According to the words of the apostle Paul, a Christian family is a little church. And as every Christian being a Christian temple dedicated to one saint that he celebrates as his patron, so Serbian families put themselves under the wing of one patron that they address to, and whom, as the patron of the family they respect  and regularly, from generation to generation, from a father to a son, they celebrate every year.  Slava is a unique characteristic of Serbian people, since it’s celebrated only among Serbs.  For their patrons, our ancestors were taking the Holy Mother or a Christian saint on whose day they became Christians.

How our ancestors  used to celebrate SLAVA  Slava became, among our ancestors, one of the main ways to express their Orthodox Christianity. They respected their saints and celebrated their names in any conditions.  The host was preparing Slava during the whole year. And the night before, he would invite his friends.  The homes of the ones who celebrated became the homes of prayer, the churches. Their homes were open for the ones who would just drop in. The poor and the troubled ones were helped according to the possibilities of the host. It was celebrated the way it could be, but it was always celebrated. The soldiers in trenches as well as captured ones in the enemy camps, they all celebrated SLAVA.    For SLAVA it’s necessary to bless water in your home and make the Slava cake , the Slava  candle, the Slava wheat, some red wine, incense and the icon lamp.  Some time before the day of Slava, the priest comes and blesses the water.  On the very day of Slava, the priest blesses the Slava wheat and the Slava cake, cutting the latter one cross-shaped and pours the wine over it. That can happen either in the church or in the host’s home.  Everything around the Slava ritual has its meaning.  

The Slava Cake presents our gratitude to the God for our salvation through Jesus Christ , the cross-shaped of the cake presents the Christ’s crucifixion for us. Pouring the wine over the cake means that we were purified from our sins by Christ’s blood.  

The Slava Candle should be made of the pure bee wax.  The Slava candle expresses that the host and his family are the sons of Light and not of darkness. It also expresses the joy of the host.  

The Slava wheat - is made as a sign of gratitude to the God for all the earth fruits, and in the memory of the saint we celebrate, as well as the memory of the ones who lived in faith and died for faith.  The Slava rituals are for the living ones – for their health, prosperity and wealth. The host then remembers, in his prayers, his ancestors who also celebrated the same saint.  Sugar that is mixed with the wheat presents gentle life of righteous Christians after death.The oil in the icon lamp presents a sacrifice to the God. The incense is a symbol  f our prayer that should come from the pure heart, in order to make it nice and enjoyable for the God, as we enjoy the smell of the incense.  

       The Blessing of water  

A few days before Slava, the priest blesses the water.  For the blessing of water, the host should prepare: the candle, a bowl of water, a bunch of basil, a little incense, the icon lamp and the list of all the family members so that the priest could mention them in his prayer for health. The table should be placed in front of the Slava icon, or close to it, but always so that the priest, during the prayer, faces the icon.The icon should be on the most beautiful place in the room, on the east side.In front of the icon, the icon lamp should be lit.After blessing the water with his cross, the priest blesses the people and the home with the cross. All the present persons cross themselves, kiss the holy cross and the priest sprinkles each and every of them with the blessed water.      

ON THE DAY OF SLAVA there are two things that can be done. Either you can take the Slava cake to the church to be blessed or the priest can come to you to bless the cake. If you take it to the church you must also take the wheat and the red wine and buy the candle in the church. If the priest comes home, the table with the Slava candle should be placed in front of the icon. On the table, a little bit ahead, is the Slava candle, the Slava cake is on the left and the Slava wheat is on the right; in the middle, there’s a glass with some red wine; by the cake, there’s a knife, incense, the icon lamp and the list with the names of the family members.    The priest blesses the cake, the wheat and the  wine. Then he takes the cake, cuts its bottom cross-shaped and then all the family members spin the cake, with the priest singing three solemn songs.  Then they break the cake in halves and, each holding his part, they put it together. Kissing the cake, the priest says:”Christ among us” and the family answer:” He is and he will be” This is done three times.  Usually, a solemn Slava lunch is prepared for relatives, friends and neighbours.

Fat or a lunch without fat   In the Orthodox Church Calendar there are some days when it’s forbidden to eat fat food. So, if Slava is on one of these days you eat food without fat. Since Slava is a religious holiday, this should be respected.