Autumn represents the time when a large number of Serbian households gather around in order to celebrate one of the most important dates of the year- a patron saint or the family ancestor (slava).
Celebrating the patron saint is especially important day of the year in every Serbian family. That is when the house is full of friends and relatives, and the table filled with various dishes made by the hardworking housewives.
For that reason, everybody looks forward to November and many celebrations of patron saints. Besides the fact that these are the days when you can hear cheerful conversation, music and laughter from almost every house, you can also smell the aroma of the home-made specialties.
Namely, you can always find various traditional dishes on the table during this time of the year. From gibanica, proja, ajvar, milk cream and pršuta, to čorba, sarma, roast and many deserts.
Of course, the famous šljivovica is unavoidable and is especially saved for this occasion. Because of the great quantity of food and drinks, this time of the year is also called „the calorie time“ because almost everyone gains a few pounds.
But, November is deffinitely not the time when you should be worrying about calories and weight. Considering the fact that during November, over 10 patron saints are celebrated, you can often hear that in Serbia “one half is celebrating, and other half are guests“. For that reason, chances of avoiding the rich food table are very low.
Few days before the day of the patron saint, the priest visits homes of those who celebrate it in order to consecrate the holly water. On the day of slava, every household member has their own task. The main role of the host is to „upraise slava“ , of housewife to make the slava’s cake and wheat, and children’s role is to serve the wheat and other traditional specialties.
Some of the patron saints celebrated by the most of the families in November are: St. Archangel Michael or Aranđelovdan and Great-Martyr Demetrius or Mitrovdan. Besides them, large number of families also celebrate Saints Cosmas and Damian (Vračevi), Holy Great-Martyr George (Đurđic), St. King Stefan of Dečani (Martindan), St. John the Merciful and seven others.
Many myths and legends and traditional beliefs are related to these important dates. So, for example, it is believed that the weather on the day of St. Archangel Michael will stay like that during the winter and spring. As for Mitrovdan, it is believed that people should stay in their homes or otherwise they would sleep in the other people’s houses during the year and from the day of Holy Great-Martyr George until the day of St. Marta, you shouldn’t give anything from your house or wash anything at all.
There is a large number of myths and legends, and the unique tradition which was kept mostly by Serbs out of all Slavs, is definitely the best guardian of tradition and spirituality. Although there is no correct information about how many families in Serbia celebrate the patron saints, it is known that 78 home patrons are celebrated by Serbian people.
