Holiday Season

From December 19th until January 7th life has been full of holidays and celebrations starting with an American Councils Christmas/New Year party. There, we learned a little bit about how the holidays are celebrated in Bosnia, ate some American style cookies, and sang some winter/holiday songs.

YES Abroad singing

Next was a Protestant Christmas service and lunch. My host mom has a friend who is very involved in a small Protestant Church group and she thought it would be fun to go to that service since I sometimes go to a Protestant Church in America. We got to the building about 10 minutes before the service started so I talked to a couple people I had met from a previous time that I had gone to this Church group. The service consisted of TONS of fun songs and kids playing instruments, two sermons(One of which I completely understood!), and a children's skit. After that there was a lunch of fresh kiflice, cold cuts, and lots of delicious desserts. Sadly, I didn't get a picture of this celebration.

Three days later was (Catholic)Christmas Eve. It started quite differently than in America because I still had school. I was able to go home a little bit early though because two of my classes were cancelled! At around 5 my host sister had a piano concert which I eventually realized was not, in fact, a Christmas concert. It just happened to be on Christmas Eve:) After the concert we went home and had dinner. It was one of my favorite foods, moussaka! Later that night to keep my annual Christmas cookie baking marathon alive, I made chocolate crinkle cookies! Since the dough has to sit in the fridge for an hour I skyped my American family for a little bit and found out they were making the same cookies! My cookies were finally done at around 10:45 and even though I had to kind of guess with measurements they were amazing! By that time it was almost time to go to the Cathedral for Midnight Mass. I went with my host mom but the rest of the family was too tired. We parked maybe a 7-10 minute walk away from the Cathedral and the walk there was really fun because as we would get closer and closer the Christmas spirit grew. Although the service was all in Bosnian and Latin and the only thing I understood was the Lord's Prayer, the service was beautiful. Surprisingly, I was actually able to get up to right behind the pews. We stayed until around 1AM and then went home. I ate a cookie and went to bed.
Christmas morning I woke up to a wonderful breakfast of peroshke, which are kind of like scones. After breakfast we opened our present and ate my chocolate crinkle cookies:) My host family informed my that they absolutely love the cookies so they want me to teach them how to make them. I was delighted! My host mom also told me that I could invite Rachael over for Christmas dinner so she got here around three and we talked with my host sisters while dinner was being made. For dinner we had what would be very close to a Christmas dinner I would have in America. It was roasted meat, mashed potatoes, peppers, a salad, cabbage, and of course, delicious bread. After dinner my host family went to go visit the grandparent while Rachael and I stayed home, ate my chocolate crinkle cookies, drank tea, and watched TV. Upon their return, my host family brought a chocolate fudge type cake that had been made by grandma. It was super thick and absolutely delicious. My host family, Rachael, and I chatted for a while until it was time for her to go home. For the rest of the night I drank amazing tea with my family. It was truly a Christmas I will always remember.

The Chocolate Crinkle Cookies I made

Midnight Mass at the Cathedral

Next was the biggest holiday of the season overall for Bosnia. New Year. New Year is absolutely HUGE here. It seems to be regarded as kind of a "thanksgiving" type day where you recognize what you have and all the good things that had happened over the past year. We had school on New Year's Eve(It was the last day before our one month long break) and they excitement or spirit in the air was very similar to the pre-Christmas spirit that I feel in America. Since we were told that going to the center of the city on New Year's Eve the Americans decided to have a little celebration at one of our American friend's house. She had made lots of amazing food including spinach and cheese balls, caramel/chocolate crackers, and lemonade.

Last was Orthodox Christmas on January 7th. As with Catholic Christmas, the festivities started the day before. The day of Christmas Eve was pretty average but in the evening I went to The Old Orthodox Church for the Christmas Eve service. It was absolutely beautiful although I once again could not understand much of anything that was going on. After the service there was a celebration called Badnjak, which is basically a huge bonfire where everyone throws pieces of dried trees into the fire. It symbolizes good health, good luck, and good fortune for the next year. Included in this celebration were some sheep to symbolize where Jesus was born, old classical Bosnian music, and cooked wine. When I went home there was a huge Christmas Eve feast prepared which consisted of rice, potatoes, salad, bread, tuna and squid since it is an Orthodox tradition to not eat meat on Christmas Eve(Seafood does not count as meat). For dessert we had a huge array of nuts and dried fruit.
Christmas morning I woke up to the excellent smell of fresh baked bread wafting through the house. For breakfast my host mom was making česnica, a traditional Serbian Christmas bread. In the bread there is a coin and whoever finds it will have luck for the coming year. The entire family held the bread and then each ripped a piece off. My piece ended up having the coin! We ate the bread with tons of meats and cheeses. It was probably the best bread I have ever tasted. The rest of the day was spent hanging out with my host sisters and host parents. It was a very nice day.

Badnjak

Inside the Old Orthodox Church

The Coin and my Cesnica