Slava
Slava (sr Слава) is a Serb custom of celebrating a family saint.Of all Slavs and Orthodox Christians, only Serbs have the custom of 'slava''. The custom could also be found among some Russians and Albanians of Serbian origin although it has oftenly been lost in the last century.
The word slava could be translated as "the praise".
Slava is celebration of a saint; unlike most customs that are common for entire people, each family separately celebrates its own saint (of course, there is a lot of overlap) who is considered its protector. A slava is inherited from father to son and each household may only have one celebration which means that the occasion brings all of the family together. Should a particular household move far away, with a father's permission a son might celebrate the same day in his own home, but usually, for as long as a family patriarch is alive his sons should celebrate under his roof. During a slava a Serbian home is open to any and all who might wish to drop by, it is considered untraditional to invite anyone to a slava, guests should come of their own will and no one is to be turned back from a Serb home during its slava as this would be considered a sacrilege and a disgrace to the household.
The most common saintdays are St. Nicolas, December 19th (Свети Никола, Никољдан), St. George May 6th (Свети Георгије, Ђурђевдан), St. John the Baptist, January 27th (Св. Јован Крститељ, Јовањдан), St. Demetrius of Salonica, October 15th (Св. Димитрије Солунски, Митровдан).
It is believed that Serbs adopted the tradition at the time of their Christiannization, some time in the late 9th century. Some believe that the day of the mass baptism itself was taken as the saint protector, others claim that each Serb tribe adopted its collective protector, while others still that slava is simply the saint which replaced already existing pagan god-protector (see below). The last theories seems to closer to the truth as the slava varies according to geographical regions. At times, a new slava would be adopted, should a saint be believed to have praid for some sort of deliverance (i.e. from an affliction). The new saint would be adopted in lieu of the old whose day would still be marked but simply by a lighting of a candle and much less fanfare.
Some also believe the slava to be a remnant from Slavic paganism which had a myriad of Gods before adopting Christiannity. Serbs have held strongly onto their old Slavic religion; the last pagan temple in Serbia (one of Svetovid) was destroyed by Tsar Dusan in the 14th century.
Various Serb communities: villages, cities, organisations, political parties, institutions, companies, professions... also celebrate their protector saint.
External link