The badnjak (, ), also called veseljak (, , literally "the one who brings joy" in Serbian), is a tree branch or entire tree that is central to Serbian Christmas celebrations. It is placed on a fire on Christmas Eve and its branches are later brought home by worshipers. The tree from which the badnjak is cut, preferably a young, straight and undamaged oak, is ceremonially felled early on the morning of Christmas Eve. The felling, preparation, bringing in, and laying on the fire, are surrounded by elaborate rituals, with many regional variations. The burning of the log is accompanied by prayers that the coming year brings food, happiness, love, luck, and riches. The log burns on throughout Christmas Day, when the first visitor strikes it with a poker or a branch to make sparks fly, while wishing that the family's happiness and prosperity be as abundant as the sparks. As most Serbs today live in towns and cities, the badnjak is often symbolically represented by a cluster of oak twigs with brown leaves attached, with which the home is decorated on Christmas Eve.
Since the early 20th century, the Serbian badnjak tradition has also been celebrated more publicly. Before World War I, soldiers of the Kingdom of Serbia developed the custom of laying a badnjak on a fire in their barracks. In the succeeding Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the military badnjak ceremony was further elaborated and standardized in army service regulations, but the tradition ended at the outbreak of World War II. Since the early 1990s, the Serbian Orthodox Church has, together with local communities, organized public celebrations on Christmas Eve in which the badnjak plays a central role. Parishioners festively cut the sapling to be used as the badnjak and take it to their church, where it is consecrated by a priest before being ceremonially placed on a fire pit in the churchyard.
The festive kindling of the badnjak commemorates the fire that—according to Serbian folk tradition—the shepherds of Bethlehem built in the cave where Jesus was born, to warm the Baby Jesus and his mother throughout the night. The badnjak may also be seen as a symbol of the cross upon which Christ was crucified, the warmth of its fire symbolizing the salvation which, in the Christian belief, the crucifixion made possible for mankind.
Pre-Christian Origins Scholars regard the tradition as inherited from the old Slavic religion. They interpret the badnjak as an incarnation of the spirit of vegetation, and as a divinity who dies by burning to be reborn, to whom sacrifices and prayers were offered for the fertility of fields, the health and happiness of the family. The burning symbolized sunshine, securing the vitalizing power of the sun in the coming year. Other South Slavic peoples have similar traditions, and the custom that a family brings a log into the house and burns it on Christmas Eve has also been recorded in other parts of Europe.
Family celebration
Felling and preparing Traditionally, the badnjak ceremony begins on Christmas Eve, but there are many regional variations surrounding the details. Early in the morning the head of each family, usually accompanied by several male relatives, selects and fells the tree from which a log will be cut for their household. The group announces its departure by firing guns or small celebratory mortars called prangija. The Turkey oak is the most popular species of tree selected in most regions, but other oaks are also chosen. Beech, pear, quince, hornbeam, and plum trees are used in eastern Serbia, although less frequently than oak trees. In some areas of Montenegrin Littoral where oaks do not grow, olives, bay laurels, elms, or strawberry trees are used instead. Young, straight, and undamaged specimens are preferred. The badnjak may be more valued if it is felled stealthily in someone else's rather than in one's own woods.
Generally, each household prepares one badnjak, although more are cut in some regions. Depending on the local custom, Orthodox Montenegrins and Montenegrin Serbs may fell two, three, an arbitrary number greater than two, or the number equal to the male members of household plus one. The latter means that each of the males has a log associated with him, with the thickest log representing the head of household and the thinnest linked to the family's prosperity. If there is only one man in the household, three rather than two logs are prepared. The logs may be cut from different species of tree. In parts of the Bay of Kotor, each household prepares four sets, as they are burned there not only on Christmas Eve, but also on the eves of New Year's Day, Epiphany, and the Feast of Saint Sava.Kulišić, Špiro (1970). "Бадњак" (in Serbian). Špiro Kulišić, Petar Ž. Petrović, Nikola Pantelić. eds. Српски митолошки речник [Serbian mythological dictionary]. Belgrade: Nolit. In Grbalj, south-west of Kotor, the number of the logs is equal to the number of people in the household. A terebinth is cut down for the badnjak associated with the woman of the house, called the badnjačica (), meaning she-badnjak. The same term is also used in other areas where only a pair of oak logs is cut, in which case badnjačica refers to the smaller of the two. In Resava, the badnjačica is prepared from an Italian oak, and the badnjak from a Turkey oak. In Zagarač, central Montenegro, both of the logs may be cut from the same tree if it is tall enough, the badnjačica then coming from the upper, thinner part of the trunk. The pair is in some regions joined by a third log called the badnjačić—the child-badnjak. Although young and thin trees are usually used for the badnjak, in northern Dalmatia's region of Bukovica two relatively thick logs with diameters of 30 to 50 centimeters (12 to 20 inches) are prepared, plus one thinner log (called trinity). In other areas dry oak branches are collected from the ground, and used instead of a log.
When the head of household finds a suitable tree, he stands in front of it facing east. After throwing grain at the tree, he greets it with the words "Good morning and happy Christmas Eve to you", makes the Sign of the Cross, says a prayer, and kisses the tree. He may also explain to the badnjak why it will be cut: "I have come to you to take to my home, to be my faithful helper to every progress and improvement, in the house, in the pen, in the field, and in every place." He then cuts it slantwise on its eastern side, using an axe. Some men put gloves on before they start to cut the tree, and from then on never touch the badnjak with their bare hands. The tree should fall to the east, unhindered by surrounding trees. It must not be left half-cut, as then it will curse the house of the man. In some regions, if the tree is not cut down after the third blow of the axe, then it must be pulled and twisted until its trunk breaks. The resulting badnjak has a so-called "beard", the part of the trunk at which it broke off from the base of the tree. In Šumadija, half of a circular loaf of bread is left on the stump, the other half being eaten on the way back home. In Zagarač, the stump is covered with moss or dry leaves, and it will be visited again in spring: the stump sprouting through the cover is an omen of good luck and prosperity.
The first splinter from the tree is taken home and placed where prosperity is especially desired, such as beside the beehives, in the hen roost, or between milk basins in the dairy room, in the hope that the coming year's kaymak will clot to form thick layers in the basins. It may also be placed beneath some baker's yeast, so that the prosperity of the household may grow like yeast. In Semberija, a piece of the splinter is put in the dough for the česnica, a round loaf of bread prepared specially for Christmas dinner. This is done "because of bees", as the reason is traditionally termed.
The top of the felled tree is removed, leaving the badnjak of such a length that allows it to be carried on a man's shoulder, up to about long. Its branches may be lopped off, or not, depending on the local custom. Once in the home, each badnjak is leaned vertically against the house beside the entrance door. In Montenegrin Littoral, each should be adorned with leaved bay laurel, olive, juniper, and rosemary twigs, which are tied to the trunk's top, middle, and base with ivy or red silken or woolen threads. In parts of eastern Serbia and Kosovo the badnjak is wrapped in a man's shirt.
In the Rađevina region of western Serbia, centered around the town of Krupanj, the badnjak prepared for each household is cut into three logs, the most important of which is the dozemak—the log that comes from the part of the trunk that grew nearest to the ground. In Resava, Levač, Temnić, and Jadar of Serbia, as well as in Ozren and Romanija of Bosnia, the badnjak is cut into three logs associated respectively with the men, the women, and the children.
Bringing in and burning
In the evening, a man of the family brings their badnjak into the house. If there is more than one badnjak, the thickest of them is regarded as the main one, and is brought in first. Stepping across the threshold, right foot first, the man greets his gathered family with the words "Good evening and happy Christmas Eve to you." The woman of the house greets him back, saying "May God give you well-being, and may you have good luck", or "Good luck to you, and together with you for many years to come [may we be]", or similar, before throwing grain from a sieve at the man and the badnjak he carries. In the clan of Kuči, the woman touches the "beard" of the main badnjak with a whole loaf of bread. In Montenegro, two women holding lit candles stand on either side of the house door as the badnjak is carried in.
Upon entering the house the man approaches the fireplace, called ognjište ()—the hearth of an ognjište is similar to a campfire, in that it has no vertical surround. He lays the badnjak down on the fire and moves it a little forward, to summon prosperity for the household. Any other logs are brought in by other males and laid on the fire parallel or perpendicular to the first. In a family with the tradition of burning the badnjak and badnjačica, they are laid one across the other; the males then kiss the former, and the females the latter. In Bukovica the two thicker logs are placed side by side, and the thinner one (trinity) is placed in parallel on top. In 19th-century Herzegovina, families with large houses would load their logs onto three or four pairs of oxen, which were then led into the house. The logs were unloaded and laid on the fire, and the oxen driven out through the back door.