Serbian Christmas traditions

MIR BOZIJI, HRISTOS SE RODI

Christmas for Serbs who are Christian Ortodox, comes two weeks later than that of Roman Catholics. Serbs do not celebrate Christmas on December 25th, but on January 7th, while they celebrate New Year on January 13th rather than on December 31st. This is because the Serbs follow the Julian calendar, while Roman Catholics follow the Gregorian calendar. 

The Gregorian reformation of the calendar came into force on 1582. It made corrections in the Julian calendar, the ten days from October 5th to 14th were canceled. Of course, not all countries changed over to the Gregorian calendar at that time. Germany, for instance, didn’t accepted the Gregorian calendar until 1775, while Bulgaria didn’t do so until 1917.

Serbs, like the most other people, accepted officially the Gregorian calendar, but all holidays, specially of cultural or religious contents, were celebrated according to the Julian calendar.

The Serbian Orthodox Church uses the traditional Julian Calendar. From 1900 until 2100, the Julian calendar is 13 days behind the Gregorian and therefore Serbian Christmas Day falls on 7 January of the Gregorian calendar. Note "Christmas Day" is in fact only the first day of Christmas, as the festival is celebrated for three consecutive days.

The Serbian name for Christmas is Božić.

War in Yugoslavia: The Croatian invasion of Serbian Krajina

Ethnic Cleansing is a process in which advancing army of one ethnic group expels civilians of other ethnic groups from towns and villages it conquers in order to create ethnically pure enclaves for members of their ethnic group. 

Ethnic Cleansing of Serbs in Croatia  - Oluja 

The Invasion of Serbian Krajina
by Greg Elich
[Mr. Elich is a freelance scholar who has written extensively about Yugoslavia.]

In early August 1995, the Croatian invasion of Serbian Krajina precipitated the worst refugee crisis of the Yugoslav civil war. Within days, more than two hundred thousand  [200 000] Serbs, virtually the entire population of Krajina, fled their homes, and 14,000 Serbian civilians lost their lives.[this is Greg Elich's estimation, we can not confirm or refute this claim] According to a UN official "Almost the only people remaining were the dead and the dying." The Clinton administration's support for the invasion was an important factor in creating this nightmare.