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ОК, аs a Serb, who has followed this tradition all her life long, I have to say that this article is not about česnica. Everything here written is true, except that it'a not about česnica. It's about other bread-cake. In serbian tradition every family has its saint patron and once a year, on a day that patron is celebrated, there is a big family lunch ("slava") with guests, candle and that bread-cake. It is called "kolač" or "slavski kolač" and it is made of wheat flour. Now, for the Christmas lunch there are 2 cakes, and that's a rule that can not be disobeyed, one is the regular "slavski kolač" with not one difference than any normal "slavski kolač", and there is a special Chrismas cake called "česnica". "Česnica" is being made of maize meal, cornmeal. After the wheat flour cake has been ceremonially blessed and cut by the host of that house, he takes "česnica" in his hands and each family member is being cut and handed an equal, triangle-shaped piece of it. In some families there is only one thing in the "česnica" - a coin, and whoever gets it in his piece by the principle of a lucky draw is considered to be especially lucky in the following year. In other families, like in mine, there is a thing in each piece, and each and every has its own meaning and premonition: there's 1) a obligatory coin with the same meaning as mentioned above, then a 2)small piece of the front door, called "the house" meaning the person who gets it will have the most power over the family in the next year, 3) a piece of The European Cornel (Cornus mas) tree, meaning if you get it, you will be promised a perfect health, 4) a piece of wood called "car", meaning sth like you're the master of family vehicle :), 5) a bean, meaning you will have to work in the field, 6) small part of a grape-vine tree, meaning: you will spend your year as if you were drunk, 7) a mais corn, meaning you will be very, very prosperous in business and cariere in the following year, 8) sometimes also a pumpkin sead or a green/string bean with the same meaning as a white bean, 9) sometimes a nut piece or a chestnut, but I don't really know what it means, 10) this year I heard one family uses basil too, but that was a surprise to me. I believe those stuff were a part of the annual job assignment earlier when families had many members, different generations under one roof and survived by cultivating the land. Number of pieces in "česnica" is determined by the number of family members plus one piece that is obligatory left for the house itself (the building). Some families have pieces for family members, a piece for the house and a piece for an uninvited guest, i.e. if a traveler goes astray and comes to your house by accident (A Christmas day, 25th in Western tradition, 7th in Eastern, is known by Serbs as the first day of Christmas, there are also the second day and the third day. While on the 2nd and 3rd day friend and relatives come to visit, on the first day it is practically forbidden to leave your own house to go to other family's house - that doesn't apply for grandparents, because it is common that offsprings come to be with them, in the native house of the whole family, on that day while they live; after their death, cousins, brother and sisters do not continue to summon on the 1st day of Ch. everyone stays in its own new home.)
Latest comment: 15 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
I forgot to say: on this picture, the one where it says česnica beneath it, it is not a česnica. It is a perfect picture of "slavski kolač".--Sigelm (talk) 21:35, 11 January 2009 (UTC)
If there are f. e. only five members of one family, it is up to the hostess to chose what will she put in the "česnica" before baking it. Usually, coin comes as a first, if not the only, choice, the second will be "the house" piece, third The European Cornel (Cornus mas) tree, after that there is no more preferencies other than the taste of the hostess. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sigelm (talk • contribs) 21:29, 11 January 2009 (UTC)
Česnica is a disk, flat on both sides, without any ornaments. Diameter about 30 cm, thickness about 3 cm.--Sigelm (talk) 22:38, 11 January 2009 (UTC)Reply
