Slavic customs

No matter where do you live, or which ethnical group you belong to, you can recall at least two customs that could be related only to your people. Slavic people aren't different at all, we also have our own customs and habits which are fixed in heads of our people. There are huge number of it, so we will try to cover at least most interesting ones.

Bread and salt

Bread and salt is one of the customs which settled in Slavic countries. It is one of the welcoming gifts. Whenever a guest comes into your house, you are obliged to welcome him with salt and bread. Most commonly, that bread is layed on a embroidered towel and simbolizes all the respect the house owner has for a guest that arrived.

Hospitality

Hospitality is something that all Slavic people inherited from their elders. In old times, whenever a guest comes into one's house, he first takes off his shoes, and then it was common for the householder to wash his guest's feet. This was common because people thought that maybe that guest is a god or goddess showing him or herself as a normal person. People were afraid that god may punish them or their house if they don't host him/her well, but if they do, they will get rewarded. Great hospitality can be seen nowadays in the Slavic homes including bringing out so much food and asking guest to sleep over. Somewhere it is custom that when the guest is at your home, you aren't allowed to sit, you must serve him well. If the householder can't do this, this obligation transfers to his oldest son.

Slava

Literally meaning 'the celebration', is a custom which only can be seen in houses of the orthodox Serbs. It's Christian tradition of the ritual glorification of one's family's patron saint. Every family has it's own saint, and Slava is celebrating annually. In November 2014 it was inscribed in UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists. Slava is the social event which gathers friends and family in to the house of householder, regardless if they have the same Slava or not. It is famous for 'česnica', specially made bread, just for needs of Slava. Lit candles and the icon representing that saint are inevitable things that could be seen in one's Slava. Men inheritage Slava from their fathers, and women inheritage Slava from their husbands, upon leaving their parents' home. Serbs think that this is their most significant feist day and they see it as one of the main markers of Serbian identity. They even have a saying : " Gdje je slava, tu je i Srbin" (Where is a slava, there is a Serb also).

Wedding customs

People of the Slavic origins, if they preserved their tradition, have a lot of customs related to a wedding day. First of all, it is best to get married in the morning, because that is the time when the Sun is rising, therefore making progress. This was implied to a marriage, so it is usually decided that marriages take place in the morning, or anytime before noon. Next one is "buying of the bride". Most common in the south Slavic people. Custom is, in front of the door of bride's house (where she is hidden), stands bride's brother of father. Then the groom and his family and friends come and bargain and negotiate the ' price ' of the bride. When they settle the price, groom gives that money to a keeper, and in return he is given the key of the door where the bride is hidden. Also, after the wedding ceremony, the groom takes the bride to his house, and the main custom is that he lifts her and carries her over the threshold. This act simbolizes that they are officially married. 

Slavic egg decorating

The tradition of egg decoration in Slavic cultures originated in pagan times, and was transformed by the process of religious syncretism into the Christian Easter egg. Nevertheless, these decorated eggs have retained much of their pagan symbolism.

In decorating the eggs, people almost always use wax-pen called 'Pisanica' (pisanka, kraslica). This is the process in which one should use wax as a resistance for colour and places on the egg itself where wax is applied can't be affected by the colour which was used to paint the egg. This was mainly a women's job, and nowadays it's done on the Good Friday. The better the eggs are drawn, the proudest the housewife is .