Burning the Yule branch

The badnjak (BAHD-nyak) is a central feature in the traditional Serbian Christmas celebration. It is the log that a family solemnly brings into the house in the evening of Serbian Christmas Eve (January 6th), and puts on the fire. The tree for the badnjak, preferably a young and straight oak, is felled and stripped of its branches early in the morning of Christmas Eve. The burning of the badnjak is accompanied by prayers so that the coming year may bring plenty of happiness, love, luck, riches, and food. The ideal environment to fully carry out these customs is the traditional multi-generation country household. Since most Serbs live today in towns and cities, the log is symbolically represented by several leaved oak twigs that can be bought at marketplaces or received in churches.

My son and I burned ours on our terrace on Serbian Christmas morning (January 7th), as you can see in the photo above.

Dogs on Thursday: 250+ and counting...

Meet Katja, who lives on a strip of land about 12 x 80 meters (approx. 39 x 263 feet) outside of Belgrade with over 250 dogs that she cares for by herself and with the help of a few occasional volunteers. Katja has a heart of gold, and cannot refuse a dog. Some are left at her gate, some are thrown over the fence (yes...) and some she finds while walking to buy her bread. Conditions are pretty bad, and worse, it's almost impossible for these dogs to find homes, for few people would want to brave entering to choose one. Katja knows all the dogs by name, and they respond to their names. By law, she has to have them vaccinated and neutered, though accidents happen. She feeds them largely through donations of bread, bones, and fat. Believe it or not, this place was Bibi's first home. She was abandoned here with her two sisters as puppies, and an old female developed milk to nurse them. Then along I came, and the rest is history.

Some say these dogs would be better off fending for themselves on the street. (Belgrade has a stray dog problem, and there are many strays.) What do you say?

ABC Wednesday "Y" is for 'yogurt"

Whether you spell it 'yogurt,' 'yoghurt,' or 'jogurt' as they do here, it's good stuff. High in protein, calcium, riboflavin, and vitamin B, the thick kind is good to eat with a spoon by itself or as an accompaniment to certain foods, like cabbage rolls. Yogurt here is available in liquid form (which I can't drink; just not used to that!) natural flavor or with fruit added, and is packaged as you see it here. I like the cute little clay pots. I ate that yogurt after I took the photo...added some honey and nuts.

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Merry Christmas again. Srećan Božić!

Today is Serbian Orthodox Christmas Eve. Although I am not particularly religious in the traditional sense, I did/do observe December 25th and this holiday in honor of my husband. In the top photo you can see the traditional dried fruit, nuts, garlic, oak branch, and pot of wheat grass, all holding special significance you can read more about here . The bottom photo is of the wheat grass and candle, with "my" Christmas tree behind it. Serbs don't put up trees for Christmas, but do for New Year's, both January 1st and Serbian New Year's (January 13-14th). Never-ending holiday season! Srećan Božić (SREH-chan BO-zheech) to all of you viewers who celebrate Serbian Christmas.

Frozen...?

For the past three days I've been posting photos with little color; yesterday's and today's are black and white. Perhaps it's because the weather outside has been pretty colorless too, albeit beautiful in its own way. Yesterday Belgrade Daily Photo posted a photo of crows in Kalemegdan, and today I found my own crow, perhaps one that fell victim to our recent low temperatures. But did you know that a group of crows is called a "murder," though this term usually appears in poetry rather than scientific contexts? Not sure if this bird fell victim to some sort of avicide, but I took its photo because I have an artist friend who always wants such photos; beauty in death sort of thing....

Hard times ahead?

Everyone's saying that there's a world financial crisis and that the situation is only going to worsen in 2009, but for some people, like the Roma or gypsy in this photo, nothing much is going to change. He and others like him will continue to forage around the city for necessary items to use or resell.

Birdie tracks

Pigeon tracks, I think. I like the little trail that its back claw makes.

Red Nose Day on Open Heart Street

“Open Heart Street” is a January 1st tourist and art event, which was established in1988, representing one of the most important street events in Belgrade. It is organized by the Tourist Organization of Belgrade, Theater Atelier 212, and the Old Town Municipality, under the auspices of the Assembly of the City of Belgrade. Each year this event focuses on a particular cause and this year funds collected through the sale of red clown noses will go to the Doctors-Clowns project. I got there too late for the noses, but it was so cold, mine was naturally red, and probably got redder after the free mulled wine I sampled. For a photo of mulled wine sellers, see Belgrade Daily Photo's post here .

Happy New Year!

I didn't enter the Theme Day this month, simply because it's so hard to choose a "best" photo, since I couldn't actually decide what "best" means. Best sentiment, best composition, best quick shot, the photo that readers determined best and commented the most on? So I'm simply posting a not-so-original shot taken from my porch. At midnight I stepped out to make this hand-held shot, since there are firecrackers and rockets going off all over the place in my neighborhood, and I didn't want to become an accidental target. This looks a bit like a war zone, I think, since you can see the smoke from some of the city fireworks in the sky on the right.

ABC Wednesday "X" is for....

I was stumped for an X-word for my maritime photo, so I Googled "words beginning with X," and on http://phrontistery.info/x.html I found:

--xebec, a small three-masted pirate ship;
--xeme, a fork-tailed gull;
--xanthometer , an instrument for measuring color of sea or lake water. (Not river water, apparently.)

None of these are in my photo, so I'll just call it "X is for tables with legs like X-es."

Happy New Year!

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Hey! Look up here! We've got glasses!

Sveti Vid is a clinic that offers world-class opthamology to people in this region. Since it's difficult for many Serbs to travel to Europe (visa requirements, financial, etc.) to obtain certain medical assistance they cannot or do not wish to have done here, Sveti Vid brings "Europe to them."The origin of the name Sveti Vid (Holy Vid) appears to come from the deity Svetovid, who is associated with war and divination and depicted as a four-headed god with two heads looking forward and two back. In Croatia, on the island of Brač, the highest peak is called Vid's Mountain, and there is a peak called "Suvid" and a Church of St. Vid. Among the Serbs, the cult of Svetovid is partially preserved through the Feast of St.Vitus, "Vidovdan," one of the most important annual events in Serbian Orthodox Christian tradition. "Vid" also means "sight." The windows in the photo are from Sveti Vid's location on Knez Mihailova, the pedestrian street, not from the clinic.

Note: Having been treated here for a long-term major illness, I can vouch for Serbian doctors' knowledge, skill, and professionalism.