Zagreb’s Christmas Customs

Zagrebački božićni običaji

Photographs: ANNIE SPRATT, JOANNA KOSINSKA/ UNSPLASH

Many Zagreb’s inhabitants consider Christmas one of the most beautiful holidays. Serenity, well-being and the tradition of the whole family coming together are marked by planting Christmas wheat, putting up an Advent wreath and decorating a Christmas tree. It is followed by an inevitable sumptuous holiday table.

Božić je brojnim Zagrepčanima jedan od najljepših blagdana. Mir, blagostanje i okupljanje cijele obitelji obilježavaju se sijanjem pšenice, adventskim vijencem i kićenjem božićnog drvca. Zatim slijedi neizostavni bogat blagdanski stol.

Some customs in Zagreb have completely changed over time, and some have remained unchanged to date. Let us recall the most interesting Christmas customs in Croatia’s capital. Tijekom povijesti neki su običaji u Zagrebu potpuno promijenjeni, a neki su se zadržali do danas. Prisjetimo se najzanimljivijih božićnih običaja u našem glavnom gradu.

Before they started decorating a Christmas tree, Zagreb’s inhabitants marked Christmas by decorating a kinč. Kinč is a wreath, which was not placed on the door, but hung over the holiday table. It could be evergreen, but it was often made of straw and decorated with gold-painted walnuts and red apples.

THE FIRST CHRISTMAS TREE IN ZAGREB

Today’s Christmas customs date back to the 19th century and are related to the development of urban societies. Most of them come from the Germanic countries, from which they were imported at the time. At that time, people started decorating fir trees on Christmas Eve using imported industrial Christmas decorations.

Before that, trees had been decorated with hard candy rods, walnuts and candles. Hard candy rods were beautifully decorated, wrapped in cellophane of various colours, but they did not taste good at all. If someone happened to be deceived by their appearance and ate a candy, he or she would wrap a little rock in the cellophane and put it back on the tree. Christmas firs had sparse branches and they were decorated with very few ornaments.

An onion was usually placed on the top of the tree, because it was believed to chase colds away from the house, and when the onion sprouted, one could read the fortune from the sprouts. The length of the sprouts foretold what the new year would be like: if the sprouts were long and healthy, the year would be prosperous.

Christmas trees remained decorated until 2 February, that is, until Candlemas Day, when they already looked somewhat pitiful.

This is how wealthy families celebrated Christmas. Some records show that, instead of the whole fir, poor families only had one branch that they decorated, stuck in a turnip and placed on the table.

TWO ORANGES AS A GIFT

Gift-giving has always been a custom in Zagreb, especially to children. Gifts were symbolic and in line with the times. They were mostly apples, walnuts or other nuts. Wealthy people would give their dearest ones handmade toys as gifts.

In the 19th century, gifts became more concrete, but far from lavish as they are today. It is interesting that two oranges were one of the biggest gifts at the time. As they were difficult to find in Zagreb, those who received them thought that they were a valuable gift. Prije nego što se počelo kiti božićno drvce, Zagrepčani su Božić obilježavali kićenjem kinča. Kinč je vijenac koji se tada nije postavljao na vrata, već iznad blagdanskog stola. Mogao je biti zimzelen, a često se izrađivao od slame i ukrašavao pozlaćenim orasima i crvenim jabukama.

Prvo božićno drvce u Zagrebu

Današnji božićni običaji potječu iz 19. stoljeća i vežu se uz razvoj građanskog društva. Najviše ih potječe iz germanskih zemalja iz kojih su tada uvezeni. U to vrijeme počela se kititi jela na Badnjak i to uvezenim industrijskim nakitom.

Prije toga drvce se ukrašavalo salonskim bombonima, orasima i svjećicama. Salonski bomboni bili su predivno ukrašeni i dekorirani, umotani u celofane različitih boja, no okus im nije bio nimalo privlačan. Ako je nekog izgled zavarao, pa je pojeo bombon, u celofan bi vraćao kamenčić i time ponovno ukrasio drvce. Božićna jela imala je rijetke grane i bila je ukrašena s jako malo nakita.

Na vrh jele stavljala se glavica luka jer se vjerovalo da tjera prehladu iz kuće, a kad bi luk proklijao, iz klica se mogla proricati budućnost. O duljini klica ovisilo je kakva će biti nova godina: ako su klice duge i zdrave, godina će biti uspješna.

Božićno drvce ostajalo je okićeno do 2. veljače, odnosno blagdana Svijećnice, kad bi već poprimilo pomalo otužan izgled.

Tako bi najčešće Božić slavile bogate obitelji, a neki zapisi govore o tome da su siromašne obitelji umjesto jele imale samo jednu granu koju su okitili i zaboli u repu te stavili na stol.

Dvije naranče na dar

U Zagrebu je oduvijek postojao običaj darivanja, posebice najmlađih. Darovi su bili simbolični i primjereni dobu u kojem se živjelo. Najčešće su to bile jabuke, orasi ili drugo orašasto voće. Bogati slojevi društva darivali bi svoje najmilije rukom izrađenom igračkom.

U 19. stoljeću darovi su postajali konkretniji, ali još uvijek ni približno bogati kao danas. Zanimljivo je da su u to vrijeme jedan od najvećih darova bile – dvije naranče. Budući da ih je tada bilo teško nabaviti u Zagrebu, onaj tko ih je dobio smatrao je da je riječ o vrijednome daru.

In the 19th century, gifts became more concrete, but far from lavish as they are today. It is interesting that two oranges were one of the biggest gifts at the time.

U 19. stoljeću darovi su postajali konkretniji, ali još uvijek ni približno bogati kao danas. Zanimljivo je da su u to vrijeme jedan od najvećih darova bile – dvije naranče.

LIGHTING CANDLES

Another custom among Zagreb’s inhabitants at that time was to light tall candles during Christmas lunch or dinner. As they never burned completely, they were put away and kept for the following year.

WHEAT DECORATED WITH A RED RIBBON

Christmas wheat was also planted at that time, just like today. It was always decorated with a red ribbon, which protected the family from evil forces. During the Illyrian movement also known as Croatian national revival, the red ribbon tied around the wheat was replaced with a Croatian tricolour one.

HOLIDAY TABLE

Traditional Christmas Eve meals included bean soup, potato or bean salad and walnut and poppy seed pasta. People would choose one of those dishes and prepare it as desired. They never prepared many dishes on Christmas Eve. They lived and ate modestly and saved food for Christmas. They didn’t have codfish, which is a popular Christmas Eve dish today.

Just like today, turkey with mlinci (Croatian pasta) was the traditional Christmas dish. Desserts included traditional walnut rolls, poppy seed rolls, decorated gingerbread cookies and other cookies. Gingerbread cookies were not eaten but used as ornaments.

It was important to have a sumptuous Christmas table, because it was believed to bring a prosperous year. Food crumbs were not allowed to be thrown away, but they had to be collected and thrown into fire, which would bring abundance to the family.

Paljenje svijeća

Među starim Zagrepčanima postojao je i običaj da se tijekom obiteljskog božićnog ručka ili večere upale visoke svijeće. Budući da nikad ne bi izgorjele do kraja, spremale su se i brižno čuvale za sljedeću godinu.

Pšenica ukrašena crvenom vrpcom

I u to se vrijeme sijala pšenica kao i danas te se obvezno ukrašavala crvenom vrpcom koja je obitelj čuvala od zlih sila. U vrijeme ilirskog preporoda oko pšenice je crvena vrpca zamijenjena trobojnicom.

Blagdanski stol

Tradicionalno su se za Badnjak jeli juha od graha, salata od krumpira ili graha te tjestenina s orasima i makom. Odabrali su jedno od spomenutih jela i pripremili prema želji. Nikad se nije pripremalo puno jela na Badnjak. Živjelo se i jelo skromno, a hrana se čuvala za Božić. Nije se jeo bakalar koji je danas popularno jelo na Badnjak.

Božić je kao i danas bio rezerviran za puricu s mlincima, a od slastica su se pripremali tradicionalna orahnjača i makovnjača, licitari i sitni kolačići. Licitari se nisu jeli, već su služili za ukras.

Bilo je bitno da stol za Božić bude jako bogat jer se vjerovalo da će onda i ostatak godine biti takav. Mrvice hrane nisu se smjele baciti, već pokupiti i baciti u vatru, što bi obitelji donosilo obilje.