Glasnik Etnografskog instituta SANU 2015 Volume 63, Issue 1, Pages: 123-145
https://doi.org/10.2298/GEI1501123P
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The Slava or Patron Saint’s Day among the Serbs
Pavković Nikola F. (Univerzitet u Beograd, Beograd)
The Slava has been a folk-religious holiday among the Serbs for centuries. As
the cult of a specific Christian saint within the family (genus, tribe), a
protector and giver, over time many common structural elements of the ritual
emerged. However, the ways of celebrating, ritual meals and duration of the
Slava have certain local variances which are caused by folkreligious
traditions as well as the wider (state) and socio-political context. From
the 13th century onward the Slava has been under a strong influence from the
Serbian Orthodox Church. The contemporary way of celebrating the Slava has
been formed by the Church. Some authors have considered the Slava a marker of
Serbian national identity. The Slava is a social and spiritual good passed
down from father to son. In matrilocal marriage, the son in law accepts the
Slava from his father in law, and keeps his own as secondary. Over the
centuries there were many limitations and even bans on the practice of the
Slava, most notably imposed on the Serbs by the Venetian republic and the
Austro-Hungarian Empire - all with the aim of imposing a union of the faith
with the Vatican and turning the Orthodox faithful over to Catholicism.
Keywords: Slava, Serbs, Christianity, Orthodox Church, national identity