Posted on 01/07/2010 10:30:37 AM PST by Ravnagora
Mim Bizic with some of the Serbian Christmas items: psenica, kolach and the bread baked with a lucky coin. Photo by Robin Rombach/Post-Gazette
Perched in a sunny spot on Mim Bizic's kitchen counter is a glass bowl that, at first glance, appears to be green grass growing from a bed of pebbles.
But the pebbles are grains of wheat that have broken open to release the shoots of new life -- a biblical metaphor for Jesus' death and resurrection taken from the Gospel of John. This tiny garden of wheat is a psenica (SHEN-it-za), a Christmas tradition in the Serbian Orthodox Church, which keeps to the Old Calendar date of Jan. 7
The seeds are planted in a bowl Dec. 19, St. Nicholas Day, and watered after a recitation of the Lord's Prayer. Waiting for them to grow is a spiritual exercise.
"Isn't it a fun way to pass the short, dark days waiting for the birth of Christ?" said Ms. Bizic, who retired five years ago as a librarian in the Quaker Valley School District. The green wheat is held tall and straight by a circlet of ribbon in the Serbian national colors of red, blue and white.
"When you first put the wheat in, you wonder if it will grow. But then you see it put out these little knots, and then the shoots. You can see it grow the next day and the next. It fills you with happiness," she said.
Her home in Moon has been fully decorated for Christmas, which she joked that she celebrates three times. There is St. Nicholas Day on Dec. 19, and then Dec. 25 for what she calls "American Christmas," complete with presents. But the holy day, and the day of the most treasured customs, was always Jan. 7.
She is the granddaughter of Serbian immigrants who grew up on the South Side. She never felt odd for celebrating Christmas in January. Her German and Lithuanian friends enjoyed participating in the family celebrations with her.
There was the Christmas tradition of lighting three candles -- in honor of the Holy Trinity -- while reciting the Lord's Prayer. There was also a tradition of baking a coin into a special loaf of bread, which was passed around the table as a hymn was sung. The coin was supposed to bring luck to whoever found it.
Ms. Bizic is recording all of these traditions and many more on her Web site www.babamim.com -- the name means Grandma Mim. It's a virtual museum of Serbian culture, which her home has been for many years. Just inside the front door visitors are greeted with a portrait of Karadjordje, who led the Serbs to independence from the Turks in 1804. Every wall is filled with icons, folk art and family mementos.
All of this she passed along to her son, Nick, who is teaching it to his 3-year-old daughter, Jocelyn. Ms. Bizic's Web site includes a series of photographs in which she and Jocelyn prepared a psenica. Her son has also spread the tradition to some of his Texas neighbors.
This year her parish, St. Elijah Serbian Orthodox Church in Aliquippa, sold kits to make psenicas. The proceeds will be sent to Kosovo to buy firewood.
"Even though we might not make that much money selling the kits, we're keeping the custom alive for harried families who might not have the time to go shopping to a specialty store to buy loose wheat," she said.
On Christmas, the psenica takes its place at the center of the family table, where it is part of all of the family prayers and rituals.
Afterward it is given to the birds.
"We bless ourselves and make a grand send-off," Ms. Bizic said. "We say, 'We thank you, psenica, for being with us and making us happy through this whole season of expectation.' "
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10007/1026404-323.stm
*****
Aleksandra's Note:
Milana "Mim" Bizic has been a friend of mine going back a long time. She's been a great friend to everyone she knows, and she knows a lot of people. I think I can safely speak for all of them when I say that her friendship is something to treasure. I've had the privilege of knowing many Serbian patriots throughout my lifetime, and Mim ranks as one of the best of them. Thank you, Mim, for being a good American, and a wonderful Serbian Orthodox Christian, whose heart and soul has lit up and enriched the lives of all who know you.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Hristos se Rodi!
*****
“Christian Serbian Orthodox Christmas customs alive and well in America”
As opposed to Buddhist Serbian Orthodox Christmas customs?
Sometimes I am AMAZED at how people write out things.
Christ is Born! Glorify Him!
The psenica is charming, kind of like a little piece of Easter with Christmas. I don’t quite understand giving thanks to it, however, rather than to God for it. If it was in my house I wouldn’t need birds to consume the planting either... the cats would suffice :-)
The Orthodox branch of Christendom is unfamiliar to a lot of Catholics, evangelicals, and Protestants, and an appellation that looks redundant to you might be necessary context to others. Japan, which is heavily Shinto, is quite happy to make a big deal about Christmas and its decorations.
Hristos se rodi!
I celebrated Badnja Vece with my Serbian Orthodox parish last night, after celebrating Theophany with my OCA home parish in the morning. Such are the delights (and challenges) of the two calendars.
May the Lord Bless the Christian Orthodox World. (and can we at least get the dates agreed upon?)
Hmm. Possibly this is a remnant of one of the several early church efforts to overshadow a pagan custom with a (more or less) theologically sound story. Wikipedia shows that this was a two day celebration by women of the alleged resurrection of the god Adonis.
Religious resurrection stories in general are nothing new. As C. S. Lewis pointed out, however, the Christ story seems particularly unique in that the premiere example of a resurrection account, the only one which meshes with our modern concept of history, stars a character living in the background of a religion which disavowed all such pagan accounts.
My Czech/Austrian mom calls it ‘Russian Christmas’. Merry Christmas everyone!
I still see people with Christmas trees up and on and outdoor lights and they’re not just lazy. Putting the lights on tonight for the last time.
Mir Bozhi! Hristos se rodi! Vaistinu Se Rodi!
Paeace of God! Christ Is Born! Truly He Is Born!
Western Christians are more focused on "words", but to peoples who were suppressed from writing and printing anything religious under the Muslim Turkish yoke, they used other means to convey & reinforce their Faith in their daily lives.
I didn’t say it necessarily was “pagan.” Like the modern use in Western countries of holly for decoration at Christmas, it may date from a Christian themed practice that was created by early Christian congregations in order to supplant a similar pagan practice that was prevalent in a certain area.
I understand your point, there are traditions that have been absorbed into Christianity that didn't begin as Christian actions -- self-flagellation, being one.
But there are some actions that are so simple -- like growing wheat in a bowl in winter -- that on their own without any other design, would mean virtually nothing. (A pagan hommage to "fertility"? Could be, but not necessarily unless you really can link them to a naturist cult.)
But to Christians, many of whom were illiterate and unable to always openly practice their Faith, the growing wheat as a living memory of the Gospel of John 12;24:
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."
It makes sense. The words of the Gospel are brought to life before their very eyes.
My point here is that sometimes "a cigar is just a cigar". But unfortunately all too often Christian practices that we aren't familiar with get (sometimes sneeringly) denounced as "pagan in origin". (Although this may not have been your intention)
The only place in which I can see value in searching for a potential "pagan" root of some Christian practice, is when it is really at odds with the Faith and contradicts it.
Beyond that, whatever the non-Christian origin of a Christian practice, it was baptized and sanctified by Christ's Birth, Death and Resurrection which so overshadows anything else, the action's non-Christian past becomes irrelevant.
Orthodox Ping!
Christ is Born, Glorify Him!
Merry Christmas to all—HE is indeed Born and lives with us!!!
Always.
God Bless You Lightman!
Carrying the torch...thanks for the ping.
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