abound. Before the log was placed on the fire, the youngest child in the family poured wine on it. Logs were devotionally laid on the domestic fire on Christmas Eve in various parts of Italy; in Tuscany, Christmas is called Festa di Ceppo, literally "feast of log". In the Val di Chiana, the children of the family were blindfolded and commanded to beat the burning log with tongs. Traces of Christmas-log customs can also be found in Germany and Scandinavia. In Thuringia the family placed a Christklotz (Christ log) on the fire before going to bed, so that it might burn all through the night. In Greece, a large log was lit on the hearth on Christmas Eve and kept burning or smoldering through the Twelve Days of Christmas. This was done as a protection against the demons called Kallikantzaroi, believed to be emerging from their dens at night during that period to attack people and damage their property. The fire and smoke from the log was thought to prevent the Kallikantzaroi from entering the house down the chimney. ==See also==