1. Christmas in Sveti Ivan Zelina

2. Advent (four Sundays before
Christmas)
• Advent lasts four
Sundays before Christmas
• At that time specific are
morning Mass at 6.00 am
• We go to confession
before Christmas to
Christmas worthily
welcome and celebrate

3. • Every Sunday
we light the
candles on the
Advent
garland
• 4 candles
symbolize the
four Sundays
before
Christmas

4. Saint Nicholas (6. 12.)
• On the eve of the feast of St.
Nicholas we put cleaned
boots on the window and the
next morning we find in it
what we deserve
• Good get candy, and those
who were naughty get
wicker
• And if we were both we get
both 

5. SAINT LUCIA (13. 12.)
• On the feast of St. Lucia we
sown wheat that we put later
under the Christmas tree and
use to decorate the Christmas
table on Christmas Eve.
• Wheat is a symbol of prayer for
a fruitful and successful year.
• When we undecorate the
Christmas tree, the same wheat
we throw on topsoil (field) or
garden and this symbolizes the
blessing of the soil.

6. CHRISTMAS EVE (24. 12.)
We make cookies and
bake cakes

7. Traditional dishes are prepared on Christmas
Eve, and most of them are eaten on Christmas
because on Christmas Eve we mostly fasting

8. Traditions on Christmas Eve
• We clean house. • Male family members
• Female family members find and prepare
prepare meals and cakes Christmas tree for
to be served for
decorating.
Christmas.
• If someone has a
• Fine and dry cookies are
baked in the week before forest, he goes there and
Christmas. cut the Christmas tree
and the other buy it
before Christmas Eve.

9. • Later in the afternoon all family
member gather around the Christmas
tree and participate in decorating it.
• In some families it is the custom to
sing or listen Christmas songs while
decorating Christmas tree.
• Traditional Croatian Christmas songs
(or songs we take over from other
countries) are: RADUJTE SE
NARODI (Church's traditional
Christmas song), ZVONČIĆI (Jingle
Bells), TIHA NOĆ (Silent Night), U
TO VRIJEME GODIŠTA (Church's
traditional Christmas song), SVIM
NA ZEMLJI (Church's traditional
Christmas song), MEHKI SNEŽEK
(Croatian traditional song).

10. • When the tree is decorated we put
wheat and Christ nursery under.
• Some also put the old and new
Christmas cards.
• A very common custom is to put
Christmas apples under the tree, and
also put the Christmas bread (wearing a
sign of the cross) and various farm
crops.
• All this symbolizes a prayer for blessing
to the family in the next year so they
will have everything they need for
living, and mostly blessings.
• There is also a custom to put the coins
under the tree and after Christmas they
are shared to everyone in the house as a
blessing.

11. Some (though increasingly
rarely) families are still bring
straw in the house on Christmas
Eve. The oldest male member of
the family in the house carry into
the straw and put it under the
table. Bringing the straw in
house they say the blessing:
DEJ NAM BOG PICEKOV,
RACEKOV, TELEKOV,
PAJCEKOV, KRUHA, VINA,
ŽIRA I BOŽJEGA MIRA!
(God gives us chickens, ducks,
calves, pigs, bread, wine, acorns
and God's peace.)
On this straw all members of the
family sit and eat.

12. • There is also a custom that in some families the straw is placed in the middle of
the table, and next to it are added Christmas bread, apples, wheat and coins. All
this is covered by an antique embroidered tablecloth and it is standing there
during the Christmas holidays. All family members eat at that table. Before
dinner, head of the family led a prayer.
• On Christmas Eve night, carolers walk through the village. Going from house to
house singing carols and Christmas greetings to people while saying: DEJ NAM
BOG PICEKOV, RACEKOV, TELEKOV, PAJCEKOV, KRUHA, VINA, ŽIRA I
BOŽJEGA MIRA! (God gives us chickens, ducks, calves, pigs, bread, wine, acorns
and God's peace.)
• On Christmas Eve night, all family members going to church midnight mass.
After her family members are gather at home and begin the celebration of
Christmas.

13. Christmas (25.12.)
• On Christmas morning we open gifts under
the Christmas tree (if any).
• On the feast of Christmas, the family goes
to church and hanging out with close
family members. It is not customary to
make a visit to someone who is not
immediate family. Family eat meals that
were prepared earlier: soup with
homemade noodles, turkey with
dumplings, pork, lamb, and all those nice
cakes that we talked about before.
• By making a phone calls we wish a Merry
Christmas to all who are near and dear to
us. Few people send greeting cards before
Christmas. That custom repressed the
every day use of Internet and telephone,
especially messages on the cell phones.

14. “ŠTEFANJE” OR FEAST OF
ST. STEPHEN(26. 12.)
• On the feast of St. Stephen people are going to
visit other family members and friends, or
visit friends who bears the name of St. Stephen
(Stjepan, Štef, Štefica, Štefanija) who are
celebrating the name day.

15. NEW YEAR´S EVE (31. 12.)
AND NEW YEAR (1. 1.)
• On New Year's Eve people are going
to Mass of thanksgiving and thanks
for all the good in the past year. At
the same time, they pray for the
blessing of the next.
• After that, they go to the
celebration , and wait a new year
to come. They say that the
celebration of waiting a new year
should be as cheerful so the next
year will be happy and good.

16. SVETA TRI KRALJA (Holy 3
Kings) (6. 1.)
• On the eve of the feast of holy three
kings, water is carried and blessed
in the church.
• When people comes to Mass at the
feast, they bring the bottles with
them in which put the water. After
the water is blessed they carry it
home.
• At the Mass priest bless incense and
gold in memory of the three kings
(Gaspar, Melchior and Balthazar)
that gave little Jesus gold,
frankincense and myrrh.

17. • After the Mass, it is customary to pray with incense and
holy water and bless the entire property - the house and
garden. It is the task of head of the family.
• On the feast of the Three Kings ends a family celebration
of Christmas, and in most families the day after,
Christmas tree is being undecorated.
• In the church Christmas trees stay decorated until the
holiday Candlemas (2. 2.) when officially ends the
Christmas season.

18. BLESSING OF THE FAMILY
• During the Christmas holidays, in
the week after Christmas, the family
blessing begins.
• Pastor and priests who are helping
him, visit the families in the parish,
talk to them and bring them God's
blessing.
• Family frequently thereby give
money as a gift for the church, but
in our parish, this is not a
mandatory part of blessing families.

19. Presentation made:
• Pupils of 6th and 8th grade