GLOBAL CHRISTMAS TRADITION
CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR TRADITIONS IN MACEDONIA
Christmas tree in our town (Prilep)
About 18th of December we decorate the Christmas tree with colorful decorations and lights and we begin with the preparations for the holidays. It’s tradition to send post cards with the best wishes to friends and family, but last years post cards are slowly replaced with e-cards.
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!
New Year's Day is celebrated together with family or friends at home or in restaurants, clubs, cafĂŠs and hotels. During the day-time celebration children get gifts. Evening celebrations include food, music, and dancing to both traditional Macedonian folk music, and modern music. New Year's Eve is celebrated on December 31 and also on January 14 according to the Macedonian Orthodox Calendar.
Skopje – the capital of the Republic of Macedonia
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!
We celebrate Christmas on January 7. The reason for this is that the holiday is calculated used the Gregorian calendar. The Christmas celebrated on December 25 is calculated using the Julian calendar). Another big difference is the length. In Macedonia and other countries there is a total of 5 days of Christmas related traditions that everyone tries to honor.
Orthodox Christmas celebrations begin on the evening of 5 January, known as Kolede. Children go from door to door singing Christmas carols and receiving fruits, nuts, and sweets from the people. Later in the evening, the elderly gather around a fire outside and engage in a conversation about the past year and about the year to come.
January 6th is Christmas Eve (Badnik) For many people, this is the last day of the 40-day Nativity Fasting period. The dinner served on this night is 'posna' which means no dairy, meat or animal products. Christmas Eve is a time of peace and reflection of the past year, and is celebrated with a dinner with the closest family members. A typical dinner would include assorted nuts, fresh and dried fruits, baked cod or trout with garlic, bread, kidney-beans soup, potato salad with onions and herbs, ajvar (a traditional red-pepper dip), sarma (rice and spice-stuffed cabbage leaves) and pickled vegetables. A traditional decoration for this meal is an oak branch with leaves.
January 7th is…Christmas Day People who celebrate the holiday in a more religious manner, use this morning to go to a church service. This is also a day when people visit each other with the greeting “Hristos se rodi” (Christ is born!) which is replied to with “Navistina se rodi” (Indeed he is born!).
Because the fasting is now over, the meals served on this day are a true feast: an abundance of aromas, colors and flavors; a real holiday for the taste buds. A typical Christmas dinner consist of various roasted meats, festive side dishes, cheese pies, creamy and fresh salads, cakes and sweets. The Christmas celebration usually continues for 3 more days.
The night of January 13th, people gather in their houses or in restaurants. This holiday in Macedonia is known as "Old New Year" (Стара Нова година). Traditional Macedonian music is sung and it is tradition to eat home made pita with a coin inside. Whoever finds the coin in his part is said to have luck during the year.
Two years ago, when we were in the first grade Santa Clouse (Dedo Mraz) came to our school to give as presents (he comes every year and gives presents to the youngest students). You can see some photos form that New Year celebration in our school.
Here we are, together with the Santa Clouse, the director of the school, the mayor and other people who represent the municipality.
Every year the director of the school together with couple of the smallest and the biggest students in our school are visiting every class and by giving sweets to everyone are wishing to all students Happy New Year and Merry Christmas
Some of the Christmas decorations in our school
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!