ISSUE 2
presented by:

 little thistles:

• Monsters
• Picture dictionary
• Lingva zoo
• My family and me
• There's no place
  like home

 and the older ones:

• Diaries
• Polemics
• People around us
• That wicked music
  by Van Gogh
• Come to my place!
• Echoes of my country
• 2 cool actors
  and a movie
• Give us a chance
  to travel
• My favourite magazine
• Buildings in Valjevo -
  beauties or eyesores
• Family festivals

Family Festivals
Family Patron Saint's Days

St. Stephen's Day
by Caslav Maksimovic, 17

My family festival is St. Stephen's day. It is on 9th January. Each 9th January a priest comes to our house and he breaks the feast cake in four pieces. After that he leaves the house and everybody starts working. Mother cleans the house, father buys drinks like juice, mineral water, beer etc... Then comes the lunch and the neighbours. Everybody eats, drinks, has fun...I serve each guest with boiled wheat and a glass of red wine. My brother serves drinks. Hour by hour the lunch passes by, and we have to prepare everything again for new guests who come to dinner. This time it is our friends who come to dinner. They usually talk about politics, which I like to listen to, but I can't say anything, because I am still "too young to talk about it" ... . At dinner we serve our guests with hors-d'oeuvre, followed with all kind of salads, roast pig, sour-cabbage rolls, soup etc... . I think that everyone enjoys themselves. Sometimes somebody drinks more than they should. They make me laugh very much with their words, kind of talk, gestures ... Here comes 2 A.M. and I am very sleepy.
Sorry, guys, this is the end....zz..zzzzzz....

Djurdjic
by Boza Nestorovic, 17

Serbs are the only orthodox nation in the world which has family Saint's days.There is a big number of family Saint's days and every family has its own family Saint's day which is celebrated once a year, and which is part of family tradition and heredity. The Serbian Orthodox Church has some rules about how these days should be celebrated, but every family, every town, every part of our country has something specific. Now have a look how it is celebrated in my family!
Every year on the 16th of November is Djurdjic, or Renovation of St. George the Great Martyr Church, which is my family Saint's day.
Before that date, every member of my family works hard so that everything in the house and around it is clean.Early in the morning on 16th of November the male members of the family go to church and take there a bowl of boiled wheat, and then they light candles for the living and the dead. After that they buy a big feast candle and bring the boiled wheat back home. When they arrive, the others place the candle in the center of the table and light it, and then father and I break the feast cake and drink some red wine that my brother or my grandfather also pours on the cake. Every time when we drink we kiss one another. After that ceramony, allof us eat some boiled wheat and drink some wine, and then we pray to our saint for health, happines, love, progress... This is followed by the joint feast breakfast. Grandmother and mum finish a meal for guests, who we receive all day long.The candle is lighted, the icon is there too, and and the first guests arrive.We serve them some boiled wheat and wine and then a big meal,which must always include soup, meat and cakes, while other food could be changed.The guests eat, drink, talk with the host or hostess, or with each other; the atmosphere is nice and relaxed, so the last guests go home in the late evening hours. Then we put the candle out and go to bed. The next day, when we wake up, we light the candle again and receive the guests who pay their visit on the second day of the family Saint's day. And that's what the biggest yearly celebration in my family looks like.

St Luke's Day
by Marta Sekulic, 17

Our family Saint's Day is St Luke. It is on 31st of October. It is a big Saint's Day because a large number of people celebrate it. There is always a roast piglet on the menu and many other delicacies. Some of them are four or five cakes, which is just enough for the guests, but there is always one more for the next day.The priest comes in the morning to bless the water. After that the household members break the Saint's Day cake so that the lunch could start.The guests are coming all day long and the hosts serve them with boiled wheat.We are all happy on that day - maybe a little exhausted but that is not so important and it is nothing in comparison with the happiness we all feel.

St Nichola's Day
By Marija Jankovic, 17

Every family has it s own patron saint.He protects the household and it s members.People celebrate their saint's days once a year. The protector of my home and my family is St Nichola's.We celebrate it every year on December 19th.
St Nichola's protects travellers and seamen.In the west of Serbia St Nichola's is
celebrated as the protector of children.The Day before St Nicholas Day, on December 18th, my mother and my grandmother prepare food and cakes. Since we fast on St Nichola's Day the main food is fried fish, fish soup, meatless cabbage rolls, beans, and fast cakes (with no animal fat) for dessert.
Early in the morning on December 19th my grandmother makes a special cake which
is decorated with flowers and leaves made from dough.Then my father carries this special cake and some boiled wheat to church, where a priest blesses it.When he is back from church we light a candle which stands in front of the saint's picture.After that we say a prayer, and each of us has a mouthful of boiled wheat with a sip of red wine.When the guests come they eat some boiled wheat and red wine, too. After that they are served the main meal.
The candle must be lit all the time until the morning. In the evening we are all exhausted, but
it is nothing compared to happiness and great satisfaction.