Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Stipendan, Ivendan and a little Croatian brandy

Today, December 26, is the second day of Christmas and also the feast of St. Stephen (Sveti Stipan in Croatian). Tomorrow, the third day of Christmas, is the feast day of St. John the Apostle (Sveti Ivo).

Ivan Ćurković, on his Croatian family history blog Curkovic.ca, has described the St. Stephen's Day and St. John's Day traditions of his family members and others from the Buško Blato area of Croatia.

If you go visiting on Stipendan (St. Stephen's Day) or Ivendan (St. John the Apostle's Day), you may find yourself the recipient of some good Croatian treats, such as walnuts or Croatian brandy, called rakija.

If you do go for a visit, don't forget to greet the host with this traditional greeting of the season:

Hvaljen Isus i Marija; dobro vam došao Božić i Sveti Stipan i Sveti Ivo!

Praised be Jesus and Mary; may this Christmas and St. Stephen's and St. John’s be a good one!

3 comments:

  1. Thank you for the Christmas greetings! I wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and all the best for a joyful and prosperous 2008 New Year! And if you were closer, we'd have a toast in honour of my imendan! ;-)

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  2. Wishing you a belated Merry Christmas and an advance Happy New Year. You are really doing a wonderful job with this blog. Most of your posts are great and are leading me down a lane of nostalgia.

    May you find all the thousands of reasons to keep smiling this New Year and forever. Have a great day. Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks very much to both of you for your comments. It is nice to know that you are enjoying 100 Years in America. I hope you keep reading and that I'll hear from you again.

    ReplyDelete

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