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<title> Serbia holiday celebrations Easter Lazarus Saturday </title>


<META NAME="Description" CONTENT="Serbia has several national holidays that are celebrated each year.  The number is smaller than is common in many other countries.  There are no celebrations dedicated to individual national leaders.  As in most countries, New Years is a holiday.  In Serbia Nova Godina is a 2-day holiday (January 1-2).  If January 2 is a Sunday than Januaey 3 becomes a holiday (no-work day).  Orthodox Christmas or Božić is based on the Old Julian calendar is celebrated after New Years (Janyary 7).  Serbian Serbia National Day or Dan državnosti Srbije is the principal nationasl celevration (February 15).  It is the anniversary of the First Serbian Uprising in 1804 and the first Serbian Constitution in 1835.  Easter celebration because of the importance of the Orthodox Church are very important in Serbia.   Orthodox Good Friday or Veliki petak, Orthodox Easter or Vaskrs, and Orthodox Easter Monday or Vaskrsni ponedeljak are all national  holidays.  The dates vary and are calculated by the Serbian Orthodox Church using Orthodox Computus.  They are usually celebrated in April.  Another important holiday is May Day / International Workers' Day or Praznik rada  (May 1).  Serbia as part of Yugoslavia was for nearly half a century a Communist country.  This has colored May Day celebrations.  Curiously there are no Serbian holidays celebrated during the second half of the year.  In addition to these national (bank) holidays, the different religious minorities have their own celebrations.  And their are a number of working holidays which are celebrated but people and school chuldren do not get the day off. With photos and text. ">

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<center><h1>Serbian Easter Celebrations:  Lazarus Saturday </h1></center>

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<i>Figure 1.--Here on Lazarus Saturday the priest makes the sign of the cross on your forehead as prayers are uttered.  Photographer:  William Ferguson.</i>
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<p> A HBC reader has provided us an account of Lazarus Saturday.
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<p>  
Easter is almost upon us and I thought I’d share with you the goings on in this part of the world.

I begin a piece of whimsy. A well liked and great person is disguised as a Turkish Pasha complete with Moll. Anybody a clue as to who this good natured chap is?

There is no Easter egg or hot cross bun prize for guessing who the disguised person is but it is not Mr. Nice! The serious observations are next.

This is included to make the historical event in Serbia when on April 19th 1867 the Ottoman garrison in Kalemegdon Castle surrendered the castle keys and marched away down Istanbul Road back to Turkey. A photograph of the memorial stone to this evenrt.

Saturday was Lazarus Saturday. On sale are bells and plants which look like the crown of thorns. In between the green are flowers and to signify royalty a bit of purple. This is worn by boys and girls. The bells are worn around the neck and compliment the dress code of the day. I have managed to photograph this and there is a photograph of a seller of the plant and bells and children wearing them. 

A view of St Sava Cathedral is a reminder that churches hold special Lazarus Day Services. I attended. There is a procession around the church building. The congregation make a line and move down the Nave of the church. Here a religious icon from long ago is brought out. Each parishioner kisses this before leaving an offertory in a special sacred container.

Next the priest makes the sign of the cross on your forehead as prayers are uttered. The foreigner got a blessing as well.

The photographs show these stages in the blessing.
Happy Easter. 
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<h3>William Ferguson</h3>




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Created:  10:39 PM 4/20/2011<br>
Last updated:  10:39 PM 4/20/2011
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