Thanksgiving: American Slava
After my grumpy post yesterday, and my three hours of pre-Thanksgiving cooking today, I realized: Thanksgiving is basically American slava.
A slava is the celebration of a Serbian family’s patron saint. I’ve been told that the family saint is selected according to the proximity of a Saint’s celebration to the date that the Serbian family accepted the Orthodox religion. That’s the (sort of) official version.
Unofficially, a slava is a crazy day–or two–of non-stop eating, visitors, music, and alcohol.
And this is just for uncle Pedja
Today, Serbians are celebrating the slava of St. Michael. So while I do a little prep work for tomorrow’s meal, I’m channeling the energy of Serbian housewives who are overseeing the spit roast of at least one animal, inviting a priest over to bless the bread, serving sweets before and after the meal, planning to feed anywhere from 30-80 people, bringing the extra stash of rakija into the house, and fortifying chairs because at some point, people will start dancing on them.
So…no complaints here. (Especially since my stash of rakija is conveniently close to the kitchen.) Happy Thanksgiving and Srecna Slava, everyone!
Srecan Đurđevdan!
The man. The myth. The slava.
American readers, my keyboard did not find a life of its own. It’s Serbian for happy St. George’s Day, one of the many slavas, or feasts, that celebrate a patron saint. Each family has at least one patron saint. On that saint’s day, families cook for hours-and for up to a hundred people. Eating, singing and dancing ensues…followed by more eating, singing and dancing.
There are many slava days, but Đurđevdan is unique for two reasons: one, it merged with a pagan holiday celebrating spring. Two, it’s celebrated by diverse groups of Serbian Orthodox, Gorani (a Muslim-Slavic group in southern Kosovo), Montenegrin Orthodox, and Roma. It’s traditional to roast a lamb and listen to music–brass music, specifically. There’s one particular song I expect to hear several times today. It’s named, appropriately, Đurđevdan. Here’s a rock-tempo version by the Amadeus band. I love the dramatic eeeevooo zore
But my favorite version is the remix by DJ Dacko:
There are quite a few Đurđevdan remixes on You Tube, but muz grew bored after listening to the eighth version of the song. Readers, are there any versions of Đurđevdan that you recommend?
Happy St. George’s Day and happy spring!
Real Housewife of Belgrade 